The Ministry of the Interior has published a nation-wide report on how well the targets set for rescue services and their finances have been achieved in the wellbeing services counties. The report recommends that the counties focus on recruitment of rescuers and preparedness for civil defence. They should also step up their efforts on incident and accident prevention with a view to reducing the number of incidents, accidents and fires across Finland.
The current report by the Ministry of the Interior provides a situational picture of rescue services and their finances across the country. While the rescue services have maintained a good service level overall, differences exist between wellbeing services counties.
The report highlights differences in the performance of demanding tasks in different counties. Such demanding tasks include building fires, water rescue, rescue from height, combating environmental damage and CBRN tasks (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives incidents). If the tasks call for special expertise and special equipment, challenges arise especially in sparsely populated areas or outside built-up areas.
The report carries data on the implementation of services in the first year of operation of the wellbeing services counties in 2023. It also gives an extensive overview of the needs for further development. The Ministry of the Interior will draw on the said report when conducting annual negotiations with the wellbeing services counties.
Stepping up efforts to prevent incidents and accidents
The number of fires has remained stable at around 12,000 per year. The national target is to halve the number of fires by 2030, which requires that all wellbeing services counties invest heavily in prevention work.
The number of other types of accidents is decreasing. Preliminary data show that especially in case of traffic accidents a positive trend also continued in 2024.
Room for improvement in civil defence preparedness
Although progress has been made in preparedness for civil defence, the resources and planning are not found to be at a sufficient level in the wellbeing services counties. Changes in the security environment require further development of preparedness and rescue services.
“Preparedness for rescue operations and civil defence must be improved systematically and over the long term. In the current security environment, we need to deploy adequate resources on these particular tasks,” says Kimmo Kohvakka, Director General for Rescue Services.
The most critical factor: availability of skilled personnel
The financial situation of the wellbeing services counties poses challenges to further development of rescue services. In the coming years, the sufficiency of funding will be challenged by the growing need for rescuers, costs associated with changes in the security environment and preparedness for these changes, and needs to invest in information systems and rescue equipment, among others.
The availability of skilled personnel remains the most critical factor affecting the services provided by rescue departments. The number of student places for rescuers has consequently been increased since 2024. The wellbeing services counties should ensure the recruitment of rescuers in their respective areas in order to secure rescue services. The functioning of the rescue services system also implies enough personnel at contract fire brigades.
Inquiries: Tiina Snellman, Director of Strategy and Coordination, tel. +358 295 488 638, firstname.lastname@gov.fi Jaana Määttälä, Chief Specialist, tel. +358 295 488 386, firstname.lastname@gov.fi
