Integration of Firefighters Into The Civil Defense Structures
Gheorghe Pohrib expanded the responsibility of the firefighters to other types of rescue operations. In 1928, the International Committee of the Red Cross raised for the first time the issue of creating structures in charge of the protection of civilian population against chemical attacks and of preparing regulations to deal with such events. A special commission for the study and proposal of measures for civil defense was instituted by order No. 513 of June 21, 1928 of the Ministry of War. The commission included colonel Gheorghe Pohrib, head of the firefighter department, colonel George E. Popescu, head of the department of defense against chemical warfare as well as representatives of various concerned ministries. After one year the commission presented its conclusions to the Council of Ministers who, on October 25, 1929, approved the proposed instructions, to which colonel Gheorghe Pohrib had contributed to a significant extent. This is the first legislation in Romania which created an organization for the protection of the civilian population in case of an armed conflict.
Colonel Gheorghe Pohrib had an essential contribution in preparing the legislation for civil defense (called “passive defense” at that time). Law No. 1245 of 1933 and Royal Decree 468 of February 28, 1933 defined the responsibilities of the firefighters in preparation, mitigation and response in civil defense operations. As a result, the military firefighter unit were provided with special machinery, equipment, accessories and materials required for saving people trapped under wrecked buildings, for decontamination of poisonous gases, for the destruction of unexploded bombs, for alerting the population and for medical first aid. The day of promulgation of the Decree, February 28, has since been declared the “Day of Civil Defense”.
Colonel Gheorghe Pohrib continued his efforts to ensure the legal provisions required for the activities of the firefighters and was able to convince the authorities to approve Law 815 of April 3, 1936 for the Organization of the Corps of Military Firefighters.
Pohrib retired in 1937 after having been commander of the Romanian military firefighters for over 17 years, the longest interval any firefighter chief ever held the position. The organization he set was to be tested and to prove its efficiency a few years after his retirement, in the years of World War II.
Read more about this topic: Gheorghe Pohrib
Famous quotes containing the words integration of, integration, civil, defense and/or structures:
“The more specific idea of evolution now reached is—a change from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity, accompanying the dissipation of motion and integration of matter.”
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)
“The more specific idea of evolution now reached is—a change from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity, accompanying the dissipation of motion and integration of matter.”
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)
“Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer;
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,
Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike;
Alike reserved to blame, or to commend,
A timorous foe, and a suspicious friend;
Dreading e’en fools, by flatterers besieged,
And so obliging, that he ne’er obliged;
Like Cato, give his little senate laws,
And sit attentive to his own applause:”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“There’s no telling what might have happened to our defense budget if Saddam Hussein hadn’t invaded Kuwait that August and set everyone gearing up for World War II½. Can we count on Saddam Hussein to come along every year and resolve our defense-policy debates? Given the history of the Middle East, it’s possible.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)
“The philosopher believes that the value of his philosophy lies in its totality, in its structure: posterity discovers it in the stones with which he built and with which other structures are subsequently built that are frequently better—and so, in the fact that that structure can be demolished and yet still possess value as material.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)