Brussels Airport and PIVO to provide joint fire-fighter training

The province of Flemish-Brabant and Brussels Airport Company have signed a declaration of intent concerning fire-fighting training for aviation. The Provincial Institute for Education and Training (PIVO) and the fire brigade of Brussels Airport want to expand an expertise training around aircraft incident control, with the purpose of providing a more thorough, professional and practical training for fire fighters in collaboration with the emergency service zones.

‘Flemish-Brabant is a centrally located region with a considerable transport flows’, says Tom Dehaene, deputy for PIVO and Mobility. ‘That is why our PIVO training centre in Asse is increasingly specialising in driving instruction and traffic training in the broadest sense of the word. This can be for land traffic as well as air traffic. By working together with specialised partners, the PIVO ‘Driving Instruction and Traffic’ expertise centre can grow further and continue to specialise.’

‘Signing this declaration of intent is a starting signal for the expansion of the current range of training courses regarding aircraft incident management. Brussels Airport and PIVO are combining their complementary expertise in aviation fire-fighting training and deploying their expertise to improve the skills of the fire fighters’, says Arnaud Feist, CEO of Brussels Airport Company.

Brussels Airport has the long-term plan to set up a Fire Academy for aviation-related fire-fighting training including practical exercises on the airport grounds. In addition to renewing and expanding the vehicle fleet, the airport has also made available the hull of an aircraft so that real-life training can be organised.

‘The statement of intent between the province of Flemish-Brabant and Brussels Airport Company provides the general framework for specific and targeted partnership agreements’, says Lodewijk De Witte, governor of the province Flemish-Brabant.

The objectives of the statement of intent are:

• the organisation of fire safety courses and training for security services relating to aviation;
• hiring each other’s employees and teaching staff;
• the mutual exchange of expertise and development in the area of aviation-related fire fighting courses and training;
• the mutual hiring of movable and immovable training infrastructure and accommodation.

The courses are intended for the fire brigades on the major Belgian airports and airfields used recreationally, and also for the fire-fighting specialists in public services which work together with the fire brigades of airports and airfields.