Emergency Assistance through the 
United Nations and the GFMC

Establishment of Contact with UN-OCHA or GFMC

In view of recent large forest fires in South East Asia and the Americas in 1997-98, in Africa, the Mediterranean region and the United States of America in 2000, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) / UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) Joint Environment Unit, Emergency Services Branch and the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) have recognized the need for improved cooperation in early warning, information dissemination and response to wildland fire emergencies. In March 2001 Joint Interface procedures between UNEP-OCHA and the GFMC have been signed.

In case of a large wildland fire incident that threatens national resources and/or international interests and thus requires response by the international community, the country affected may call assistance through the Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit, Emergency Services Branch through the following communication links:

During regular working hours, the preferred manner of notification is by facsimile, although telephone or other means of communication, as given below, may be used as appropriate. The contact information for communicating with the Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit, Emergency Services Branch is as follows:

Contact: Mr. Vladimir Sakharov
Deputy Chief, Emergency Services Branch, OCHA
Chief, Environmental Emergencies Section
Palais des Nations
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Facsimile:

(+41) 22-917 02 57
(+41) 22-917-0023
Telephone:

(+41) 22-917-1142
(+41) 22-917-1815
(+41) 22-917-3484
(+41) 22-917-2208

Telephone in Case of Emergency Only:
to be used outside regular office hours
(Geneva local time is UTC + 2hrs)

 (+41) 22-917-2010
E-Mail: OCHAGVA@un.org
UN OCHA Relief Web: http://www.reliefweb.int/ocha_ol/
Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit :  http://www.reliefweb.int/ochaunep/
Joint Environment Unit biannual reports
(with GFMC contributions):
 

 

For international fire emergencies the GFMC cooperates with UN OCHA and on any other request by providing:

This service is available to support information flow to officially ongoing emergency response through UN OCHA and other international mechanisms and procedures. Since February 2005 the GFMC is associated and closely working with the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) Team.

The following GFMC hotlines should be used only for requesting emergency assessment and national wildland fire management  support.

Contact: Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC)
Facsimile:

(+49) 761-808012
Telephone:

(+49) 761-808011

Telephone in Case of Emergency Only:
to be used outside regular office hours

 (+49) 170 2 34 74 84

Satellite Telephone (Iridium) during
emergency field operations

+8816-316-43257
E-Mail:

fire@fire.uni-freiburg.de
GFMC Website: http://www.fire.uni-freiburg.de

Please note: The GFMC is located in Germany. Thus, the first two numbers (+49) indicate the country code of Germany. Local German time is UTC (GMT) + 2 hours

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