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27-595: The agency covers the whole spectrum of contingencies; from everyday road traffic accidents and fires, up to chemical emergencies, power cuts and other technical failures. Additionally, more serious emergencies, such as bomb threats and other antagonistic attacks, epidemics, natural disasters and war. In most cases, the responsibility for on-scene action does not lie with the Civil Contingencies Agency but with municipal rescue services, law enforcement agencies or other agencies. The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency

54-401: A large proportion of local services, including schools, emergency services and physical planning. The Local Government Act of 1991 specifies several responsibilities for the municipalities, and provides outlines for local government, such as the process for electing the municipal assembly . It also regulates a process ( laglighetsprövning , "legality trial") through which any citizen can appeal

81-540: A practice adopted by the largest and most urban municipalities Stockholm , Gothenburg and Malmö . Thirteen municipalities altogether, some of them including considerable rural areas, have made this choice, which is unofficial and has no effect on the administrative status of the municipality. The practice can, however, create some confusion as the term stad nowadays normally refers to a larger built-up area and not to an administrative entity. The municipalities in Sweden cover

108-416: The 1943 års kommunindelningskommitté ("Municipal subdivision commission of 1943") proposed that the number of rural municipalities should be drastically reduced. After years of preparations the first of the two nationwide municipal reforms of the 20th century was implemented in 1952. The number of rural municipalities was reduced from 2,281 to 816. The cities (by then 133) were not affected. Rather soon it

135-603: The 2018 Sweden wildfires , Sweden requested help from European Union through the Emergency Response Coordination Centre at the European Commission 's Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations department . Sweden received help from Estonia , France , Finland , Germany , Italy , Lithuania , Poland and Portugal . The help included firefighters, equipment and water bombing aircraft . From 1 January 2026

162-572: The Altamira in Northern Brazil (159,533 km ) are larger. (By comparison, the total area of the state of Lebanon is 10,452 km .) At any rate, several northern municipalities are larger than many counties in the more densely populated southern part of the country. The municipalities were earlier also divided into parishes , or församlingar . As these were subdivisions of the Church of Sweden ,

189-474: The Stockholm municipality is partially based on its own, separate municipal government law. The first local government acts were implemented on 1 January 1863. There were two acts, one for the cities and one for the countryside. The total number of municipalities was about 2,500. The rural municipalities were based on the country-side civil parishes or administrative parishes ( socknar ), often formed in

216-622: The Swedish Maritime Administration and the Swedish Coast Guard with emergency operations at sea. The SRSA maintained a state of emergency preparedness to assist other countries with rescue and humanitarian aid operations. The majority of personnel employed on such assignments were recruited from the municipal fire & rescue services. The SRSA was a prominent actor in mine action and Explosive Ordnance Disposal for development. The central administration offices for

243-470: The transport of dangerous goods by road and rail , and co-ordinated the work of the supervisory authorities within this field. In the event of oil spill , equipment from one of the agency’s five oil-combating depots may be used. The agency also had seven depots holding equipment and trained personnel for use when responding to chemical emergencies . Furthermore, the government had an agreement with six municipalities, which states that they are to assist

270-575: The Administration Department. Swedish Rescue Services Agency The Swedish Rescue Services Agency (SRSA) ( Swedish : Statens räddningsverk (SRV) ) was the central supervisory government agency for the rescue services in Sweden until 2008, after which it merged into the newly formed Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency on 1 January 2009. It promoted emergency management practice that improved disaster prevention and response, and in

297-532: The Middle Ages around a church. The municipality acts of 1862 formally separated the civil municipalities from the parishes, establishing the municipality assembly as the decision-making body of rural municipalities and the church assembly as the decision-making body of parishes. The then 89 cities/towns ( städer ) (the same word is used for both city and town in Swedish) were based on the old chartered cities. There

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324-580: The Swedish Rescue Services Agency were situated in Karlstad . Their four colleges were located at Revingeby , Rosersberg Palace , Sandö and Skövde provided the training for all the personnel in the municipal fire & rescue services and in the chimney sweeping service. The agency had its main office in Karlstad and its offices for overseas operations in Kristinehamn . On 18 March 2008

351-795: The Swedish government made a decision to restructure its peace-time emergency management agencies. As part of this decision, the SRSA, the Swedish Emergency Management Agency , and the Swedish National Board of Psychological Defence were dissolved at the end of 2008. The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency replaced the previous three bodies. Municipalities of Sweden The municipalities of Sweden ( Swedish : Sveriges kommuner ) are its lower-level local government entities . There are 290 municipalities which are responsible for

378-602: The agency will be renamed as the Agency for Civil Defence. The MSB is based in Stockholm , Karlstad , Kristinehamn and Ljung . The MSB also has some colleges in Sandö , Revinge and Rosersberg . The agency has about 850 employees, led by Director-General Charlotte Petri Gornitzka . It's organised into five departments: Risk & Vulnerability Reduction Department, Emergency Management Development Department, Coordination and Operations Department, Evaluation and Monitoring Department and

405-402: The amalgamation process too slow, and decided to speed it up by ending the voluntary aspect. In 1971 the unitary municipality ( kommun ) was introduced and the number of entities went down to 464; three years later it was 278. In one case ( Svedala Municipality ) the process was not accomplished until 1977. Most of the municipalities were soon consolidated, but in some cases the antagonism within

432-448: The blocks should ultimately lead to amalgamations. The target year was 1971, when all municipalities should be of uniform type and all the remaining formal differences in government and privileges between cities and rural municipalities should be abolished. The amalgamations within the "blocks" started in 1965 and more were accomplished in 1967 and 1969, when the number of municipalities dropped from 1006 to 848. The Riksdag, however, found

459-413: The county administrative boards for the rescue services in the event of a release of radioactive substances. The agency also collated observations and lessons learned from serious emergencies that have occurred at home or abroad. Its tasks included examining co-ordination between the various branches of the state rescue services, as well as the county administrative boards' planning for the rescue services in

486-407: The decisions of a local government to a county court . Municipal government in Sweden is similar to city commission government and cabinet-style council government . A legislative municipal assembly ( kommunfullmäktige ) of between 31 and 101 members (always an odd number) is elected from party-list proportional representation at municipal elections, held every four years in conjunction with

513-598: The entire territory of the nation. Unlike the United States or Canada, there are no unincorporated areas . The municipalities in the north cover large areas of sparsely populated land. Kiruna , at 19,446 km , is sometimes held to be the world's largest "city" by area, although places like La Tuque, Quebec (28,421 km , official style Ville ), the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in Western Australia (95,575.1 km and

540-425: The event of a release of radioactive substances. The agency gained experience from major incidents that have occurred in Sweden and worldwide. The SRSA developed methods and equipment for use by the rescue services, and was responsible for the training of all personnel in the municipal fire and rescue service brigades and in the chimney sweeping service. The agency also implemented rules for safety in relation to

567-432: The event of an incident/accident limited injury and damage. This was achieved among other ways by conveying information, by running training courses and holding exercises, and through supervision. The SRSA was the central Swedish supervisory government authority for the rescue services. Its tasks included examining co-ordination between the various branches of the national rescue services, as well as contingency planning by

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594-435: The national general elections. The assembly in turn appoints a municipal executive committee ( kommunstyrelse ) from its members. The executive committee is headed by its chairman, ( Swedish : kommunstyrelsens ordförande ). Swedish municipalities generally employ one or more politicians as Municipal Commissioners, ( Swedish : kommunalråd ) one of which is usually the chairman of the executive committee. The government of

621-422: The new unities was so strong that it led to "divorces". The total number of municipalities has today risen to 290. The question of whether a new municipality will be created is at the discretion of the central Swedish government . It is recommended that the lower limit of a new municipality shall be 5,000 inhabitants. Some municipalities still use the term "City" (Swedish: stad ) when referring to themselves,

648-479: The separation of church and state along with a shift in responsibility for the population registration in Sweden transferring to the Swedish Tax Agency led to a new formal subdivision called district. Districts have been in force since 2016. These districts correspond by and large to the previous parishes as they existed on 31 December 1999, without later amalgamations. Many of the districts still correspond to

675-429: Was also a third type, köping or market town. The status of these was somewhere between the rural municipalities and the cities. There were only eight of them in 1863, rising to a peak of 96 in 1959. Up until 1930, when the total number of municipalities reached its peak (2,532 entities), there were more partitions than amalgamations. In 1943 more than 500 of Sweden's municipalities had fewer than 500 inhabitants, and

702-556: Was established 1 January 2009, when Swedish Rescue Services Agency ( Swedish : Räddningsverket ), the Swedish Emergency Management Agency ( Swedish : Krisberedskapsmyndigheten ) and the Swedish National Board of Psychological Defence ( Swedish : Styrelsen för psykologiskt försvar ) were merged into one body. In 2022 the Agency for Psychological Defence was established as a separate agency. During

729-531: Was established that the reform of 1952 was not radical enough. A new commission, 1959 års indelningssakkunniga ("Subdivision experts of 1959") concluded that the next municipal reform should create new larger mixed rural/urban municipalities. The Riksdag decided in 1962 that the new reform should be implemented on a voluntary basis. The process started in January 1964, when all municipalities were grouped in 282 kommunblock ("municipal blocks"). The co-operation within

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