Overview
- Location
- Belgium
- Website
Description
What does the Civil Protection do?
The Civil Protection is a federal emergency service that provides assistance to the population in the event of disasters. Its teams intervene with specialized resources to strengthen the action of the fire brigade, the police and other authorities (governors, mayors, etc.). 284 professional agents in two operational units (Crisnée & Brasschaat) carry out operations throughout Belgium and abroad. The Civil Protection can also rely on volunteers to strengthen its response capacities.
The Civil Protection is part of the Directorate-General Civil Security of the Federal Public Service Home Affairs. It intervenes at the request of the Minister of Home Affairs, a Governor, a Mayor, the fire brigade or the police.
Missions
The Civil Protection protects the population in the event of:
- Accidents and pollutions involving chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear substances.
- Rescue of persons (rescue and clearing of persons buried under rubble, rescue of persons in white water, specialized heavy rescue).
- Large-scale flooding (damming and reinforcement, high-capacity pumping, etc.).
- Support for crisis management (drone and observation and measurement robot, provision of telecommunications equipment and an operations command post,...).
- Judicial missions at the request of the police or judicial authorities (search for missing persons, dismantling of drug laboratories or cannabis plantation, etc.).
- Large fires in industrial buildings, tunnels, underground car parks or in forests.