Firefighters from Catalonia will train their counterparts in Ireland, France and Wales

Barcelona (ACN).- Catalan firefighters will train fire services of other countries. They will present their experiences in fire prevention, taking into account Catalonia’s unique geographic diversity, which mixes a significant variety of landscapes. The Catalan Government’s Director General of Fire Prevention, Jordi Gassió, Director of the Institute of Public Safety, Núria Aymerich and the Director of the Pau Costa Foundation for Fire Ecology and Management, Albert Bartolomé signed the agreement allowing Catalan Government’s firefighters to train their international counterparts. In the words of Gassió, Catalonia has “a diversity of terrain and vegetation which increase the types of fire”. According to the Catalan Institute of Public Safety, Ireland and France have registered for these courses and Wales is about to do the same.

The Director of the Institute of Public Safety of Catalonia said that “these classes aim to provide customised training to Ireland and France, while we are still working to define the course in the case of Wales”. The Institute for Security said that 17 firefighters will be coming from Ireland and 19 from France, also adding that the teachers will be solely firefighters.

In the theory and practical classes they will teach themes such as forest fires, ‘technical fires’ (using controlled fires to prevent a bigger fire) and they will give an in depth analysis of the conditions needed to properly extinguish a forest fire. In addition, Núria Aymerich said that one of the key focuses of the convention is “to share experience” that firefighters from the different countries have. The organisers of these courses have stated that their goal is to export the Catalan firefighters’ knowledge and their experience in extinguishing fires. Experience which “should not just remain in Catalonia but be taught internationally”, according to the organisers. Moreover, the Catalan Government’s Director General of Fire Prevention, Fire Fighting and Rescue said “no fire fighter has had the luck or misfortune of experiencing every type of fire and for this reason it is necessary to share experience with others, so as to know how to react to a different type of fire”. He also added that the unique feature of Catalonia is that there is “a diversity of terrain and vegetation which increase the diversity of fires”.