President of International Technical Committee for the Prevention and Extinction of Fire (CTIF) Milan Dubravac shares his views
The International Technical Committee for the Prevention and Extinction of Fire (CTIF) is the oldest and largest international Fire Association in the world. It was founded in 1900 in Paris, France with the main objective written in its founding document: to exchange knowledge. This objective remains at the centre of all CTIF activities.
The most important part of CTIF is its associate members (Corporations and businesses) who can participate and contribute to the work the technical committee is undertaking. At present there are 70 Associate members which puts the organisation in an strong position in being able to merge fire services with fire industry and have some influence on where the fire and safety industry is headed in the future.
Looking ahead, climate change is going to be a big future challenge. The global market of fire and safety industry is expected to grow rapidly in next few years and the and the green transition is going to play a significant role in how it develops. The importance of cooperation between fire and safety industry and CTIF is going to be bigger than ever.
CTIF’s Extrication New Technology Commission is directly connected with many companies and is involved in contribution of ideas for future new products and technologies. The main objective of these collaborations for CTIF is to contribute to the development of new products and follow new trends in the field of health and safety of our operational members.
New energy source in transportation, decontamination of firefighting PPE, new regulation on the use of non-fluorine foams and new concepts on fighting wildfires are some of priorities where CTIF is working together with the fire safety industry.
In the last year CTIF organised a webinar on climate changes topics as well as organising one of world’s largest firefighting events: the International Fire Brigade Competitions, popularly called the Firefighting Olympics. We also restarted all Commissions and working groups activities after the pandemic subsided.
In next year we will face new challenges with ISO standard 17840 implementation. We are involved in several EU Projects and continue work in all Commissions and working groups. We will also extend our collaboration with firefighting organisations in South and North America.
Global changes will bring more challenges in the future to fire service’s role in the community. The increasing importance for international cooperation between firefighters worldwide and stronger Communication with other organisations will be vital. In CTIF we are aware of that and will continue our more than 120 year-long international dedication for sharing knowledge between firefighters.
CTIF welcomes professionals and volunteers from around the world. Currently there is 40 member countries and brings together the people and resources in a non-hierarchical setting where chief and firefighter, professional and volunteer are on equal footing, appreciated by personal merits and achievements over title and rank.
The core of CTIF are our ordinary members who send representatives once per year to the CTIF Delegates Assembly, to vote on important issues and to elect representatives in the CTIF Executive Committee. The main work of CTIF is done in 17 different Commissions and working groups with wide area of activities. CTIF is open Association and is sharing all results through website www.ctif.org. CTIF prepares also worldwide largest annual fire statistic report.
About the influencer
Milan Dubravac, the President of International Technical Committee for the Prevention and Extinction of Fire (CTIF) is a career senior fire officer from Slovenia, the EU Country with highest number of firefighters per capita in the world. Dubravac’s 35 years of experience in firefighting led him to several head operational Command positions within Slovenia.
He joined CTIF in 2001 as member of HazMat Commission and became Vice President in 2015. In November 2020 he was elected as a President. Dubravac is external lecturer of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and co-author of IAEA Manual for first responders which is the most downloaded manual in the history of IAEA. He is also trained expert in EU Civil Protection Mechanism and was a member of EU forest fires expert group until 2015.
This article was originally published in the November edition of IFSJ. To read your FREE digital copy, click here.