The legislation for volunteer firefighters, the valuable group of citizens that assists in the efforts of the Fire Service to deal with difficult situations with fires and natural disasters, is changing.
The relatively recently passed law on volunteer firefighters (four years ago) following suggestions by the Fire Service, will change form, since volunteers will now be assigned special duties, in addition to extinguishing fires, while provisions for compulsory training, qualifications and provision of special uniforms will be included. At the moment, the teams of volunteer firefighters number more than 400 people and are considered a strong arm for the efforts of the firefighting forces, especially during the first response until the firefighters arrive.
The Ministry of Justice and Public Order has prepared a bill, the purpose of which is to amend the Volunteer Firefighters Law of 2022, in order to enable the chief fire chief to assign special duties to volunteer firefighters, depending on their professional or other qualifications, knowledge, skills, experience, training or certification.
Also, the bill regulates, among other things, the conditions for obtaining the status of a volunteer firefighter for the performance of special duties, the required training and evaluation, the assignment and recording of the duties he will perform, the maintenance of the necessary professional qualifications, licenses or certifications, as well as issues related to the suspension of the status of a volunteer firefighter or even its loss.
The bill gives the chief fire chief, depending on the needs of the Fire Service, the power to assign special duties to a volunteer firefighter. Such can be the operation of drones, other technical means or the assignment of special tasks related to search and rescue of lives at risk of natural or other disasters, prevention and extinguishing of fires, provision of assistance in cases of threat to life or property and protection of the environment from natural disasters.
It is also provided that a volunteer firefighter performs only the duties for which he has been trained, certified, where required and deemed suitable and which have been assigned to him by the chief fire chief or by a member of the Fire Brigade authorized by him.
A volunteer firefighter who is assigned special duties shall not participate in operational activities unless he has successfully completed the required training and has been deemed suitable. The duties that each volunteer firefighter may perform and any restrictions on their execution are determined by the chief firefighter and are registered in the Special Register of Volunteer Firefighters provided for in article 17.
The bill does not make distinctions as to who can be appointed as a volunteer firefighter, since it is provided that any citizen of the Republic or of another member state of the European Union or of a third country, who has not reached the age of 65 and has resided permanently in the Republic for at least the last three years, may acquire the status of volunteer firefighter exclusively for the performance of special duties, If:
(a) is in good mental and physical health, commensurate with the nature of the duties to be assigned to him;
(b) Possess the professional or other qualifications, knowledge, skills, experience, licence or certification required to perform those tasks;
(c) Has the required, depending on the nature of the duties, knowledge of the Greek or English language;
(d) Has a clean criminal record;
(e) The specialties, qualifications, licenses, certifications and any other conditions required for the performance of special duties.
