Emergency services from across Donegal put their teamwork and training to the test today as part of a major emergency exercise which took place in the Clanree Hotel in Letterkenny.
It was organised by the Northwest Regional Working Group for Major Emergency Management which includes the Principal Response Agencies (PRAs) of Donegal County Council, An Garda Síochána and the HSE (West).
The event, which was code-named Exercise Neptune, involved around 100 participants and was based on a rapidly escalating flooding incident in the Finn Valley area with reported casualties and widespread property damage.
It was a ‘table-top’ style exercise, i.e. one where team members meet in a workshop-style setting to discuss their roles and their responses to a particular emergency situation. A moderator then guided team members through the discussion using prompts or ‘injects’ as the scenario evolves.
The overall objective of the exercise was to strengthen and develop the co-operation and co-ordination arrangements that exist between the PRAs and their partner agencies, namely the Defence Forces, the Irish Coast Guard, the Civil Defence and the Irish Red Cross, when responding to a major emergency brought about as a result of a severe weather event.
Exercise Director, Kevin McGarvey, an emergency planning officer with Donegal County Council, said: “We have spent a number of months preparing for this exercise and it provided a valuable opportunity for the Principal Response Agencies and our partner agencies to test our plans, our inter-agency co-ordination and our preparations for a large-scale flood emergency response.
“These types of flooding incident are becoming more and more commonplace and carrying out exercises of this nature will make a big difference to the potential outcomes should a real incident occur in County Donegal anytime into the future.”
Pictured at the major emergency exercise in the Clanree earlier today are , Back Row L-R, Edel Flynn, Civil Defence Officer, Derek Flanagan, Irish Coast Guard, Michael Harrison, An Garda Síochána, Commandant John Anderson, Defence Forces, Martin McKinney, Irish Red Cross, Edel Quinn, HSE. Front Row, L-R: Kevin McGarvey, Donegal Fire Service, Garry Martin, Donegal County Council, Patrick Keaveny, Emergency Response Officer, HSE.
