Rescue and Rapid Intervention Elites Gather in Alicante

Elite rescue and rapid intervention units gathered last week in Alicante. Over 60 of the top specialist units in such operations attended the 3rd International Rescue-Ops Congress, which took place at the maritime company TMS facilities in the port waters.

The firefighters from the Fire Prevention, Extinction and Rescue Service (Speis) of the Alicante City Council's Security Department conducted the workshop 'Victim Location System and Real-Time Information Transmission' as part of the congress activities. The biennial event, hosted in Alicante since 2021, was attended by various police forces, military units, and some of Spain's leading fire services.

The Councillor for Citizen Security, Julio Calero, stated that "the objectives are to unify procedures and to acquire and share ideas that can provide better public service from the Emergency Corps in each intervention and emergency." He also noted that "Alicante pioneered this initiative in 2021, making it an international reference in rescue and immediate response because we have the facilities, personnel, experts, and the right equipment to host it."

One of the exercises that garnered the most interest at Rescue-Ops III was conducted last Wednesday, May 28, with the so-called Capability Demonstration Exercise. It was led by Maritime Rescue and involved the Helimer, based in Valencia, and the guardamar 'Leo', based in Alicante, simulating the abandonment of a ship and the subsequent rescue of the crew.

Conferences, talks, and workshops on land and water completed the activity schedule. Among the first was the talk by the Inspector of Firefighters of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Moisés Galán; 'Reflections on the Truths in Special Operations' by Lieutenant Colonel of Special Operations Kevin Bowman, Legion of Merit Medal; and the one led by the 112 Rescue Group of the Alicante Provincial Council, under the theme '20 years of rescues in the province of Alicante. Versatility and resilience: the key in high-complexity rescues.'

The institutional workshops were led by the Military Emergency Unit (UME), a guide+dog duo demonstration by the Special Operations Command (MOE) of the Army, based in Alicante; the K9 units of the National Police; local police from Alicante and Crevillente; and the one developed by the SAMU Catastrophe Group, which developed capabilities in triage, EMC procedure on a model, and control of exsanguinating hemorrhages.

Calero concluded with a thank you to the SPEIS firefighters for the "consolidated" initiative "aimed at unifying procedures because the high number of services and the evolution of increasingly sophisticated technical means, such as locks and state-of-the-art armored doors, mean that our security and emergency forces must always be updating to provide better public security service." The closing ceremony included a posthumous tribute to firefighters and members of the State Security Forces who died in the line of duty.