City of Kruševac hosted the Ohio National Guard in the City Hall, a visit organized by the Emergency Situations Sector of MIA (Ministry of Internal Affairs), and the Firefighting Department, and within the partnership program between the United States and the Republic of Serbia. The members of the guard (Eric Roddy, Chad Slonaker, and Jakob Staggs) stayed in Kruševac and discussed about the methods of developing firefighting.
Before the meeting, a joint drill had been held with the members of the Firefighting Department of Kruševac, Voluntary Firefighting Associations “Jasika” and “Zmaj”, and Police Forces, as a part of the formal visit.
After the drill’s conclusion, the Ohio delegation and other guests attended a meeting with Mayor Manojlović and the Head of Defense and Emergency Situations Department Dušan Todorović, with the latter holding a presentation about the state of firefighting and Military – Civilian cooperation in Kruševac.
One of the meeting takeaways was that the prevention was not the most important sole segment but investment into equipment and the education of manpower were another essential segments. Mayor Manojlović highlighted the fact that the experience of the American delegation was priceless, taking into account their highly-developed volunteering system, believing that this visit was a good opportunity to exchange ideas, suggestions, and anything else either side saw to be of great importance.
During the previous year, Serbia saw over 2000 firefighting activities, with more than 8000 volunteers taking action against the fires. Kruševac currently houses three volunteering firefighting associations who have taken part in firefighting activities in other countries, such as Greece, Albania, Northern Macedonia, and others.
President of Volunteer Firefighting Association of Serbia Dragan Ćapin have said that volunteers go through specialized training courses, which are comparable to those professional firefighters have to pass, adding that strenghtening of their network is highly needed.
Another topic during the meeting was the possibilities for improving the status of volunteer firefighters, educating and involving children and youth, encouraging them to become a part of firefighting as much as possible.
After the meeting, the guests had the pleasure of visiting the Mosaic Hall of the City Hall of Kruševac, and witness the beauty of the carefully hand-created mosaics.
