Improving the Organization of Fire Prevention, Firefighting, And Rescue Operations at Vietnamese Airports in Accordance with International Standards
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-jmrr/V2E2/2026-03Keywords:
fire prevention and firefighting; rescue operations; airports; ARFF; public safety governance; ICAO; FAA; NFPA.Abstract
Airports constitute critical infrastructure with a particularly high level of fire, explosion, and emergency risks due to the specific characteristics of aircraft operations, the use of aviation fuel, and the concentration of large numbers of people. Therefore, fire prevention, firefighting, and rescue operations at airports are not only specialized technical activities but also a core component of public safety governance. Internationally, the standards frameworks of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) have established fundamental organizational principles for Airport Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) forces, emphasizing on-site operational capability, a response time objective of no more than three minutes, and multi-agency coordination under a unified command model [1, 5, 6].
This paper employs a literature review method combined with comparative analysis of international standards to examine the organizational model of fire prevention, firefighting, and rescue operations at airports in Vietnam in the context of the newly promulgated legal framework [23-26]. The research findings indicate that the current model, which integrates on-site ARFF forces at airports with supporting forces from the Fire Prevention, Firefighting, and Rescue Police, is fundamentally consistent with international principles [1, 5]. However, there remain governance gaps related to role allocation across response phases, unified command mechanisms, and performance-based management [10, 14, 19]. Based on these findings, the paper proposes recommendations to improve the organization of fire prevention, firefighting, and rescue operations at airports toward a modern public safety governance approach, enhancing system resilience and aligning more closely with international best practices [12, 20].
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Copyright (c) 2026 Mai Danh Giang (Author)
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