Action Plan to improve Fire Safety across Europe

Most of the European victims of home fires are preventable, that’s why, the European Fire Safety Alliance (EuroFSA) launches, its Action Plan to improve Fire Safety across Europe.

click for the summary of the European Fire Safety Action Plan

In November 2019, the European Fire Safety Alliance organised the first European Fire Safety Week and draw the attention to fire safety at many levels. Built on events’ conclusions and surveys held within the framework, the Action Plan paves the way of EuroFSA’s work for the two upcoming years. Ten concrete actions have been identified with the aim at reducing fires and casualties in the event of a fire, with a particular attention to Europe’s most vulnerable communities. ‘This Action Plan represents a very first example of combining knowledge of best practices with the aim of shaping a European approach that will save lives. Many professionals, industries and organisations from the fire sector have shared creative, pragmatic and successful initiatives to reduce fire risk.’ Elie van Strien, Chair of the European Fire Safety Alliance says.

‘Under the lead of René Hagen from the Dutch Fire Academy, we drafted together a solid agenda that will make the difference in improving fire safety across Europe’ continued van Strien. The action plan is based on six focus areas and results in ten concrete actions. These actions focus on how to increase fire safety of pieces of furniture and mattresses; promote a broader use of smoke detectors and automatic suppression systems; support fire safety competencies to accompany the energy transition of buildings; encourage and support Communities Fire Safety; stimulate scientific research and data collection; improve the work and widen the scope of the Fire Information Exchange Platform; and last but not least, increase cross-border cooperation among Member States on Market Surveillance.

This plan lays the foundation for the European fire safety policy. The ambitious programme will be undertaken in cooperation with relevant parties such as officials from the European Commission, Members of the European Parliament, national and regional bodies, academics, fire fighters, fire services and industries that all were around the table. EuroFSA will take a leading role in establishing and fostering the collaboration. Van Strien: ‘We believe that most of the European victims of home fires are preventable and we look forward to cooperating will all relevant EU actors for the protection of EU citizens. The time to act on fire safety is now.’

click for the summary of the European Fire Safety Action Plan