Today at 16:23
A search and rescue training mission was held in the town of Popasna in the Luhansk region, near the front line.
In one scenario, doctors and emergency services practiced helping victims of a rocket strike on a high-rise building.
“Our mission is cooperation with state emergency service. With people who work on the disaster sites and those who evacuate people. Red Cross volunteers perform initial triage procedures and then send the injured to triage stations where they administer first aid. They are then transferred to ambulances,” said the Rapid Response Unit Commander of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society in Luhansk region, Petro Kostylia.
A 2-year-old Belgian Shepherd, Taller, also had a mission at these exercises. He had to catch the scent of the injured, who could not be detected by rescuers. Taller performs his task without breaking a sweat. Arkadiy Uzyumov, the owner of the dog, said that Taller has helped search for missing people twice.
“We looked for a man in Borovenky. He got lost in the forest. And a 15-year-old boy. We work in the forests and building ruins. We search for survivors,” he said.
Taller found a man as well. The man was pretending to be injured, waiting for rescuers in the basement.
“We need more dogs like this. This makes work 100 percent easier. People walk around the rubble and cannot find anyone. Dogs have a good sense of smell and can easily find people,” Volodymyr Serzhuk, a training participant said.
A building fire was extinguished in half an hour. Two hours later all injured were evacuated, rubble was cleared, along with mercury spillage. Exercise controllers were quite content with the results.
“The training goals were achieved. Cooperation between the different services was practiced. More than 100 people and 20 units of hardware took part in the training,” said the Acting Head of the State Emergency Service in Luhansk region, Serhiy Horban.
The training was held with the support of the EU. More than $1 million was allocated for the exercises, and they will be held in other towns all along the front line.
“Coordination between different services that work in emergency situations is very important. Attracting humanitarian organizations and representatives of the red cross is also crucial. The project is being carried out in Popasna, Bakhmut, Yasynuvata and Volnovakha districts as well as on the territory of civilian-military administration of Toretsk,” said NGO manager, Yan Severa.
After the training, emergency workers and medics will hold error analysis sessions in order to execute their tasks perfectly in real situations.
