Firefighters of Bjelovar city have their
Headquarters in Bjelovar (Croatia, Europe - more details
can be found on www.bjelovar.com, www.bjelovar.hr).
We cover an area of 1300 km2. At the moment there are
42 operative employees and 3 employees in the administration
department.
 The Fire Department has 11 vehicles, details on vehicles and fire
engines can be seen here.
On average, the Fire Department has 150 interventions a year. 40% of the
interventions are within the town area, and 60% within the surrounding
villages area.
 The Fire Department has qualified employees for a
special emergency unit, which, together with other emergency
teams in the Republic of Croatia, takes part in fighting
forest fires on the coastal area.
During the summer months, in cooperation
with Voluntary Fire Department Bjelovar, some of our employees
go to National Park Mljet, and together with its firemen,
prevent the area from fire.
Apart from their basic activities, firefighters
of Bjelovar (each firefighter is a professional, but
they have other occupations) put a lot of effort in renovating
the building in order to make their working place as
pleasant as possible not only for them, but also for
their guests and visitors.
 The fire-station is regularly renovated inside
and outside, all necessary repairs are made and the old
and worn-out indoor elements are replaced. Unfortunately,
this requires a large amount of financial funds and support.
On 1st of June, 2000 the founder of our fire department became
the Town of Bjelovar, that also finances us. We don't
want to be a big financial burden to our founder, so
we finance ourselves mostly from our own funds.
 To raise money we do the following activities:
we give different fire-prevention insurances, service
and fill up the fire extinguishers, provide auto-ladder
services, transport drinking water to citizens, pump
out wells and cellars, install fire-alarms, provide services
to The County Fire department using our equipment
and men (operational centre).
Thanks to the money made by doing
the above mentioned activities and with the help of
the Town of Bjelovar and Fire Association of Town and
County, in the last three years the following has been
made:
2001:
To make successfully fire interventions
we need fully functioning equipment and fire engines.
During the year we serviced the fire engine ourselves,
but the larger mechanical faults were serviced at the
authorised workshop as follows:
- attack vehicle - the tyres were changed, the driver's cab interior
and equipment storage were redecorated, the springs were reinforced and
our men did the tinsmith works and painted the vehicle
- second attack vehicle - all eleven were changed that cost over 20.000,00
kunas and the engine was fixed
- a truck tank - the springs were reinforced and the gear box was fixed
- a second truck tank - the vehicle hadn’t been functioning since 1999
(a hydro- engine was missing and a water pump wasn't functioning) but
with the help of County Fire Association and Croatian Fire Association
(they donated 1,500 euros) the vehicle was repaired amounting to 5,500
euros. With help of Croatian Fire Association in the amount of 2,000
euros the old and worn out tyres were changed
Apart from the above mentioned, we:
- bought more than 20 different tyres
- bought big batteries
- oil and oil filters were changed and lubricated in every vehicle
- bought washing and cleaning liquids
- bought a machine for car washing under pressure
- finished mounting of vehicles filling equipment (air, power)
- put Fire Department signs on the vehicles
As regards the fire fighting equipment,
we purchased:
- fire hoses "B" and "C" for fire extinguishing
- Town Fire Association bought three universal nozzle
- a power saw was bought for a technical vehicle
- a trimmer was bought for fire extinguishing in the open
- we attested the isolation devices and the bottles (with the help from
Town Fire Association in the amount of 1,500 euros)
- the connections to the isolation devices for the masks were bought
(every firefighters has his own mask for the isolation device)
- 6 lungs automatic pressure regulating devices for the isolation devices
(two of them were bought by Town Fire Association)
- 13 spare batteries for walkie-talkies and 7 completes of Maglite lamps
So that the firefighters of Fire Department
Bjelovar could do their job, it was necessary for them
to have specialist medical exams (when we were with The
Ministry of Internal Affairs, we hadn't had the medical
exams for 6 years) and to pay for the health insurance
according to the Article 51 of The Law on Health. We
also paid for a fire fighter additional insurance (24-
hours insurance) which cost over 8,000 euros.
In the course of that year we bought:
- working uniforms
- coveralls
- T-shirts
- shirts (summer and winter)
- sweaters
- socks
- shoes
- work out equipment
- jubilant prizes were paid off and holiday money refunded
- the St. Nicholas presents for children were bought (each present worth
60 euros)
A lot of money was spent on building reconstruction:
- for the purpose of service for fire extinguishers (spare parts and
equipment; 15,000 euros spent)
- 8 rooms were painted ourselves
- carpets and curtains for all rooms were bought
- for the daily resting rooms we bought new beds, pillows, pillow cases
and sheets
- 10 old windows were replaced with plastic windows and the entrance
door
- we repaired the facade and painted the whole building (our firefighters
did that during their working hours or their free time)
- during the summer firefighters repaired the roof (the flat roof was
leaking)
- to save the electrical power we replaced old bulbs with the power saving
one (more than 40 of them)
- in the small and in the big classroom we replaced blackboards, desks
and chairs and polished and lacquered the parquetry
- to save water we replaced and fixed sanitary equipment worth over 600
euros
- a digital photo camera for taking pictures of interventions and the
mobiles for safer communication among the firefighters at the intervention
sight and the operational centre were bought
- we replaced old wardrobes (the old ones were over 20 years old) and
bought necessary furniture for some offices
2002.:
During the year some firefighters took
different courses and passed the examinations:
- 13 firefighters finished the computer courses that lasted for 2 months,
- 5 firefighters were qualified for working with the power saws,
- 2 firefighters took the examinations for the fire extinguisher servicing,
- 7 firefighters who, according to The Law on the firefighting, had to
pass to expert exams on handling the intervetion, passed them
To make successfully fire interventions
we need fully functioning equipment and fire engines:
- during that year the firefighters repaired the vehicles and the equipment
and only a smaller number (3,000 euros spent) was repaired at the authorized
workshop
- to transport people and equipment to the seaside we bought a new car
at our own expense. According to the decision of The Management Board
of Fire Department Bjelovar we spent for buying a new attack vehicle
in near future
A lot of money was spent for the building
renovation:
- 16 classical windows and 6 doors were bought and mounted
- computer equipment was purchased
- computer equipment was connected into the network
- automatic recording of the intervention calls started
We updated the equipment in the service
for fire extinguishers:
- we expended the activity on selling all types of fire extinguishers
- we started to advertise our services for fire extinguishers
2003:
To make successfully fire interventions
we need fully functioning equipment and fire engines:
- during that year the firefighters repaired the vehicles and the equipment
and only a smaller number was repaired at the authorized workshop
- due to having the old and worn out vehicles and increasing number of
technical interventions, we bought a new vehicle. To intervene quickly
and more efficiently we improved the old equipment and mounted a new
one (a high pressured pump, a holmatro battery expander and the scissors)
- the Fire Department paid for the vehicle 80,000 euros that were earned
by providing our own services. Town Fire Association helped with 7,000
euros and County Fire Association with 3,000 euros
For the firefighters:
- we bought working uniforms and shoes
- every firefighter had a medical exam
- we bought the "laryngo phones" to make the communication
among the firefighters at the intervention sight easier (we are the second
Fire Department in Croatia that has such equipment)
We spent a lot of money on building renovation:
- the Fire Department financed making and mounting the segment garage
doors (9 pieces) in the amount of 30,000 euros from its funds. These
doors provide a quicker and more efficient exit of the vehicle during
the interventions
- we built in the windows and the doors of the main building
- we bought and installed the new fire alarm station which cost 8,000
euros
- we connected the fire alarm station into network with the important
buildings in town, so we are able to intervene quickly and efficiently.
The money raised that way wil be spent on improving the old ones and
buying the new equipment
- we connected the computers into the network together with five Fire
Departments in other parts of Croatia which have necessary equipment
and qualified men to work with it
- we bought necessary computers and the software for the call centre
- we updated the equipment for servicing fire extinguishers, we expanded
the range of fire extinguisheres for selling
- during 2003 we put the slanting roof on the Fire Department instead
of the flat one, which was leaking. The Town of Bjelovar financed the
works with 50,000 euros and the firefighters helped with the works
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