It is 5 September and the largest ever exercise of the Integrated Rescue System is taking place in the area of the Uhřice reservoir. "This is a complete second level of alarm. We have deployed about 80 professional and volunteer firefighters, a total of 10 units, plus a drone, a medical rescue service, and the main mining rescue station," says Petr Daněček, the commander of the intervention and also the commander of the Kyjov fire station.

The scenario put the rescuers in a situation where a car backed into the probe and damaged it. At the same time, the safety valve fails and there is a massive gas leak. This is a situation where the backup fuse has not yet worked in the context of an accident.

After the fictitious accident, the workers quickly leave the area and the alarm is raised, the area is evacuated, the technology is disconnected and depressurised and the manager immediately informs the integrated rescue system, including the mine rescue services.

After ten minutes, the nearest fire brigade unit arrives, but they cannot intervene immediately. They set up a checkpoint at the turn-off from the main road and divert traffic. The volunteer firefighters have to wait for the arrival of their professional colleagues, in this case from Slavkov. This is because this is a serious situation with dangerous technology. It is an all-out exercise, the firefighters are not waiting around the corner, but are at their bases, so their arrivals reflect reality. The last to arrive on the scene is the HBZS, who are quite far from Lusatia. It takes them 38 minutes. In the Sokol Hall in Uhřice, the staff is actually meeting, monitoring the situation thanks to drone footage and deciding on the level of alarm, water supply, coordinating further assistance if necessary.

It's not about the race

This is not a firefighting race or an action movie, but a tactical exercise. The firefighters are not running around with hoses, they prepare everything carefully - safety and precision are important. And most importantly, communication and coordination of all involved - the reservoir management, firefighters and mine rescuers.

The main word on the spot, compared to a normal intervention, is the so-called commander of the accident liquidation (VLH) - the chief of the reservoir Vítězslav Straka. In this case, he has the decision-making powers on how close the rescuers should go, how much water is needed, when the probe can be closed and so on.

"This is one of the purposes of the exercise. Because of the complex technology, it is the head of the crash disposal who is in charge on the spot, which firefighters are not used to. This way we can test communication with each other. They organise their intervention, of course, but I tell them what we need from them and they decide how to do it," says Vítězslav, who is marked with capital letters VLH.

He then asks the firefighters to apply a special foam to the oil tank that lies near the damaged probe. After a while, he decides that the mine rescue team can also go to the site.

"Our job is to shut down the technology. The firefighters can't do this, their job is to cool the probe and spray water on it constantly to prevent the gas from igniting. They literally have to spray water down our throats. Although we have the sparkiest tools, they could initiate, ignite and explode, which is prevented by a continuous stream of water," says Marek Jakubčík, commander of HBZS Hodonín.

Firefighters have to bring water by tanker from a hydrant in Žarošice, three kilometres away. The journey takes seven minutes, plus the filling time. And this is one of the most important issues of the exercise. Will the number of units be able to spray enough water on the probe or will the number of deployed equipment have to be increased for the next time?

More water!

In the beginning, the firefighters cooled the probe with two hoses and a flow rate of 1,200 litres per minute, it was fine. However, this was not enough, so they gradually added up to 3,500 litres, and by then the tankers could not keep up with the supply. The fire tank on the premises had to be used. However, it has a capacity of 350 cubic metres, so it would have lasted basically an hour and a half. And there are situations where the probe has to be cooled for many hours. Then there would be a problem.

"There are more options. One option is for the water authorities to increase the flow rate in the hydrant, but that will already mean restrictions for four villages, because there will be a shortage of water," says Vítězslav Straka.

At the end of the exercise, all the rescuers meet and evaluate the whole event. The exercise went well, no one was injured (the only injury was a training one, so that the ambulance service could try out the work in the area). Everyone will benefit from such an event, as the knowledge gained will help the firefighters and the reservoir. A similar exercise will be held every three years from now on, probably next time at the adjacent reservoir in Dambořice.

Until then, hopefully, firefighters and other rescue workers will not have to travel to our facility.