Firefighting Worldwide - Slovenia

Slovenia

The organization of firefighting in Slovenia has many similarities with firefighting in Austria, because of the historical influence. The emphasis is on volunteer fire departments which are non-profit organization by the law. As of 2008, there are 1295 volunteer fire departments and 68 industrial voluntary fire departments with more than 133,000 voluntary firefighters which represent the backbone of firefighting service in Slovenia. The activity of the volunteer fire departments is financially supported by local community, but fire departments are also allowed to collect private donations. The voluntary fire departments are also heavily involved in community activities, especially in smaller towns and villages. The general organization of voluntary firefighting service is named Gasilska zveza Slovenije.

In addition to voluntary firefighters there are also 34 career fire departments (13 of them provide public fire service in bigger cities, the rest of them on main airports and big industrial facilities, including power plants) with more than 900 firefighters. These professional firefighters are financially supported by the employers (in industry and at the airports), but public fire departments are supported by the Slovenian Ministry of Defense.

Both voluntary and professional firefighters must undergo a formal training to become qualified for the firefighting duty.