Firemen Professional Holiday

On September 14 the Bulgarian firemen celebrate their professional holiday. On September 14, 1905 the First Firemen Council was held, which initiated the organized fire-protection activities in Bulgarian. Today the National Fire Safety and Protection of Population Service /NFSPPS/ is a specialized service at Ministry of the Interior /MoI/ authorized to carry out state fire control, fire fighting and emergency rescue operations. During implementation of its tasks this service performs fire fighting and emergency rescue operations, state fire control, research works, collecting, processing, use and submission of information concerning fire and emergency safety. NFSPPS realizes its activities by 28 regional units and Directorate, which implements methodical management and control of the regional units. There are district fire services and fire stations at the municipalities. Their distribution allows the achievement of good protection against fires, disasters and emergencies at the outermost regions of the country. One of the main parts of control and priority activity of NFSPPS is the prevention work, especially the work with children and youths. Research works of NFSPPS are performed by the Research Institute for Fire and Emergency Safety /RIFES/, which makes accredited testing in the field of fire resistance of substances and materials, their combustibility, fire and explosion hazard etc. Very important part of NFSPPS research works in the EU accession process and introduction of European norms requirements is the standardization activity in the field of fire and emergency safety. RIFES has become a full member of the European group of official laboratories for fire testing /EGOLF/ since 2004. The Fire Safety and Protection of Population Service Week is held throughout the country from September 10th to 17th.