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Firefighting in Denmark - The 3 levels
Fire and rescue in Denmark.
Hi there.
I have a theory that there is quite a bit of difference between US firefighting and European firefighting.
In this article/discussion, I’ll try and tell a bit about how we do things in Denmark, and hopefully it’ll be a learning experience to both me and you.
I’ll start by telling (or trying) to tell a bit about the 3 levels of emergency service in Denmark.
Please note that this is only about fire departments – NOT EMS/Ambulance. This will come later.
A bit about Denmark
Denmark is a small European country located north of Germany and east of the UK. See the attached map, for location (the red stuff is Denmark)
Denmark holds about 6 million people, and the government is a democracy, but we do also have a monarchy and a queen (same system as in the UK).
The 3 levels of emergency management
Level 1 is the local cities emergency service. Each county is responsible for the fire department, and in case of disasters all counties must be able to provide food and housing for 5% of its population.
The fire department can be either 100% volunteer (only in a small part of the country), part-time (works the same way as volunteer, but they get paid like 15$ an hour), or a full-time department.
Level 1 has 5 minutes to get the vehicles out of the garage, after the alarm is received.
Level 2 is manned by volunteer firefighters from a county, but the equipment is paid by the state (DEMA), and only responds to major incidents. Every level 2 department covers about 10-20 counties.
Level 2 has 30 minutes to get the vehicles out of the garage, after the alarm is received.
DEMA stands for Danish Emergency Management Agency, and is the nationwide state fire department.
Level 3 is a 2 part system.
Level 3, is the highest, most advanced level of fire department/HAZMAT and will be called in, when all others fail.
Part 1 is made up by five civil defense (also DEMA) barracks with enlisted men (about 25% of all men in the age of 18 will be drafted for either the army or civil defense service).
It might sound crazy that our most advanced firefighters are enlisted men, but they get an intense 4 months education before they get to perform on their own.
Part 2 is made up of a volunteer unit (150 members) residing at one of the barracks, and another unit having its own barrack (300 members). This is where I am a firefighter.
Level 3 has 10 minutes to get the vehicles out of the garage, after the alarm is received, the volunteers has 60 minutes.
An example of the 3 level system:
The local fire department, level 1, gets called out to a fire at a chemical factory.
They start to rescue people, block of the area and contain the fire.
The incident commander quickly realizes that he doesn’t have the equipment to contain the massive chemical spill. He calls in the level 3 department to help.
The level 3 department arrives, and the spill is under control.
The fire is very big, and it will take several days to extinguish. The level 1 is send home, and the volunteers of level 2 and 3 is send in to extinguish the fires together with the enlisted level 3. If the county has a volunteer department besides the part-time, they will also be used.
As you can read, the levels are not fixed, but the level 1 department will always be called out, since they are the fire department of the local county, and they are the first responders (and because the county is ALLWAYS responsible for the incident).
I hope you guys understand this :-)
If not, feel free to ask.
What’s next in my little series of articles I don’t know yet.
Hi there.
I have a theory that there is quite a bit of difference between US firefighting and European firefighting.
In this article/discussion, I’ll try and tell a bit about how we do things in Denmark, and hopefully it’ll be a learning experience to both me and you.
I’ll start by telling (or trying) to tell a bit about the 3 levels of emergency service in Denmark.
Please note that this is only about fire departments – NOT EMS/Ambulance. This will come later.
A bit about Denmark
Denmark is a small European country located north of Germany and east of the UK. See the attached map, for location (the red stuff is Denmark)
Denmark holds about 6 million people, and the government is a democracy, but we do also have a monarchy and a queen (same system as in the UK).
The 3 levels of emergency management
Level 1 is the local cities emergency service. Each county is responsible for the fire department, and in case of disasters all counties must be able to provide food and housing for 5% of its population.
The fire department can be either 100% volunteer (only in a small part of the country), part-time (works the same way as volunteer, but they get paid like 15$ an hour), or a full-time department.
Level 1 has 5 minutes to get the vehicles out of the garage, after the alarm is received.
Level 2 is manned by volunteer firefighters from a county, but the equipment is paid by the state (DEMA), and only responds to major incidents. Every level 2 department covers about 10-20 counties.
Level 2 has 30 minutes to get the vehicles out of the garage, after the alarm is received.
DEMA stands for Danish Emergency Management Agency, and is the nationwide state fire department.
Level 3 is a 2 part system.
Level 3, is the highest, most advanced level of fire department/HAZMAT and will be called in, when all others fail.
Part 1 is made up by five civil defense (also DEMA) barracks with enlisted men (about 25% of all men in the age of 18 will be drafted for either the army or civil defense service).
It might sound crazy that our most advanced firefighters are enlisted men, but they get an intense 4 months education before they get to perform on their own.
Part 2 is made up of a volunteer unit (150 members) residing at one of the barracks, and another unit having its own barrack (300 members). This is where I am a firefighter.
Level 3 has 10 minutes to get the vehicles out of the garage, after the alarm is received, the volunteers has 60 minutes.
An example of the 3 level system:
The local fire department, level 1, gets called out to a fire at a chemical factory.
They start to rescue people, block of the area and contain the fire.
The incident commander quickly realizes that he doesn’t have the equipment to contain the massive chemical spill. He calls in the level 3 department to help.
The level 3 department arrives, and the spill is under control.
The fire is very big, and it will take several days to extinguish. The level 1 is send home, and the volunteers of level 2 and 3 is send in to extinguish the fires together with the enlisted level 3. If the county has a volunteer department besides the part-time, they will also be used.
As you can read, the levels are not fixed, but the level 1 department will always be called out, since they are the fire department of the local county, and they are the first responders (and because the county is ALLWAYS responsible for the incident).
I hope you guys understand this :-)
If not, feel free to ask.
What’s next in my little series of articles I don’t know yet.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sune Schønnemann on
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What country is that?
I have never heard of NFPA before... It seams like a US-thing...
But the gear we use live up to the EU-safety specs..
About the training, I'll write a complete list about it some time...
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Permalink Reply by Pascal Marchand on
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Hello Sune
Your article is very intresting to read, i'm waiting for your next. Here in Quebec, our fire service is very much like the rest of North America. They are all related to the city or township they serve and are compose of volunter, part time or carrer full time it basicly it depend on the size of the city. The big difference is that a small township volunteer cant always rely on help from a bigger level of service provided by the county or state. They rely on the others townships department close to them.
Pascal Marchand
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That's the good thing about this being a small country with not to long distances..
The entire country is covered the DEMA/level3 and level2... As well as the possibility for getting assistance from other level1 departments...
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Permalink Reply by Oldman on
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Sune,
The National Incident Management System or NIMS is used in the US for the control and mitigation of incidents according to the scale or size of the incident. This system is similar to what you have described except that a "Type 5" incident utilizes local resources (regardless if paid or not). A "Type 4" adds county/city wide resources. A "Type 3" incident causes state resources, etc. A "Type 1" incident, is a national scale incident which has the potential to disrupt the infrastructure of the entire US.
While it does not delineate the type of personnel (ie paid vs on call or volunteer) I see a lot of similarities. It is interesting to learn how other countries operate.
Thanks
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Thanks for this short NIMS-introduction... I've been thinking about taking some NFA NIMS-courses to learn about this...
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Hi all, look here:
http://www.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/firefighting-in-denmark
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