Last Wednesday, between 20 p.m. and 22:30 p.m., the silent ruins of the Beautiful Creole became bustling with activity. Under the watchful eye of the authorities, the abandoned hotel hosted the “Calm Horizon” exercise, a life-size training imagining an earthquake on the island. Objective: To test the operational capabilities of the Saint-Martin firefighters and strengthen their cooperation with the Dutch marines of Sint Maarten.
Early in the evening, firefighter captain Anthony Arnould gathered his teams for a technical briefing. Ten men from the rescue, support and search unit (USAR), created with the support of the SDIS of Guadeloupe, received their mission : penetrate the rubble, drill through collapsed structures, free the victims who have taken refuge in “pockets of life” and secure their evacuation by the marines. In this type of scenario with many victims and very difficult access, drilling through the concrete then becomes a vital issue.
Dutch Marines and Firefighters Side by Side
Once access is prepared, the relay is given to the thirty Dutch marines under the command of Major Niels Houtenbos. Their role: to ensure the rapid extraction of the wounded, the “pick and run”, and transport them to the victims’ assembly point. A dog squad completes the system: at the end of the exercise, a victim will deliberately miss the call, which the dog will have to find.
Throughout the evening, the site echoed with orders, the sound of tools, and simulated shouts. The gendarmerie and medical services completed the operation, a fifty people mobilized in total.
Cooperation at the heart of the exercise
Le Prefect Cyrille Le Vély, present alongside the President of the Louis Mussington Community, Steven Cocks, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the STIS de Saint –Martin, and STIS Commander Yannick Kervoëlen, recalled the importance of this collaboration: “Our Dutch counterparts wanted a theater of operations, and La Belle Créole, by its condition, offers conditions close to reality. The principle of cooperation must work in both directions.”
For Commander Kervoëlen, at the head of a still young STIS, the challenge was twofold: validate the training of its USAR teams and prove the territorial service's ability to fit into a One device binational “We provide access to casualties and thus offer the Marines the opportunity to work on extrication and evacuation.”
For his part, Major Houtenbos welcomed the initiative: “It is exceptional to be able to practice on the French side. Disasters don't stop at borders, and it is essential that we train together.”
The presence of Lieutenant-Colonel Bonneaud, representative of the 33rd RIMa, even without direct participation of his troops, also demonstrated the will of strengthen military and civilian ties around crisis preparedness.
Four exercises serving the same population
This training was not limited to a single evening. Other parts of the exercise were scheduled until Sunday, September 21. For Saint-Martin, where the memory of Irma remains vivid and where the seismic risk is very real, this exercise represents much more than training: it is the demonstration of operational solidarity between French and Dutch services, serving the same population. _Vx
Source: Faxinfo https://faxinfo.fr/en/securite-civile-un-entrainement-grandeur-nature-a-la-belle-creole/
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