With OSCE support, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency provides firefighting training to instructors from Armed Forces of Montenegro

The fire protection unit in the Army of Montenegro has been richer for eight firefighting instructors, after an intensive instructors training that took place from 8 to 19 April in Sweden, with the support of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency.

Eight professional firefighters from the Army, Navy and Airforce of Montenegro developed their skills in the Sweden’s Rosersberg training facility, in line with international requirements and practices. They learned from experienced practitioners about multiple ways of fire suppression, structural firefighting, forest firefighting, chemical environments, search and rescue, medical first response, ammunition fires and electrical safety. The trained Montenegrin instructors will now develop and deliver similar training sessions in Montenegro to further enhance preventive and reactive capacities of the armed forces.

Representatives of the armed forces stated they were satisfied with the methodology, plan and dynamics of the programme, as well as the expertise and professionalism of the Swedish instructors: “The training carried out in the Rosersberg training centre will be of great importance in increasing the fire protection in the Montenegrin armed forces, as eight firefighting instructors will transfer the acquired knowledge and skills to their units.”

Ulrika Hedman, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency’s Project Manager, expressed special thanks to the Rescue School Rosersberg for providing the educational programme and facilities. “I also thank Attunda fire department for allowing the colleagues from Montenegro to join their forest fire exercise and work with their frontliners, and the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs for taking the time to visit and show how important providing international support is for Sweden,” said Hedman.

In addition to this training course, in 2023 the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency  supported Montenegro in including fire mitigating measures in the armed forces, which so far delivered a comprehensive needs assessment, a study visit to Sweden to develop the co-operation and showcase good practises in fire preventive measures, as well as a Systematic Fire Prevention training session that took place last month in Montenegro.

These activities are part of the Mission’s extra budgetary project “Mitigation of Safety and Security Risks related to SALW/SCA in Montenegro”, which supports the Ministry of Defence in improving firefighting capabilities.

The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency is responsible for helping the Swedish society prepare for major accidents, crises and the consequences of war. In addition, the Agency provides international support (OSCE, EU and UN) to many partners and participates in a number of co-operation forums in the area of civil protection and preparedness, peace-support operations and more.