According to the authorities in Vietnam, from 2012 up to now, there have been an average of 17,562 traffic accidents each year, causing 8,870 deaths and 16,734 injuries; 3,287 fires occurred, causing 87 deaths and 206 injuries; It is estimated that 3,600 cases of injury occurred, killing 80 people per day. That reality requires having a specialized force responsible for the rescue work to be standing, receiving information and promptly deploying forces and means to help the victims and troubleshoot to minimize damage.

Recognizing the importance of rescue operations when accidents and incidents occur, over the past years, the Party, State and Government of Vietnam have paid great attention to and issued many legal documents as the basis for helping the Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue Police force implements the rescue missions. For instance, Decision No. 44/2012/QD-TTg regulating the rescue work of the fire prevention and fighting force; Decision No. 1110/QD-TTg approving the master plan on the base system of the Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue Police force until 2020 and vision to 2030; Circular No. 20/2014/TT-BCA regulating the rescue process of the Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue Police force; Decree No. 83/2017/ND-CP regulating rescue operation of the Fire Prevention and Fighting Police force; Circular No. 08/2018/TT-BCA detailing the implementation of a number of articles of Decree No. 83/2017/ND-CP.

According to the statistics of the Police Department of Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue from 2012 to 2019, the Police force carried out 13,305 rescue and rescue cases, of which 9,027 cases occurred in fires, 1,850 cases under water, 676 cases for vehicles, 266 cases for the collapsed works, 230 cases occurred in caves, deep wells, 250 cases occurred on high, 987 cases due to other incidents and accidents. In addition, the force has organized escape instructions for thousands of people; directly saved 3,153 people; 2,376 victims' bodies were found and handed over to functional forces to handle [2], etc. in which the Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue Police force is the cadre.

However, when implementing the rescue work, the Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue Police force still faced many difficulties and problems due to lack of: clear legal basis that specifies the organization, rescue operations and conditions to ensure rescue operations; In terms of equipment and means of fire fighting and rescue, as of 2019 the entire force has been equipped with 3,369 motor means of all kinds including 2,236 vehicles (with average, fair, good working status 80.2%, and inactive 19.8%), 211 fire-fighting boats and canoes (with average, fair, good working status 94% and inactive 6%), 922 fire-fighting pumps (with average, fair, good working status 90% and inactive 10%) and thousands of other equipment [3]. However, the above mentioned means still cannot meet the requirements of the fire prevention and fighting, rescue work before the forecast that the situation of fire, explosion, accident and incident will be complicated in the coming years, because the means have been equipped for a long time, they are degraded, some are still in operation but only at average level and must be regularly overhauled and repaired; In addition, there is still a lack of quantity and types of fire equipment compared to the requirements of fire prevention and fighting and rescue tasks, leading to not achieving high efficiency in solving practical situations, but delay and embarrassment in use when encountering major, serious accidents and incidents.

From the above reality shows that, in order for the rescue work to be effective, the fire prevention and fighting police force needs to clearly define and do well in all aspects of rescue works that the force is assigned to:

Advise competent state agencies to promulgate and direct rescue operations in accordance with law. The Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue police force has a very important task in advising competent state agencies to promulgate and direct the implementation of the State's regulations on fire prevention and fighting and rescue; advise leaders of the Ministry of Public Security on issues related to the direction of the fire prevention and fighting and rescue work nationwide; advise the People's Committees of provinces and cities and leaders of the Ministry of Public Security on issues related to fire prevention and fighting and rescue operations in provinces and cities.

Organize the implementation of incident and accident prevention. The Fire Prevention and Fighting Police Force regularly organizes propaganda and guidance in knowledge about rescue work, building a movement for the entire population to participate in rescue; training in rescue operations for the basic fire prevention and fighting forces, specialized fire prevention and fighting forces; conduct periodic or irregular inspection of safety conditions on fire, explosion, other incidents and accidents and rescue conditions, measures and plans for subjects under management authority; organize training, retraining in law, professional expertise in rescue, advisory skills, implementation of rescue work, consultation on primary medical measures and provide first aid to the victim; skills in using means, equipment, tools of rescue and other skills necessary for the specialized force [5].

Ensure forces and means to be ready to participate in rescue operations. First of all, the Fire Prevention and Fighting police needs to develop a plan to carry out the rescue work, including: prepare for the forces to do rescue work; prepare rescue vehicles and equipment suitable to the specific situation of agencies, organizations, establishments and localities; assign tasks and coordination mechanisms to respond possible incidents and accidents; prepare funding for rescue operations; check and urge the implementation. After that, the Fire Prevention and Fighting police deploys force, means and equipment to be ready for rescue 24/24 hours [5].

Effectively organize rescue operations when an accident or incident occurs. When receiving information about an accident or incident, the Fire Prevention and Fighting Police force shall immediately notify the Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue Police Team or Rescue Team who is the nearest the place where the accident or incident occurred; at the same time, immediately notify the local authorities, the public security of the district, town or city and the fire prevention and fighting force on the spot where the accident or incident occurred to go together to the scene to perform the rescue and rescue mission. After receiving information about an incident, an accident occurred, the units must quickly issue an order to mobilize forces and means to participate in rescue; decide on the number of specialized organizations, means and equipment involved in the rescue operation and assign the rescue commander. Upon arriving at the scene where the accident or incident occurred, the rescue commander will base on the nature and severity of the accident or incident to organize reconnaissance to grasp the situation of the incident, the ability to arrange and deploy forces and means to approach the place of the incident or accident and decide appropriate rescue measures [1].

Strengthen international cooperation with countries with strong development in the field of rescue. International cooperation is considered as one of the solutions to improve the efficiency of building forces, vehicles and access to high-tech solutions in the field of rescue. Therefore, the Vietnam Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue Police force needs to strengthen and accelerate the signing and participation in bilateral and multilateral agreements on international cooperation in the field of rescue with countries such as: Russia, Japan, the US, South Korea and ASEAN countries in the region to exchange experiences, train, foster, support vehicles, apply the achievements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in rescue work.

References

1. Ministry of Public Security, Circular No. 20/2014/TT-BCA dated 20/5/2014 of the Minister of Public Security regulating the rescue process of the FPF police force, Hanoi, 2014

2. Police Department of Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue- Ministry of Public Security, Summary report on fire prevention and fighting from 2012 to the end of 2019, Hanoi

3. Police Department of Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue, Report of firefighting and rescue equipment of the Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue Police force, Hanoi, 2019

4. Police Department of Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue - Ministry of Public Security (2012). Master plan for the basic system of the Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue Police force until 2020 and vision to 2030

5. Government, Decree No. 83/2017/ ND-CP dated July 18, 2017 regulating the rescue work of the fire prevention and fighting forces, Hanoi, 2017.