Voluntary firefighting and rescue teams in Poland and Ukraine
Charitable organization “Transcarpathian Agency for Investments, Innovations and Development” together with Voluntary Fire Brigade in Sieniewice and 1 State fire and rescue platoon of Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Transcarpathian region have developed the project idea that is aimed at increasing common security in the rural border territories of Poland and Ukraine. It is planned to create Voluntary fire and rescue organizations in Kamyanytsya, Mali Heyivci and Ruski Komarivtsi villages of Uzhgorod district. The Voluntary Fire Brigade in Sieniewice will be modernized and will engage new voluntaries.
A common challenge of a high level of emergencies and lack of rescuers in remote areas make these voluntary organizations highly needed. These voluntary rescuers will be able to respond to accidents quickly, decrease the number of injuries and considerable material damage, starting the elimination of fires or other emergencies at the initial stage of their occurrence. This relates primarily to rural areas, because it take a lot of time until the professional rescue team arrives to the place of an emergency in remote territories, so volunteers will start to fight the disaster before the arrival of professional firefighters. Only local communities can raise the level of safety in villages through the establishment of voluntary fire and rescue organizations.
This project idea has been submitted to the Cross-border Cooperation Programme Poland – Belarus – Ukraine 2014–2020.