On the day of the firefighters, May 20, Centre for Development of the South-East Planning Region took part in the event and contributes this year. The celebration of the firefighters’ day this year will be remembered by the firefighters from the South-East for a long time in their memories. 112 firefighters from the region today for the first time wore their personal protective equipment for extinguishing forest fires, which includes a protective suit (pants and jacket), boots, gloves, helmet (with goggles and lantern), masks with filters and mask – balaclava .
On the faces of the firefighters, the satisfaction was visible. They pointed out that in their work as firefighters for the first time they receive personal protective equipment that is of such quality and with which they can get closer to the standards of European firefighters. Acknowledgement for successful cooperation and support of the Centre for Development of the South-East Planning Region was awarded by TFFU Strumica.
The Centre for Development of the South-East Planning Region provided personal protective equipment for extinguishing forest fires to 50 firefighters from the municipality of Strumica, 27 firefighters from the municipality of Gevgelija, 22 firefighters from the municipality of Radovish and 13 firefighters from the municipality of Valandovo. For the day of the firefighters, the director of the Centre Ms. Zhulieta Gjurkova, together with the mayors of the municipalities of Strumica, Gevgelija, Radovish and Valandovo signed a protocol for handing over the equipment and wished them to use their suits as little as possible, but in case of need to extinguish forest fires, they are fully equipped to intervene in the field.
The next step that will raise them on the ladder to achieve European readiness in firefighting will be the training conducted by internationally certified trainers, which is expected to begin in early autumn after reducing the fire risk season.
The implemented and provided activities are part of the implementation of the project for “Cross-Border Cooperation in Forest Fire Fighting” funded by EU through the Interreg-IPA CBC Republic of Bulgaria – Republic of North Macedonia Programme.