Through the border crossing the car driver tries to transport radioactive material. At 1 of the offices, individual leaves a suspicious package, and there is simply a collision on the street involving a vehicle carrying chlorine containers. These challenges were addressed by representatives of the National Contamination and Alert strategy during the "Common Patrol-25" exercise.
Almost 300 military and civilian institutions forming the National Contamination and Alarm Detection strategy (KSWSIA) took part in the Joint Patrol-25 exercise (3-11 April). This strategy is liable for coordinating CBRN monitoring, detection and alert activities, i.e. chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear. The KSWSIA besides conducts interventions erstwhile a crisis occurs. The oversight of the strategy is exercised by the Minister of National Defence through the Disposal Centre, which is located within the structures of the Central Center for contamination Analysis. This year's edition of the exercise was attended by, among others, military units subordinate to the General Command of Types of Armed Forces, the Operational Command of the RSZ and the Command of the Territorial Defence Army, the Provincial Emergency Management Centres, the Command of the State Fire Service, the Police Command, Border defender Divisions, Maritime Offices, the Provincial Sanitary-Epidemiological Stations, the State Atomics Agency and the interior safety Agency. All have a common goal – improving skills efficient management of threat information CBRN and appropriate consequence at strategical and operational level.
The exercises were prepared by a squad of officers of the Central Center for Contaminants Analysis (COAS) under the direction of the Head of the Board of defence against the Weapons of the Mass Raising Inspectorate of Military Types DG RSZ. The "Common Patrol-25" ranged from the territory of the full country, with peculiar emphasis on Kluczbork (Opolskie), Trzebini (Małopolskie), Gdynia (Pomorskiee), Łódź (Łódzkie), Jeżewa (Łódźe), Nowy Miasto Lubawski (Warmińsko-Mazury) and Korczów (Podkarpacke). It was in these places that activities were organized in the field. COAS besides prepared 9 application episodes ("virtual"). The participants of the “Common Patrol” checked the consequence rate and liaising with different services in situations specified as a atomic power plant failure in the neighbouring country, contamination with toxic industrial agents and acts of panic utilizing chemicals, radioactive materials or biological agents.
– The main nonsubjective of this task is to prepare for the life and wellness of citizens, and in the event of specified threats, time will always stay a key origin – says Colonel Jacek Granatowski. – Preparation and conduct of exercises allows to learn about the nature of threats and the possibilities of countering them in individual departments. In the event of a real threat, there is no longer time for this," adds the deputy COAS commander.
For the purposes of the ‘Common Patrol-25’, the realistic and comprehensive scenarios that have been consulted with technological experts and leading institutions (including State Labour Inspection, State Atomics Agency, Institute of atomic Physics PAS in Krakow, Czech CBRND CoE NATO). – This script is then distributed into individual information, which can be read from the detector, an officer's study or messages given on social media. This information shall be part of the puzzle which the training management shall transmit to the strategy operators. No institution receives information in its entirety, but only as much as it could actually get – reserves Lieutenant Colonel Granatowski.
It is during specified exercises, as the deputy COAS chief says, that the activities of the entities afraid do not always interact with each another or do not immediately know in what order the individual services should respond to the multi-factorial threat. – applicable episodes are besides excellent opportunity to learn from each another good practices related to nuances of civilian and military lifeguard activities, which allows to minimize the threat and increase the efficiency of the services," explained the officer.
COAS introduces a disaster episode in a atomic power facility in virtually all edition of the exercise. Since respective editions, he has besides stressed the exercise of situations that test the consequence of the service to terrorist attacks leading to epidemic, radiation and chemical threats (e.g. infection of participants of a mass event, explosions of alleged dirty bombs, attempts to smuggle dangerous substances into the country).
– At the same time, we effort to get ahead of reality, and sometimes dangerously precisely we succeed. For the year 2023 we planned an epidemic episode in the Podkarpackie province, but we gave up it erstwhile they began to appear information on contamination Legionella bacteria take water in this province. To this day, I remember the telephone call of 1 of the officers of the author's team, who said that even threatened districts practically coincide with our assumptions. Similarly, this year at the training centre of Jeżewo we conducted an episode related to the mass infection of soldiers, and rather late a very akin case actually happened and afraid border guards. This shows how close to real threats we effort to be, preparing the exercises – says Lieutenant Colonel Granatowski.
Colonel Tadeusz Nierebiński, Chief Sanitary Inspector of the Polish Army, took part in the exercises “Common Patrol-25”. He served as Deputy Head of Military wellness Service Exercises. He besides directed actions during applicable episodes in Trzebina and Jeżew. – Military Sanitary Inspection is located in the early biowarning subsystem. With the Military Centres of Preventive medicine (WOMP) we work primarily in the field of recognition and diagnosis of biological factors. The second aspect of our activities is medical evacuation in the context of an incidental with mass casualties (MASCAL), which must take place in accordance with a peculiar procedure to defend against weapons of mass destruction", says Colonel Nierebiński.
The "Common Patrol-25" was an chance to check the fresh bio-recognition recognition system, which was based on a training programme with the American side. – Representatives of all WOMPs participated in specified training, first organized in the US and later in our country. It has been successively modified so that standard operating procedures can be developed to identify biological factors, says the chief wellness inspector of the WP. Among another things, solutions recorded in the strategy are erstwhile there is suspected contact with a bacteria or a virus causing an epidemic, collective poisoning, allergies. This could be an anthrax attack. Colonel Nierebiński explains that so far this kind of recognition has been carried out utilizing smart tests based on pregnancy tests, covid tests, etc. – The fresh strategy is based on the PCR method, i.e. genetic typing, broken down by alleged panels, which let to rapidly and accurately identify pathogens causing gastrointestinal, respiratory, etc. There is besides a peculiar panel relating to biological weapons," explains Colonel Nierebinski.
The "Common Patrol" is the country's largest emergency consequence exercises to the threat of contamination. Since 2006, their organizer has been the Central Center for contamination Analysis. “We want to prepare all institutions for joint action in case of contamination threats as best as possible. We believe that this effort truly translates into an increase in the resilience of our country. This is simply a lesson that we just gotta do," concludes the deputy COAS commander.
