Fire department in Italy

Coat of arms of the Italian fire brigade

Italian fire brigade vehicle

Firefighters at a 2006 parade in Rome

Fire station in Venice

Fire station on Via Marmorata, Testaccio , Rome

Civil defense fire-fighting aircraft that went to fire brigade in 2013

The fire brigade in Italy ( Italian Vigili del Fuoco , fire watchman ) can be reached throughout Italy on the emergency numbers 115 or 112.

organization

With a few exceptions, the area of responsibility of fire brigades in Italy is regulated by national laws. Italy has a national fire brigade , the Corpo Nazionale dei Vigili del Fuoco , which consists of full-time and volunteer firefighters. This is subordinate to the main department for fire, rescue and civil defense ( Dipartimento dei Vigili del Fuoco, del Soccorso Pubblico e della Difesa Civile ) of the Ministry of the Interior in Rome . The eight departments of the Dipartimento manage and organize all areas of the Italian fire brigade, which has around 32,000 full-time employees. So-called coordination inspectorates exist at regional level . The most important local body of the Italian fire brigade is the fire brigade command in the respective provinces , which also functions as a control center . The fire stations are subordinate to the provincial commandos , of which in recent years, especially in northern Italy, more and more volunteer firefighters have been given responsibility. Volunteer firefighters are also deployed in Italy to reinforce fire stations that normally only have full-time staff. The harbor and airport fire brigades are part of the national fire brigade and are subordinate to the regionally responsible provincial command.

Until 2005, the military service could be done with the national Italian fire brigade. After the suspension of compulsory military service , the Italian Civil Service Office introduced the option (analogous to the now voluntary one-year military service) to do a one-year voluntary civil service in the fire department. There are also other forms of volunteer work in the fire service.

In various rural areas of Italy, the network of fire stations is not very dense. For a long time, the Corpo Forestale dello Stato (forestry authority) took care of the prevention and fighting of forest fires. In 2016, the CFS was largely taken over by the Carabinieri , and to a lesser extent by the fire brigade. In many municipalities, the municipal technical service ( servizio tecnico comunale ) also has certain fire-fighting capabilities.

The fire brigades in South Tyrol , Trentino and Aosta Valley are independent organizations. In contrast to the rest of Italy, the fire brigade in South Tyrol and Trentino relies almost exclusively on volunteer fire brigades .

education

Training is subordinate to the central training department in Rome. There is a higher fire brigade school, a national training center and special schools for the training of pilots and divers as well as a sports center. The regional inspectorates oversee training at regional and provincial level. They report to the fire schools in Varallo Sesia ( Piedmont ), Dalmine ( Lombardy ), Bologna ( Emilia-Romagna ), Senigallia ( Marche ), Terni ( Umbria ), Naples ( Campania ), Bari ( Apulia ) and Lamezia Terme ( Calabria ). The provincial commandos also have training facilities that offer numerous courses.

history

Immediately after the unification of Italy there were fire service organizations ( pompieri ) of various quality at the local level . As a rule, it was about volunteer fire brigades, which z. T. were furnished according to medieval patterns. In the 1860s, numerous municipalities and entire regions had no organized fire brigade. It was not until 1935 that a law (No. 2472, October 10, 1935) created a national legal basis for the fire-fighting system and the corresponding agencies were set up at the national level and in the provinces. This was a national coordinating inspectorate in the Ministry of the Interior and initially independent provincial fire brigades. These fire brigades consisted of permanent staff (professional fire brigade) and volunteer firefighters (volunteer fire brigade) who were entered in appropriate lists and could be alerted and called upon for duty if necessary. However, this system was not about independent volunteer fire brigades in the common sense, but about voluntary reinforcements of the professional fire brigade.

In 1939 the Corpo Nazionale dei Vigili del Fuoco was created , and central training facilities were also created. A law of December 27, 1941 repealed all previous provisions on fire brigades and created a completely new legal framework in this area, which essentially remains to this day. A new legal regulation created in 1950 made it possible for conscripts to be drafted into the fire service on request in order to meet the increasing needs in this area. This measure also created a trained staff for emergencies. In 1961 the last responsibilities of the provinces in the fire brigade were lifted, creating a purely national civil organization. In addition to the central offices in the Ministry of the Interior and at the provincial level, there were also offices at the regional level, which have special facilities and units that support the provincial commands if necessary. The Italian fire brigade also set up helicopter squadrons and procured fire boats . The old fire department of the Ministry of the Interior was expanded from 1970 to include civil protection (today at the Prime Minister's Office , Dipartimento della Protezione Civile ) and civil defense .

The fire brigade has been the backbone of Italian civil defense since 1992. This is not a permanent civil protection body of its own, but a system that bundles all civil protection resources at the level of the municipalities, provinces , regions and the state according to the principle of subsidiarity and uses them accordingly if necessary. At the national level, in addition to the fire brigade u. a. The Italian Army , the Italian Red Cross and the Italian Police are also part of the civil protection system, in which numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are involved with their volunteers. In contrast to the German-speaking countries, voluntary work in Italy is mainly focused on civil defense and less on the fire brigade. The voluntary civil protection helpers are usually trained and deployed by the NGOs (often also by the fire brigade), whereby the coordination lies with the civil protection offices. A total of around 1.3 million volunteers are currently registered with civil defense, of which 60,000 can be deployed within a very short time, and another 300,000 within a few hours.

In the past, it has been suggested that both the fire brigade and the now dissolved Corpo Forestale dello Stato be transferred to the area of responsibility of the Italian regions. Approaches to reform in this regard were nipped in the bud by the members or lobby groups of the fire brigade and the CFS because they did not want to give up their respective “ corporate identity ” and various other privileges. In official announcements it was stated again and again that regionalization would lead to deterioration or to cost increases in training. Procurement and logistics can also be organized more efficiently and cost-effectively within the national framework. In the event of major emergencies and disasters, a national organization is also more appropriate.

2013, the national fire brigade took over the firefighting aircraft type Canadair CL-415 , which had previously part of the Italian civil protection.

Museums

There are three fire brigade museums . The museum in Rome-Ostinense (Via Marmorata 15) deals in particular with the history of the fire brigades in the Roman Empire and in the city of Rome as well as with some special units of the modern fire brigade (divers, airmen, cave rescue ). Another museum is in Mantua . Various fire stations have smaller exhibitions, of which the one in Chiavenna in Lombardy has gained national importance.

Ranks

Professional firefighters

The various career groups in Italy and the German-speaking countries show differences. For an exact description of these differences, please refer to the articles Ranks of the Italian Police Forces and Ranks of the Italian Armed Forces . The new rank badges for the Italian fire brigade, introduced in February 2012, are based on those of the Italian civilian police. The fire brigade has its own civil rank designations.

Italian rank	German equivalent	Remarks
Vigile del Fuoco (VF)	(Main fire extinguishing supervisor) (A5 / OR-4)	Candidate (12 months) is called an allievo .
Vigile Qualificato (VQ)	(Chief fire extinguishing supervisor) (A5)	5 years after being appointed Vigile del Fuoco
Vigile Esperto (VE)	(First main fire-fighting supervisor) (A5Z)	10 years after being appointed Viglie del Fuoco
Vigile Coordinator (VC)	(First main fire-fighting supervisor) (A5Z)	15 years after being appointed Vigile del Fuoco
Capo Squadra (CS)	Fire chief (A7 / OR-5)	Internal examination, course (previously 6 years of service)
Capo Squadra Esperto (CSE)	Fire chief (A7 / OR-6)	5 years after being named Cap Squadra
Capo Reparto (CR)	Chief Fire Officer (A8 / OR-7)	Internal examination, course
Capo Reparto Esperto (CRE)	Chief Fire Officer	5 years after being appointed Capo Reparto
Vice Ispettore Antincendi (VIA)	Chief Fire Officer (A9 / OR-8)	Abitur, aptitude test, course
Ispettore Antincendi (IA)	Chief fire chief
Ispettore Antincendi Esperto (IAE)	Main fire chief with official allowance (A9Z / OR-9)	Further promotion after examination
Sostituto Direttore Antincendi (SDA)	Chief fire chief with official allowance	with the functions of a fire chief inspector
Sostituto Direttore Antincendi Capo (SDAC)	Chief fire chief with official allowance	with the functions of a fire officer
Sostituto Direttore Antincendi Capo Esperto (SDACE)	Chief fire chief with official allowance	with the functions of a fire department council
Vice Direttore (VDA)	Fire trainee (approx.A10 / OF-1)	Graduated engineers at the Istituto Superiore Antincendi
Direttore (DA)	Fire assessor (approx.A11, A12 / OF-2)
Direttore - Vice Conductors (DVD)	Fire Council, Chief Fire Councilor, Fire Director (A13, 14, 15 / OF-3, 4)
Primo Conductors (PD)	Chief Fire Director (A16 / OF-5)
Conductor Superiore (DS)	Ministerial Conductor (B6 / OF-6)
Conductor Generals (DG)	Ministerial Conductor (B7 / OF-7)
Conductor Generals - Capo del Corpo (DGC)	Ministerial Director (B9 / OF-8)	Chief of the Italian Fire Brigade

Volunteer firefighters

Only a small number of the ranks mentioned above are intended for volunteer firefighters in the Italian state fire brigade. The corresponding badges are supplemented by the addition of volontario .

Italian rank	Rank according to service position	Remarks
Vigile volunteer	Firefighter	Contender is referred to as an allievo .
Capo Squadra Volunteer	Squad leader	(also squad / squadron leader)
Capo Reparto Volontario	Platoon leader	(also group leader)
Tecnico Antincendi Volontario	(Chief fire chief)	Association leaders are professional firefighters