When you think about the best Search and Rescue training sites in Europe, does Kosovo* come to mind? For those that have visited the Kosovo Search and Rescue International Training Centre, the answer would be “yes”. For everyone else, you might be missing something!
Five of our team members have recently taken part in a ‘Heavy Deployment’ USAR exercise in Kosovo as part of UKISAR TEAM. Fantastic training venue providing challenging and realistic training!
The Kosovo Search and Rescue International Training Centre (SARITC) has a short but meteoric history. Following research visits to other training establishments in Europe to gather ideas to construct training objects for internal Search and Rescue (SAR) training, construction work on the training site began in August 2015, and SARITC officially opened in 2016. The Swedish Rescue Training Centre supplied the designs of their ‘collapsed’ and ‘semi-collapsed’ training buildings and an expert consultant advised on how to further improve them.
As well as internal training work in urban, mountain and diving/water rescue, work continued to build train carriages, large hazardous materials containers and vehicles, for added realism. The size of the site increased to allow further growth and an 18m high rappelling tower was built with scenario rooms and a 23m long mock-up helicopter. It quickly became clear that the site could now respond to more training needs than initially foreseen and accommodate other emergency responders in Kosovo and regionally.
The site was reaching the size and capacity of other training centres in Europe. In March 2018 SARITC Director decided that Kosovo would strive to have a SAR training centre which had the most training objects and diverse training objects in one location worldwide. The ambition is for Kosovo to become the ‘One Stop Shop’ for search and rescue training.
During an Urban Search and Rescue exercise in May 2022 I was mentoring the UK-ISAR team. The Kosovo exercise ground has the potential to become one of the leading exercise grounds for USAR teams. The facilities to host teams are already there and with the new buildings and plans to add even more realistic collapsed structures we are looking for opportunities to train over there in the future.
A dynamic and ambitious plan was prepared to lift SARITC beyond current international standards. An HQ building was constructed with classrooms, sleeping rooms (all with televisions, Wi-Fi, desks, private bathrooms, etc), a 250-seat auditorium for conferences and seminars and communal relaxation areas.
Extra training objects included a 30m iron bridge, a 200m long ‘rubble pile’, three additional underground tunnels, two above-ground tunnels, a 6m deep water well, a four container long 3-2-1 configuration including a dry trench collapse area and chainsaw and hot-cutting practice areas.
Almost 50 vehicles are dotted around the training area. Currently under construction is a 30m long outdoor pool with an underwater obstacle course and a submerged house in the middle. The site is projected to grow incrementally, adding training objects over time, and the centre also includes many off-site locations.
SARITC facilities are available to all emergency response organisations. They can be used independently or with own instructors, role players and equipment.
Recent visitors have included regional neighbour countries plus Israel, Jordan, the Netherlands, Ukraine and UK International Search and Rescue.
If you want a unique, challenging and thoroughly enjoyable training experience visit Kosovo. To get in touch, contact:
Email: Qntksh@fsk-rks.org
Phone: +383 49 901 211
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.
The Knowledge Network editorial team is here to share the news and stories of the Knowledge Network community. We'd love to hear your news, events and personal stories about your life in civil protection and disaster risk management. If you've got a story to share, please contact us.
