Systemic civil protection in conditions of limited resources of fire brigade units in Poland in the event of a pandemic. example of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland

Ensuring an adequate level of security should be the responsibility of every civilised developed country. The overall functioning of the civil protection system depends on the efficiency of the decision-making entities, which are actors of the public administration at various levels and the executive entities such as fire protection units, the Police, the Armed Forces, the Medical Rescue System, etc. Each of the aforementioned institutions and organisations has at its disposal the resources that are necessary to maintain organisational capacity and to maintain continuity of operations. The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on society, as well as on administrative entities, organisations and institutions. Its impact created a very high risk of adverse effects that affected organisational resources. The aim of this article is to determine how to systemically ensure civil protection under conditions of limited institutional resources in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fire protection units, more specifically organisational units of the State Fire Service and volunteer fire services, were taken as an analytical basis. It was investigated by means of empirical research, quantitative and qualitative research methods on how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the resources of these fire protection units, in particular: human, financial, information and material resources. The results of the research were analysed and used to define guidelines and a system model of providing civil protection in conditions of limited resources of fire protection units in Poland in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.