As the day started, the teams got assignments for assessment of the sites which were considered as priority. The teams had to understand what kind of capacities are available in order to make sure they are able to cooperate during operations. For some of the worksites the rescue phase instantly started, requiring the teams to communicate with each other.
The EXCON Team was complemented with Project Partner representatives, also with members of Pentele Volunteer Firefighter Association. The members of the Association are experienced in interventions and preparedness activities, taking on venue management tasks, also providing logistics or safety and security support, while the Project partners supported the exercise control by their safety officers present at the worksites.
The 30 hours of operations included a wide range of events that might emerge during floods and heavy raining. Volunteer firefighters had to deal with emergency dam construction, addressing sand boils, and performing pumping tasks at different locations often requiring the cooperation of different teams and its capacities. Divers and water rescuers were facing with collision of rescue boats, rescuing sunken cargo boat in the harbor, closed space rescue from a container in industrial port, rescuing people from kayaks or even a pulling a crashed car out of the water.
First responders were searching for missing persons in different situations (floodplain forest, submerged and ruined houses, flooded tent camp). Terrains, situations, affected population presented diverse challenges requiring the use of different techniques and equipment.
The operations lasted 30 hours continuously, which included one night-time operations as well. Due to safety reasons, the water rescue and diver operations were seized for the night, but the protection of dams continued, as well as the reinforcement of the bridge by shoring.
The EUCPT, alongside with the TAST team got multiple tasks during their mission, which included regular briefings with the appointed liaison officers from the Hungarian Disaster Management General Directorate, also interview with medical representatives of the local hospital. They also had to investigate if the environmental pollution threat from a local industrial company.
By the end of the fourth day, the responders developed and maintained their communication lines, established their internal coordination structures and worked alongside for more than 150 hours in total.
