25 participants from 10 countries present at CTIF Forest Fire Commission spring 2023 meeting in Croatia

25 participants from 10 countries were present during the  CTIF Forest Fire Commission meeting in Croatia.

The host country of this year´s meeting was Croatia.  A special thanks to the Croatian Fire Brigade led by their Chief Mr. Slavko Tucaković.

A total of 10 countries participated, namely France, Belgium, Germany, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Austria, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Croatia and Greece.

The president of the International Association of Fire and Rescue Services (CTIF) Mr. Milan Dubravac also participated in this specific meeting of our Forest Fire Commission.

Text by Zisoula Ntasiou, secretary of the commission

Photos by various members

Presentations were made from all countries regarding the lessons learned and the good techniques from the previous fire season 2022, but also regarding the definition of  fires which in recent years have made their presence felt across Europe confirming the concerns of scientists about the climate crisis and its catastrophic consequences.

It is noted that during the fire season 2022, the phenomenon of forest fires was very intense throughout the Mediterranean basin, in Portugal, Spain, Italy and France, but also in more intense than usual in the  northern European countries, such as Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Denmark, Hungary, Slovakia and also Slovenia.

Guided tours and visits were made to professional and volunteer Fire Stations of the wider Split area, to the National Coordination Center of the Southern region of Croatia where it operates only during the fire-fighting season and has to do with coordination and management of forest fires, where representatives of other agencies, the Army, the Police, the Coast Guard, etc. also participate.

We also visited the Zadar air base where their Canadair and Croatia Air-Tractor are based. In total they have six Canadiar-415 and six Air-Tractor.

We also visited the new training center in Croatia which will be ready at the end of July and will be the largest training center in Europe. This specific project has been fully financed by the European project Interreg, which will be able to host up to 200 trainees.

During the last day, issues were discussed that have to do about cooperation and participation of other countries representatives in our Forest Fire Commission, our involvement in European projects and specifically Erasmus plus programs. Erasmus plus programs will concern the exchange of students of Fire Academies of our members of the

CTIF community.

The meeting was held  between May 7 and May 10, in Trogir, Croatia.

Don´t miss any ctif news - follow link to sign up for our monthly CTIF NewsletteRS