On 20 June 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the project of the Information center of the Ministry of the Interior “Introduction of a Single Fire Safety and Civil Protection Platform”, which will enable to start the digitization of the state fire safety monitoring and civil protection work.
The strategic objective of this project is to reduce the number of deaths in fires, as well as to improve the overall fire safety situation in Latvia in the long term.
Minister of the Interior, Mr. Māris Kučinskis points out that infrastructure development, both in the field of fire-fighting and rescue and in the area of civil protection, till now has been without proper attention in general, and is currently actively working to address these issues.
"In order to ensure adequate care for people's safety, it is important that the responsible services are informed timely about the potential risks of different types and thus be able to respond as effectively as possible. Modernizing and digitizing the management of civil protection processes is an important step in this direction" – says Mr. Māris Kučinskis.
The public's benefits from the creation of the single fire safety and civil protection platform will be the reduction of human deaths and material losses, which will be achieved by improving the response capacity and fire safety of the State Fire and Rescue Service in Latvia. The public will be specifically informed of the current fire safety requirements and will receive personalized reminders about the state of fire safety and the status of fire protection sites. Given that there has been a shortage of staff in the State Fire and Rescue Service for several years, it is important that, with the development of the Single Fire and Civil Protection Platform, workers who are currently working manually on the data will be unloaded, therefore the workforce will be able to be transferred to other tasks related to the core activities of the State Fire and Rescue Service.
The Single Fire and Civil Protection Platform is planned to be developed by 2026. The introduction of a Single Fire Safety and Civil Protection Platform will provide the possibility for the State Fire and Rescue Service to digitally manage the state fire safety monitoring and civil protection work processes. At present, the circulation of information mainly takes place in paper format. The introduction of a Single Fire Safety and Civil Protection Platform will also ensure the adoption of data-based decisions regarding the deployment of resources of the State Fire and Rescue Service, as well as allow for a more efficient identification of the sites where the State Fire and Rescue Service will plan and perform fire safety inspections.
The project shall be implemented by the beneficiary - Information Centre of the Ministry of the Interior in co-operation with the State Fire and Rescue Service. The total financing of the project is EUR 2 197 272, of which the Recovery Fund is financed at EUR 1 848 000, while national funding is EUR 349 272.
