Risk and Protection of Fire Fighting Voluntary Fire Brigades in Slovakia

This paper deals with the intervention activities of voluntary fire brigades in municipalities in cooperation with professional fire brigades. It emphasizes the need of the voluntary fire activities their awareness towards dangerous situations. There are many risks sometimes underestimated during the fire attack or other fire brigade activities. Respecting the basic rules of work prevents the injuries and fatalities. The paper focus on most often dangerous situation and bad habits of the volunteers which are very risky in the sense of health safety. The paper states the types of interventions defined and the requirements for the necessary equipment. List of selected risks for intervening fire fighters and their causes is written. The last part describes firefighter injuries caused by their fault in sense of ignoring basic Health and Safety rules.