A force from the Algarve Special Rescue Group, comprising 18 firefighters from Albufeira and Portimão, with different skills and abilities, including Search and Rescue in Collapsed Structures, is in Penela, where an exercise is taking place that simulates the effects of a earthquake of 8.3 on the Richter scale.
An 8.3 earthquake scenario on the Richter scale in a fictional country called “Bitelandia”, with several replicas and a call for international help, serves as the basis for a non-stop 24-hour Livex (Live Exercise).
This simulacrum will involve multiple specialized intervention teams, including the force of the Special Rescue Group (GSE) of the Algarve.
«The narrative that frames the operational context will provide the greatest challenges for the Search and Rescue in Collapsed Structures (BREC) module, which, at 18 pm today, began its movement in a column of 5 tactical vehicles, composed of a team of command, two special intervention brigades, a team for reconnaissance and assessment of the situation and a logistical support team», explained the Firefighters of Portimão.
With full autonomy for seven days, these operatives will follow international doctrine according to the guidelines of INSARAG (International Search and Rescue Advisory Group) of the United Nations, to open access ways, shore up structures, move loads, progress in confined spaces and collapsed structures, as well as stabilize and extract casualties.
This unit of the Special Rescue Group, in addition to the valence in BREC, also has the capabilities of Technical Rescue by Ropes, Rescue in Águas Bravas, Diving, Rescue in Ditches, Emergency Lifts, Rail Extrication, among other special rescue techniques, with great orientation for exceptional situations, namely serious accidents or catastrophes.
«Since yesterday, when the request for international aid was simulated, the mobilization, readiness and dispatch mechanisms were tested as if it were a real situation, and the command and control capabilities will be checked in the next 72 hours , effort management, interoperability, logistical support for operations and, above all, the physical and psychological resilience of the operational involved», add the Firefighters from Portimo.
The complex theater of operations established in the municipality of Penela is run by the Escola Portuguesa de Salvamento, together with the Firefighters of Penela, who are the hosts at the site.
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