France – UIISC 1

David (Team leader) and Ludovic (Deputy team leader) from the 1st French Battalion for civil protection have participated in a tabletop exercise in Slovenia from 18st to 21st of February 2018, about major flooding resulting in serious damage on the drinkable water, electricity and communication networks.

France has simulated the deployment of a flood containment module composed of 40 rescuers, with an operational 1200 m anti-flooding dam capacity, able to contain up to 80 cm of water for weak point protection. 10 other modules (BEL/LU FRUB, CZ AMT, CZ USAR, ES SRT, AUT USAR, DK CBRN, NL USAR, GR USAR, RO HPC et SE MEVAC aircraft) also took part in that exercise.

In accordance with LEMA priorities and in tight cooperation with the EUCPT, the French module carried out survey of several sites (industrial site, town, hospital) and suggested specific tactics to tackle the operational needs.

In addition to operational matters, this exercise checked the whole scaling up, the hosting process from a foreign country (RDC), the operational and logistic deployment (BoO), the planning, reporting and coordination.

Last but not least, this type of exercises emphasizes the human and technical relationship, increases the interoperability and mutual support between modules to enhance the means to protect and help the victims.

 1rst French Battalion for civil protection - FRANCE