On Friday, May 29, 2009, a firefighting exercise entitled “Extinguishing Forest and High-Building Fires” will take place in Krusevac. The simulation exercise is co-organized by the City of Kruševac and the Ministry of Interior’s Sector for Protection and Rescue in cooperation with USAID’s Preparedness and Planning program. Predrag Maric, Head of the Sector for Protection and Rescue, will be present at the event.
The simulation exercise will demonstrate the coordinated response of rescue and emergency health teams during a crisis and is intended to raise awareness about the need to prepare for such emergencies to ensure the safety of citizens. The exercise consists of three parts: a) a mock forest wildfire, b) a high-building fire operation and c) rescuing citizens from an affected building via rescue air-cushions. The event will gather over 100 participants including: Krusevac local self-government, Sector for Protection and Rescue, Red Cross of Serbia, Public Forestry company Srbijasume, Emergency health center, Mountain Rescue Service and other public companies.
USAID will donate 30 protective suits to Krusevac’s local Disaster Management team, 100 T-shirts to participants involved in the exercise, and will cover the costs for the production of promotional materials for the event.
After experiencing numerous local-level natural disasters in 2005, the City of Krusevac created a comprehensive disaster management plan involving all sectors of the community. Kruševac is one of the first municipalities to join USAID’s Preparedness and Planning program and one of the first municipalities that was certified for it’s “enhanced disaster resilience”, in acknowledgement of the progress it has made in increasing disaster management capacities at the local level and in meeting domestic legal obligations and international standards in disaster management and response. The municipality has participated in USAID sponsored capacity building trainings in municipal disaster management, and networking events promoting best practices in the field of disaster management, such as the First Best Practice Fair, held in Kruševac, in November 2007.
USAID’s Preparedness and Planning Program builds a sustainable and systematic approach to local-level disaster management and assists municipalities to meet domestic legal obligations and international standards in disaster management and response. Currently, 60 Serbian municipalities are included in the program.
Journalists interested in attending the event are kindly invited to gather in front of the Fire Rescue Unit offices, Bruski put bb, in Krusevac, on Friday, May 29 at 10:15.