On 8th of April 2022 a second simulation exercise has been organised in Garni by the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Armenia, the Armenian Red Cross Society and the local Municipality.
The purpose of the exercise was to have the Volunteer Fire Rescue Group (VFRG) of Garni in the respond to a structure fire involving the rescue of severely injured persons.
The processes tested in the exercise followed the Standard Operating Procedures developed for the VFRG by the partners (AutRC/ARCS/MES-A) in the frame of SVOL project.
Six key steps of the response have been included in the exercise:
- Alerting the volunteers through a combined system of phone call and SMS
- Deploying from the Volunteer Fire and Rescue Station to the site of emergency with fire truck
- Coordinating the response of Fire Rescue Volunteer Group to the site
- Firefighting with hose line from the fire truck
- Coordinating the Fire Rescue Volunteer Group with MES-A firefighters from Abovyan Fire Brigade
- Rescuing injured persons, administering first aid and psychosocial support on site and handover to ambulance crew for transport to hospital
The exercise was followed by a technical debriefing organised by the MES-A Officers of the MES fire and rescue service of Abovyan.
The Austrian Red Cross Disaster Preparedness Advisor, Resilient Advisors Network Technical Advisor and Austrian Red Cross Project Manager were present as observers.
Recommendations and lessons learned have been gathered in a report to be shared with Fire Rescue Volunteer Group, MES-A Abovyan Fire Brigade and ARCS First Aid focal points.
