The exercise ‘EU MODEX PT 2023’ took place against a backdrop of hot and humid conditions already this year in Portugal, with wildfires already happening and fears of more to come. International teams exercised together to be ready to act.
EU MODEX PT 2023 place from 3-6 May in Abrantes, Portugal, and tested the capacity of teams to respond to forest fires. Modules from France, Germany, Italy and Spain and the specialised Fire Assessment and Advisory Team from Spain planned, assessed and carried out forest fire suppression in the communities neighbouring the Abrantes municipality most affected by the fire scenario.
"The exercise was a good opportunity to improve all these things we've trained all over the year. Another thing is to work close together with all the other partners and to show how cooperation, interoperability and friendship work. A big challenge of this exercise for us was to run the operation around over a long period. That's the aim, proving independency and self-sufficiency over a long time period. This is one of the tasks that we have to fulfil here on the field in Portugal."
The main objective is to protect people, homes and the environment. Another very important objective is to develop interoperability between the different European modules.
"The main learning outcome of this mission for the FAST team from Spain is the solidarity and the civil protection spirit from all the teams that have made this exercise, and thereforeso in a real mission it is much easier to coordinate and to integrate. The biggest challenge is always the beginning, to set up the structure and the procedures to coordinate both with national authority and the rest of the international modules".
EU MODEX PT 2023 helped personnel to better prepare for international deployments through a valuable and realistic testing experience. More than 250 personnel, 70 fires trucks, five aerial forest fires fighting capacities and almost 400 staff from local authorities - including a specialised Portuguese medical unit - demonstrated the EU's commitment to solidarity and to a common goal of protecting the population, property and environment.
The exercise was organised by CN APELL-RO, consortium lead for this strand of EU MODEX activities, and the National Authority for Emergencies and Civil Protection of Portugal.
Read more about EU MODEX PT 2023.
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