Rescue operation The party secretary of the Center wonders Ohisalo’s announcement that the Rescue School will continue to operate in Helsinki: “Does not correspond to what was previously agreed”

I’m downtown party secretary Riikka Pirkkalainen wonders the Green Interior Minister Maria Ohisalon the decision announced yesterday that the Rescue School will continue to operate in Helsinki.

“The prospect has long been that the training of rescuers will be fully concentrated in Kuopio. On Wednesday, the Minister of the Interior, Maria Ohisalo (Green), in charge of rescue affairs, decided to continue the operations of the Rescue School in Helsinki. This does not correspond to what was said before or agreed, ”Pirkkalainen write on the party website.

Read more: Helsinki Rescue School is allowed to continue – additional funding is also being sought for the rescue college

Helsinki is the only Finnish city that trains its own fire rescuers. Other fire rescuers in Finland are trained by the state-run Rescue College in Kuopio.

Ohisalo said on Wednesday that the Ministry of the Interior has granted the Helsinki Rescue School a license valid until further notice. He justified this on the grounds that the license would enable Helsinki to train rescuers to the city’s growing need.

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Pirkkalainen would like to remind you that the Kuopio Rescue College is Finland’s most important educational institution for rescue professionals and its training volumes are clearly higher than the training volumes in Helsinki.

He also underlines that the Helsinki Rescue School operates as part of the capital’s rescue service and its funding does not come from the state budget. Therefore, the decision to continue the operation of the rescue school is not directly linked to the funding of the Kuopio Rescue College.

Kuopio is in dire need of additional funding for other reasons, Pirkkalainen believes.

“Finland is threatened by a shortage of rescuers. By 2030, the country will need at least 1,000 more rescuers. This will require an increase in student numbers and funding for education. These additional places and resources must be allocated to Kuopio, where firefighters are trained for the needs of the whole of Finland. ”

Ohisalo said on Wednesday that additional funding has been requested in the supplementary budget for the Rescue College and Swedish-language rescue training.