Forest fires, floods and landslides are among the natural phenomena that are likely to have longer duration and be more extensive than before.
Margaret McNamee, a professor at Lund University, leads the project "Nordic Fire and Rescue Services in the Twenty-First Century". The project is part of NordForsk's research area in societal security and involves researchers from Norway, Sweden and Denmark. They are investigating how fire and rescue services (FRS) function in these countries today and making recommendations on how they can adapt to societal changes such as climate-related weather events.
"We see a lot of similarities between the Nordic countries' preparedness efforts. One thing they have in common is that there is a lot of co-operation across authorities such as police, rescue workers and hospitals. The Nordic countries are good at sharing responsibilities in crisis situations and resolving dangerous situations as they arise," says Margaret McNamee.
Many in the fire and rescue services are employed part-time and have a second job on the side. According to Margaret McNamee, this can be a great advantage because they can bring this experience into play in crisis situations.
"We have seen several examples of how a firefighter who is also a trained carpenter, nurse, or something completely different is good at using these skills in their work as a firefighter. There are slightly different requirements for fire and rescue service employees concerning education, and the education system is undergoing change, but we can see that they are good at using the extra knowledge and experience that some people have without it having formalised this process," she says.
Rescue services have formal and informal networks
When disasters or accidents occur, you rely on both formal and informal emergency response networks.
The formal networks include those that are regulated by law or where existing written agreements exist. The Swedish law states that every municipality must offer fire and rescue services and that the fire and rescue services must protect people, property, and the environment, but it doesn't say how. The law sets an objective and then it is up to the emergency management authorities in each country to translate the legal text into practice. In Sweden this is the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), in Norway the Directorate for Civil Protection and Preparedness (DSB) and in Denmark the Danish Emergency Management Agency. These agencies draw up regulations for the fire and rescue services, and there is quite a lot of freedom for the municipalities to decide how they want to organise themselves.
Informal networks are usually found in particular in rural areas, where voluntary organisations, individuals or other local actors step in and offer their help when accidents occur. It is especially in these geographical areas that part-time emergency responders are also found.
The project has investigated specific cases to identify formal and informal problem-solving networks. In 2021, there was an explosion in a residential area in Gothenburg and the church, located a short distance from where the accident happened, offered shelter, food and warmth to those affected. This is an example of an informal network. Another example was a landslide in Norway, where a child was trapped in a collapsed house. A rescue dog happened to be nearby and was able to help in the search, which had a happy ending. The dog was not part of the fire and rescue services, but came to the rescue through informal contacts in the area and was a welcome help.
"The two specific examples from Gothenburg and Norway are consistent with our findings, which show that in major incidents, informal actors often become important in rescue efforts. But that this is often help that is unorganised, spontaneous and dependent on the specific disaster situation," says Margaret Mcnamee.
Three suggestions for emergency services
The researchers in the project have shown that the Nordic countries have good and efficient fire and rescue services, but they also point out challenges and offer three suggestions for solutions. These are initial findings as the project will continue through 2024.
"One challenge in the years to come will be to adapt the fire and rescue services to accidents and crises that are exacerbated by climate change. They require a different type of response than what has been standard procedure for the fire and rescue services so far. There will be crises that are larger in scale and most likely longer in duration. These could be forest fires, floods or landslides. We therefore recommend offering specialised training that corresponds to the incidents we expect to see in the future," she says.
The researchers' second suggestion is based on experiences from rescue efforts in rural areas in the Nordic region.
"In rural areas, you have fewer staff and are more dependent on local volunteers. We believe there are more opportunities to strengthen preparedness in these areas. There is a need to map the part-time employee’s experiences and competences in order to obtain a better overview and be able to use these latent resources. This is partially done today, but we believe it can be done more systematically."
The third suggestion from the research project is to strengthen communication between emergency services. Complex incidents require complex handling, which places greater demands on communication, they emphasise.
