Emergency services to be trained to face terrorism

Emergency services to be trained to face terrorism

Emergency services will undergo several training sessions next year, aiming at responding to the consequences of a terrorist attack; this is what comes out of the general politics note issued by the Security and Interior Deputy Prime Minister, Jan Jambon. Following the 22 March attacks, three types of training have been planned in order to sensitize front line rescuers to the dangers and consequences of terrorist attacks.

All firefighters will be given general training called “Tactical Emergency Casualty Care,” which will focus on care and treatment to be provided in response to war wounds, and another called “Terror Awareness,” which will concentrate on the environment of the interventions following an attack, especially on the consequences and effects of explosives.

The Minister also wants to create a “Casualties’ Extraction Team,” i.e. a team that will deal more precisely with the evacuation of seriously wounded victims in a terrorist attack. The members of this team will intervene in collaboration with police special forces in potentially dangerous situations, very different from the standard context of interventions. They will receive safety gear, similar to that of special forces: bullet-proof vests, bullet-proof helmets, flak vests, safety glasses, etc.

The general training sessions will be provided by all fire-training schools. The “Casualties’ Extraction Team” training sessions will be organized in the Liège and Ghent schools. 


The Brussels Times


Copyright © 2024 The Brussels Times. All Rights Reserved.