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Fire fighting in Finland is regulated by the Ministry of the Interior. Municipalities in Finland can choose whether the fire and rescue services are provided by a professional fire brigade, a half-ordinary fire brigade or a voluntary fire brigade.
There are approximately 85 000 emergency missions a year in Finland, of which fires account for 18%. According to the Ministry of the Interior, Finnish fire brigades extinguish around 12 000 fires every year. [1]
Responsibilities
Finland has 22 rescue services regions. These regions operate under the supervision of the Ministry of Interior. Each region is responsible for the rescue service within the area.
The fire brigades in Finland have several responsibilities. They include, but are not limited to:
- Rescue operations
- Accident prevention, damage mitigation and fire inspections
- Safety education and advice
Fire brigades rarely provide only fire fighting services, but also perform several other sorts of rescue operations and often provide for example the municipality's ambulance service.
The fire brigades have different risk areas. The risk areas are categorised by time constraints set to the fire service. For example, in risk area 2, the fire brigade must arrive at the accident site within ten minutes of the emergency call.
Professional Fire Fighting Finland's professional fire and rescue service is provided by approximately 5 000 full-time employees. The professional fire fighters are trained in either Emergency Services College or City of Helsinki rescue school which trains fire fighters in Helsinki.
Emergency Services College The professional fire fighters in Finland are trained by the Emergency Services College. It operates under the Ministry of the Interior. Its main tasks are to plan and provide fire and rescue training, civil defence training and other emergency operation training. Its history dates back to 1930s. It started as "Fire Officers' School" in Helsinki and has since changed its name various times. Province Southern Finland Region Uusimaa Sub-region Helsinki City manager Jussi Pajunen Official languages Finnish, Swedish Area - total - land ranked 342nd 185. ...
The college is nowadays situated in Kuopio. It has various facilities for teaching, including special classrooms for teaching various aspects fields of fire fighting and a 23-hectare training ground. The college can accommodate 350 people (of which most are students). Kuopio is a Finnish city located in the province of Eastern Finland and the region of Northern Savonia. ...
The college's current principal is Mr Reijo Tolppi.
Industrial fire brigades There are over 150 industrial fire brigades in Finland. These fire brigades usually operate in large industrial sites and the fire fighters also work at the site. Their staff have often received special training for demanding industry-area rescue missions. This special training can include dealing with poisonous substances, operating in extremely complex industrial buildings and other similar tasks.
Voluntary fire fighting A large part of Finnish fire and rescue responsibility is on voluntary fire brigades. They are contracted by the municipality and are usually associations. In some municipalities, the fire fighting is entirely a voluntary fire brigade's task. There are over 600 voluntary fire brigades in the country. In 400 municipalities the voluntary fire brigades provide all the fire and rescue services. Approximately 47% of Finland's population lives in these municipalities and they make up for 95% of the country's area. The voluntary fire brigades offer approximately 15 000 trained fire fighters that are actively on services.
Voluntary fire brigades operate in all risk areas.
Types of Voluntary Fire Brigades In Finland, there are two types of voluntary fire brigades: - Voluntary fire brigades
- Half-ordinary fire brigades
The half-ordinary fire brigades have some fire fighters with a contract; however, these firefighters are not professional fire fighters. The people in both voluntary and half-ordinary fire brigades may get paid for their work in actual emergency situations. This is often the case especially with voluntary (and half-ordinary) fire brigades operating in high risk areas.
Training Voluntary fire brigades have an extensive training programme for new members. The training usually includes basic firemen skills (how to handle the personal gear, first aid, fire engine operation) and possibly fitness exercises. There are training courses, which teach for example: Some of these courses are considered optional and others mandatory. To operate in a real emergency scene, you must have completed both initial training and a basic firemen skill course. The use of breathing apparatus is only allowed after a course. A self contained breathing apparatus, or SCBA is a device worn by rescue workers, firefighters, and others to provide breathable air in a hostile environment. ...
SCBA is an acronym for Self Contained Breathing Apparatus. ...
Women's activities in voluntary fire brigades In addition to actively taking part in fire fighting operations within voluntary fire brigades, there are also women-specific activities in many fire brigades. They often cooperate with the youth workers in voluntary fire brigades, arrange catering services in major accident sites, provide mental help for the victims of accidents etc.
The women activities in voluntary fire brigades are often in their own department. There are over 350 women departments in Finnish fire brigades.
Youth in voluntary fire brigades The youth work in fire brigades dates back to the 1800s. It aims to increase the safety awareness of youth, train new members for fire brigades and provide the youth a useful hobby. There are over 500 youth departments (in which there are over 10 000 young fire fighters) in Finnish fire brigades and most of them accept boys and girls, usually aged 8 to 16.
The youth in the fire brigades have their own training system, which includes numerous courses. These courses teach safety knowledge, fire fighting, first aid and other related skills. When the youth turn 16, they can start to participate in the operational section of the fire brigade and also often remain as instructors for other youth.
There are various events in Finland for the youth sections of fire brigades, including camps (where the youth participate in training courses and leisure time activities) and competitions. The camps and competitions can either be regional or national, and Finnish youth have also participated in international contests and camps.
Download high resolution version (900x633, 102 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...
Download high resolution version (900x633, 102 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...
Fire Engine in South Bend, Indiana. ...
Province Southern Finland Region Uusimaa Sub-region Helsinki City manager Jussi Pajunen Official languages Finnish, Swedish Area - total - land ranked 342nd 185. ...
Equipment The fire fighting equipment, from fire engines to the personal protective gear firemen wear, is fairly modern in Finland. The fire and rescue services have approximately 4 500 vehicles in their use.
Voluntary fire brigades often "recycle" equipment. The fire brigades operating in higher risk areas will get new equipment and their old equipment will be moved onwards to fire brigades in lesser risk areas.
The Ministry of the Interior has set set strict rules and regulations governing the protective gear and fire brigades' equipment.
 An aerial platform units of Helsinki City Fire Department Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1600x1198, 283 KB) Summary One of the aerial platform units of Helsinki City Fire Department in Finland. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1600x1198, 283 KB) Summary One of the aerial platform units of Helsinki City Fire Department in Finland. ...
Suomen Pelastusalan Keskusjärjestö Suomen Pelastusalan Keskusjärjestö, SPEK (the Finnish National Rescue Association) is a central organisation in Finland for fire and rescue service. It is a non-profit organisation funded by various foundations and funds. SPEK campaigns for public awareness about fire and safety issues. It also aims to be a central national organisation for (voluntary) fire brigades in Finland. SPEK supervises and coordinates their activity. Also the women and youth work fire brigades do is heavily influenced by SPEK.
See also This article or section seems not to be written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia entry. ...
Firefighter with an axe A firefighter, sometimes still called a fireman though women have increasingly joined firefighting units, is a person who is trained and equipped to put out fires, rescue people and in some areas provide emergency medical services. ...
External links - The emergency services college (Finland)
- Rescue services in Finland
- The Finnish National Rescue Association
- (Finnish) The finnish voluntary fire fighters
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