5th Term of Office of the "Firefighters" in Polish Parliament
The first sitting of the Parliamentary Group for Fire Service Issues took place in the Deputies Hotel in Warsaw. Among the participants were the deputy prime minister, the chairman of the General Board of the Union of the Volunteer Fire Service of the Republic of Poland, Waldemar Pawlak, undersecretary of state in the Ministry of Interior and Administration, Antoni Podolski, the chairman of the Senate Group for Fire Service Issues, Zbigniew Meres, the Chief Commandant of the State Fire Service, Chief Brigadier Wiesław Leśniakiewicz, and his deputies. (own info)
Meeting of the leaders of the State Fire Service
Credo of the SFS New Leaders
The main issue of this years first meeting of the SFS leaders was to set goals for the next years and the direction our service should take in the state security system. (own info)
CONTAMINATION OF THE VISTULA RIVER - thematic section devoted to the spillage of fuel oil into the Vistula River in December 2007
First training ground of this kind
Since there are too few real spillages for us to gain experience, we have to organize exercises with simulated spillages to improve practical knowledge. We should use global knowledge concerning the usage of dispergents and sorbents and in this way we may avoid a situation, when a crisis emergency center decides, what is better - claims Marek Małaczyński. By Anna Łańduch
Huge Spill on the Vistula River
Never before have the Polish firefighters struggled with such a substantial contamination. Experts and ecologists compare the scale of this incident and action with a memorable fire of a forest near Kuźnia Raciborska. Rescue action described by Paweł Frątczak and Marek Namysłowski
Complicated Security of Uncomplicated Pipelines
From the point of view of energy policy and security of every state, the pipelines are of special importance. Therefore, they are part of so called critical infrastructure. They are used mainly for transporting oil and natural gas. It is difficult to imagine transporting huge quantities of those substances only by road or rail tankers. Pipelines make this process much shorter, cheaper, easier and safer. However, safer does not mean, that pipelines do not pose any serious threats. Since they have been discussed recently also in Poland, it is worth to take a closer look on them. By Paweł Janik and Rafał Porowski
Effective Stain Removing
Barriers, skimmers, separators: we present equipment necessary to cope with oil spillages on water; we present also containers used in the action of removing contamination of the Vistula River in December 2007. By Paweł Frątczak and Zbigniew Szablewski
Journalist Kept Watchful Eye on Us
From the beginning of the action the media has carefully observed the firefighters trying to limit the spillage of fuel oil into the Vistula River, near the town of Włocławek, and to liquidate its effects. By Paweł Frątczak and Piotr Cholajda
Search Action in the Schengen Zone
The day of joining the Schengen zone by new countries was celebrated on all border crossings, which were to disappear from the EU map, but no-one imagined that on the same day the formal lack of borders would help in a rescue action in Lithuania. By Marcin Janowski
Tragic Toil of Quiet Killer
Since carbon monoxide is produced during combustion, many people associate it with something black and ill-smelling. In fact, it is an odourless and colourless gas. It neither stings eyes nor irritates throat. It is impossible to detect it without proper measuring devices. By Piotr Cholajda
Flood in a Destitute Time
Last decade proved how great element water can be. However, there had been such a flood earlier, which has not been experienced by the current generation. Paweł Rochala describes great flood of winter 1982.
Psychological Help in Grenoble
Polish pilgrims who survived the tragic bus accident in the town of Vizille near Grenoble, France, will remember the day of 22 July 2007 for the rest of their lives. Out of 50 pilgrims, 27 lost their lives. Monika Marcinkiewicz writes about the role of psychologists after this accident.
Dangerous Blast
Explosions of gases and vapours of flammable liquids as well as their effects often accompany firefighters during firefighting and rescue actions. The mechanism of the explosion is well-known. However, the effects of the explosion on the injuries are different and depend on many factors. By Maciej Pietrzak
Counteracting Terrorism
Terror acts may pose a threat to almost all fields of the functioning of states, and fighting them has become a strategic problem. For the defence actions to be effective, it is necessary to coordinate the cooperation on both national and global levels, within existing structures as well as beyond them. (Wmaz)
Emergency Centers: Will They be "Better"?
The decree on emergency centers, which has been in force for several months, makes us think, whether the structure and role of the centers were properly specified. By Mariusz Cyran
Will we succeed in Helping the VFS?
In his article "What kind of fire service" (Fire Review no.10/2007) Brigadier Dariusz Wróblewski presented interesting theses concerning the situation of volunteer fire service. One may admit that the Volunteer Fire Service is getting weaker, since such opinions are to be heard, but it is difficult to agree with the author of the article that this process is going to be continued in the next years, that the VFS will not be able to perform rescue actions and the communes will have to find other solutions to provide rescue service. Wiesław Chmielewski presents his opinion.
Nice Technology Lesson
Introducing new rescue vehicles intended for chemical and technical rescue in the schools of fire service means new standards in the process of training and in the equipment.
Jacek Kamiński writes about new vehicles in the SFS.
Defending Champions from Poznań
The town of Szamotuły hosted the Wielkopolska Province Swimming Championships of the SFS Firefighters. By Jacek Orlikowski
Happy Unlucky
This was meant to be a kind of crowning of the exciting adventure with professional motorization. The Dakar Rally! Lech Lewandowski describes the adventure of Staff Aspirant Maciej Gorzycki
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