Our partner Ruth Lee was recently asked by the London Fire Brigade to work together with them on a great project for the Exercise Unified Response. Ruth Lee supplied a number of training dummies for this large-scale exercise.
The training exercise consists of four overarching elements, intended to test a wide range of processes and resources: Activation of EU Civil Protection Mechanism, Live exercise, Command Post Exercise and the evaluation.
Scenario
The exercise had four overarching elements designed to test a range of resources.
Activation of EU Civil Protection Mechanism
The UK wanted to identify if its resources would benefit from support and requested assistance via the Common Emergency Communication and Information System (CECIS).
The request for assistance to the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) was established through the UK's official channels (Cabinet Office, Civil Contingencies Secretariat) and coordinated through the ERCC and the official channels of the member states.
The Mechanism was activated along with an EU Civil Protection Team.
Live exercise
The exercise was a complex scenario that presented a range of challenges to frontline responders from all participating agencies and specialist teams such as those that undertake Urban Search and Rescue (fire service), Hazardous Area Response Teams (ambulance service) and Disaster Victim Identification (police service)
The UK implemented host nation support arrangements.
Command Post Exercise
In addition to the live exercise, the scenario required activation of London's strategic coordination arrangements, various emergency plans and central government involvement to consider wider consequence management and provided coordination of a large number of multi-agency emergency responders.
Evaluation
A dedicated evaluation team are developing a methodology that links the objectives and expected results to the actual outcomes of the exercise conduct.
Furthermore they have designed the scope, methodology and data capture for the evaluation of all elements of the exercise and are producing a final report to present the learning and any areas for improvement that have been identified following the conclusion of the exercise.
