Participants in the exercise were: County Operations Centre and intervention teams of specialized companies and public services in the area of the IZ: Port of Pula, Ministry of Interior, Istarska County Police Administration, Costal and Airport Police Station Pula, the Istria County Fire Brigade, Public Fire Brigades of Pula and Rovinj, the Volunteer Fire Department of the City of Pula, Ministry of Defence, the Coast Guard of the Republic of Croatia, 2. Division from Pula, Ministry of Finance (Customs Administration Pula) and Desinsekcija d.o.o., Rijeka.
At the press conference, the participants were addressed by the captain of the Port Authority of Pula and the commander of the County Operations Centre, the Port harbour master Dolores Brenko Škerjanc, head of the Istrian Police Border Sector and deputy commander of the County Operations Centre, Loris Kozlevac, deputy commander of Istria County Firefighting Association, Klaudio Karlović and head of Cabinet of the Regional President, Ivan Glušac.
"The scenario of today's exercise consisted in the fact that the ship reported through the National Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, that there are persons in the sea who need to be rescued, which was actively participated by two boats of the Port Authority Pula. According to the scenario, the persons had some suspicious substances, so the Maritime Police and Customs units also joined. Also, it was reported that there was fire on board, so that firefighters were engaged in fighting it. Besides, hydrocarbons spillage was detected and the Coast Guard was involved, whose intervention was watched by the entire top of the County Operations Centre. With the help of the Coast Guard and the firefighters, we lowered the dams into the sea and remedied the pollution." Branko Škerjanc.
The head of the Istrian Police Border Sector and deputy commander of the County Operations Centre, Loris Kozlevac, stated that from the very beginning, i.e. from the notification of the accident until the end of the incident, all emergency services were involved, the damage was repaired and the intervention was successfully completed.
"It is important to point out that the project will provide additional 500 meters of protective dams and accompanying equipment to prevent the spread of hydrocarbons and other pollutants due to unwanted incidents at sea and coast, as well as the construction of a boat of 8.5 meters in length, for our firefighters, who will patrol and be available in the event of accidents at sea.", said the head of the Mayor's Office, Ivan Glušac. He also added that investments in equipment are very important in the County, in terms of preserving our sea, but also for the arrival and safety of tourists, especially boaters.
Existing equipment and emergency response vessels were used in the exercise, as well as dams and accompanying equipment procured in 2014 by the Istrian County through the EU project HAZADR.
See a video of the event:
