The Tunes railway station was the stage for the “FerroEx_Alg.II'23” exercise, an initiative that placed 104 operators and 52 vehicles from the different response forces that make up the Preliminary Intervention Plan (PPI) of the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection (ANEPC) for the Algarve Railway Line «in the face of a demanding and challenging fictitious scenario», on Friday, March 24th.
The operators involved tested, during the night, «the intervention capabilities and reaction procedures to a serious accident involving hazardous materials», according to the Regional Command for Emergency and Civil Protection (CREPC), which conducted this «operational exercise, within the scope of regional, with movement of real means (LivEx – Live Exercise)», with the support of the Municipal Civil Protection Service (SMPC) of Silves and in articulation with Infraestruturas de Portugal, SA, CP – Comboios de Portugal and TAKARGO.
“FerroEx_Alg.II'23” also involved “a passenger train framed in the scenario and which resulted in multiple victims”.
«In the hot debriefing carried out early on Saturday, it was possible to conclude that all the objectives proposed by the central planning team had been implemented, which allowed testing and identifying lessons in all dimensions of this operational response plan, along with the internal emergency procedures. of the railway community», according to CREPC.
According to the exercise coordinators, "the activation, dispatch and notification procedures were validated, the approach and intervention in the different operational components of the response, such as search and rescue and primary evacuation, triage, stabilization and referral of wounded people, as well as referral to hospital units».
The setting up of an Operational Command Post on the spot allowed, on the other hand, «the management of information, communications, institutional coordination and articulation between the different Civil Protection Agents and cooperating Entities, in full application of the Operations Management System (SGO)».
Since this is an exercise that aims to simulate a real situation as much as possible, the social services of the Municipality of Silves, the National Institute of Medical Emergencies (INEM) and Social Security were also involved, which «developed reception and processing and the respective psychosocial support to uninjured passengers".
The Silves SMPC ensured the logistical support of the operations and specialized technical support and, in addition to ANEPC, the Algarve Fire Brigade, GNR, INEM and Social Security, Atlantic Cargo, CP, IP and TAKARGO.
The exercise also had around 50 extras, including students from the Civil Protection Technician Course at Poeta António Aleixo Secondary School (Portimão), trainees and cadets from the Fire Departments of the municipality of Silves and scouts from the Agrupamento de Silves of the Corpo Nacional de Eavesdropping, which «guaranteed the necessary dynamics of victims inside the passenger train».
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