As of today, the number of people in Estonia for whom rescue services are constantly available within a 15-minute response time has increased by about 121 000.
PRIORITIES
3. Strengthening the rescue capability
Photo: Vassili Sokolov/ Rescue Service
27
distribution of residents, thereby further shortening the response time of rescue teams. However, the location of rescue crews in the network only serves to create the preconditions necessary for saving human lives. The actual rescue efficiency depends on properly-trained fast rescue workers with modern equipment. Indeed, the strengthening of the rescue capability will continue in 2013 primarily in the area of improving the quality and speed of the activities of rescue teams. Similar to ambulance vehicles, the Emergency Centre and the Rescue Board’s rescue trucks will start using the GIS-112 information system to be completed in an Estonian-Swiss joint project in 2013. The system automatically positions both the person making the emergency call and rescue teams corresponding to the caller’s needs, and forwards instructions on how to quickly reach the caller straight to the vehicle. The system will help shorten the average response time by up to a minute.
Modern equipment One technical innovation, which the rescue crews have
recently introduced, is thermal cameras. In 2013, the number of rescue crews using thermal cameras will grow from its current level of four to 24. Thermal cameras help rescue workers render the invisible visible – in a room filled with thick smoke, effectively helping determine the location of people so that rescue workers can penetrate the smoke and save people more safely and up to ten times as fast. In 2013, 16 telescopic rescue poles will be purchased in order to develop water rescue capability, and new personal protection equipment will be procured in order to improve the work safety of rescue workers. Other steps related to work organisation will also be taken towards strengthening the rescue capability. Strengthening the rescue capability will remain our priority now and in the coming years. Protecting human lives as of the highest value is one of our main tasks. The Ministry of the Interior is already planning activities for 2015 and onwards, with the aim to bring the rescue capability to the same level with countries whose example Estonia is following.