Cork City Civil Defence was nominated by the Civil Defence Board to host National Exercise 2008 on the weekend of the 11th to 13th April 2008. This exercise is intended to fulfil some of the pre-requisites for Civil Defence in relation to the Framework for Major Emergency Management document.
The exercise took place in the area in and adjacent to the National Maritime College of Ireland and the Inner Harbour area. The teams were accommodated in the Cork International Airport Hotel for the weekend.
Cork City Civil Defence hosts National Exercise 2008
The exercise was based on a simulated inter-agency emergency which tested the Civil Defence organisations response capability in the context of the Major Emergency Management Framework. The response consisted of trained teams of Civil Defence members partaking in a co-ordinated Search & Rescue/Recovery Operation both on land and water. The exercise was designed to determine their individual and team skills and to demonstrate their ability to work with other Civil Defence units and outside agencies in a co-ordinated manner. It also provided a focal point for Civil Defence training and the wider Emergency Services Community.
The exercise also focused on :
In addition to the Search Operation teams were also given the opportunity to participate in the following workshops:
- Forensics
- Water related Medical Conditions
- Pollution Control
- Helicopter Landing Site Preparation
- Search Management and Co-ordination
All activities were conducted under the control of appointed officers from Civil Defence and by members of other agencies as listed below:
- Irish Naval Service
- An Garda Siochana
- Port of Cork
- RNLI
- Irish Coastguard
- Cork/Kerry area group on Major Emergency Management.
- Dr. John Murphy, Medical Doctor
The exercise was centred in the following locations:
- NMCI
- Foreshore from Ringaskiddy Deep Water Berth to Golden Rock (local landmark)
- Spike Island
- Inner Harbour waters bounded by the above
On Friday night 11th April 08 at 21.00hrs the teams were briefed on Exercise Respond. (Appendix 4).
On Saturday morning, Cork City Civil Defence personnel mobilised to the site at 07.15hrs to set up the Control and Communications assisted by Cork North Civil Defence and Welfare facilities assisted by Kildare Civil Defence.
The participating teams departed the hotel at 07.45hrs in convoy format and under escort from An Garda Siochana. Upon arrival at NMCI, all participating teams were given a safety briefing on Water Awareness and the NMCI environs. A further update on the ‘current situation’ was also provided by the Incident Co-ordinator. For exercise purposes, the participating teams were grouped as follows:
Group 1 |
Group 2 |
Group 3 |
Group 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cork South | Cork West | Cork North | Waterford City |
| Limerick County | Kerry | Carlow | Wicklow |
| Tipperary South | Wexford | Kilkenny | Limerick City |
| Clare | Dublin | Kildare | Tipperary North |
An Exercise Communications Centre operated as a focal point for event communication and reporting, incorporating appropriate personnel and resources to enable decision-making as required.
Radio Communications consisted of the following:
- Handheld radios; UHF, & Marine VHF
- Vehicle radios; VHF & UHF
- Base station radios; UHF, VHF & Marine VHF
- Multi channel radio repeaters
- Battery chargers and ancillary equipment
Operations commenced at 09.00hrs with briefings for Team Leaders and communications operators as part of the exercise.
Following Pre-launch Inspections by members of the RNLI, (Appendix 5) the boats were launched.
For the purposes of the exercise, Cork City Civil Defence provided the Controllers of Operations. Lt Cdr Martin Brett acted as on scene commander on behalf of the Irish Naval Service.
The exercise ran on a continuous basis in parallel with associated workshops. Following a hot debrief at 16.00hrs, operations ceased at 16.30hrs. Teams then departed the site NMCI and returned to the hotel under escort from An Garda Siochana.
As the exercise was intended to highlight areas of the Framework for Major Emergency Management an off-site co-ordinating centre was set up in the NMCI by Mr. Peter Daly, Chief Emergency Management Officer and Mr. David O’Sullivan Inter-agency Emergency Management Officer. There was a constant flow of information between exercise control and the off-site co-ordination centre which was set up in accordance with the framework layout. This proved to be very valuable to the media exercise that was running in parallel to the main exercise. Civil Defence Officers and other visitors had opportunity to visit and be briefed on information management throughout the day.
