Command Post Exercise

In Oostende (Belgium) partners from the MIRG-EX project gathered for the project’s Command Post Exercise. This table top exercise prepared the partners for the Full Scale Exercise to be held on 11 and 12 October this year. The scenario: fire on board a ferry, fourteen passengers injured. The MRCC, located in Oostende, receives a call from the captain. MIRG-EU is called in for assistance at sea. West-Flanders prepares the intake of the hundreds of passengers who will have to leave the vessel in the port of Oostende.

The aims of the exercise were:

Testing alerting procedures of command posts involving incident deployment of MIRG and the land based operations.
Testing alerting procedures of the EU Civil Protection Team and request of international assistance of three extra MIRGs (next to the Belgian one) via CECIS.
Testing of communication and information process in general.

During the exercise communication lines were tested for real: The ERCC participated from Brussels and also in the Netherlands, the UK and France key organizations exercised along.

The evaluation group will report the lessons learnt. These lessons will be used in preparation of the October Exercise.

MIRG EX is an international joint partnership. Safety Region Zeeland (NL), which brings together crisis management, fire fighters and medical assistance, is lead partner. The other partners in the project are: the Fire Brigades of Antwerp, Beveren and Ghent (BE). These brigades are linked to important international ports, that accommodate large chemical production plants. Being able to effectively fight fires on board ships is simply essential. In addition to the fire brigades, the Federal Organisation of Public Civil Assistance in Brugge, the Agency for Maritime and Coastal Services-Shipping Assistance Division and the Maatschappij van de Brugse Zeehaven nv (Zeebrugge Port Authority) are partners in the MIRG-EX project. The French Service départemental d’incendie et de secours de Pas-de-Calais and the English Kent Fire and Rescue Service complete the partnership. Both are confronted with heavy traffic on the Channel and the North Sea. An incident may be just around the corner, but this doesn’t mean it can be easily reached let alone be dealt with. Working with similar teams on both shores, reduces will help to reduce response time.