Fire Fighting in Finland - Responsibilities

Responsibilities

Finland has 22 rescue services regions. These regions operate under the supervision of the Ministry of Interior. Each region is responsible for the rescue service within the area. The Rescue departments are responsible of the rescue services within a rescue services region and function as the regional rescue authorities.

The Rescue Departments in Finland have several responsibilities. They include, but are not limited to:

• Accident prevention, damage mitigation and fire inspections, safety education and advice
• Rescue operations
• Civil defence

Rescue departments rarely provide only fire fighting services, but also perform several other types of rescue operations and often also ambulance/emergency medical services for the municipalities.

The rescues service regions have different risk areas. The risk areas are categorised by time constraints set to the rescue service. For example, in risk area 2, the rescue unit must arrive at the accident site within ten minutes of the emergency call.