A severe storm has raged over the territory. An extremist group, which is part of a global terrorist network, has taken advantage of the chaos the storm has caused and detonated several explosive devices that severely damaged critical infrastructure. It is suspected that dirty bombs and toxic chemical agents have been used or may yet be used. Initially the capacity of the affected areas to conduct damage assessments is insufficient; additional assistance is requested.

When a disaster occurs somewhere in the United States, aid from neighboring states can be quickly mobilized. Personnel and equipment can move freely between state borders; procedures are similar if not identical and there is no language barrier.

In Europe, mutual aid is a bit trickier and large-scale incident training is critical. The above scenario is part of one that European Union emergency management officials were given to deal with in a multi-nation disaster drill.

Last fall, the Danish Emergency Management Agency hosted the European Union civil protection exercise E.U. Danex 2006. The exercise focused on civil emergency responses to potential terror attacks. As one of the responses to the Madrid terror attacks of March 11, 2004, the E.U. member states adopted a declaration of solidarity, promising mutual assistance in case of terror attacks and natural disasters. As part of this effort, the European Union continually assesses the ability of its member states to assist each other in civil protection matters. In 2006, Denmark and Sweden were responsible for exercising the E.U. civil protection cooperation. It was a full-scale exercise with a number of simulated terror incidents taking place simultaneously in Denmark and Sweden. However not all of the E.U. member states attended nor could have, given the scope of the scenarios provided.

The purpose of the exercise was primarily to train and improve existing (management) procedures for requesting, receiving and deploying international civil protection assistance in case of large-scale incidents.

Real or simulated disaster response, of course, usually means financial costs to those who respond. Thus, money from either local, national or E.U. funds must be secured before any calls for assistance can be answered. Most European countries have land-border neighbors (the United Kingdom, Ireland and Iceland do not share land borders; Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Italy and Greece have limited land borders). Therefore, international mutual aid across the national border is generally accepted during short-term emergencies, such as major fires, and are paid by local funds. For long-distance and long-term response bills, however, municipal governments cannot be expected to pick up the tab. The E.U. Danex 2006 exercise was co-financed by the European Commission.

Furthermore, the United Nation's Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the European Commission established an on-site operations coordination center that liaised with the international teams, the local emergency management agencies in Sweden and Denmark, and relevant international authorities and organizations. National experts that have participated in the E.U. High-Level Course, which is required for senior incident commanders, taught at national facilities with a standardized (minimum) curriculum throughout the European Union, and members of U. N. Disaster Assessment and Coordination UNDAC were working in the OSOCC, which was located at In Næstved on Sjælland Island, Denmark.

Because disaster control and response is run completely different in different nations, and can comprise national or regional units, all problems imaginable can be encountered. Problems with language arise, even though English is spoken as a second language. There are terminology problems because crews might use a more American- or English-based vocabulary, or try to make up their own terminology by directly translating from their mother tongue.

American firefighters may not know what a British firefighter does when he “slips and pitches a ladder.” And the British firefighter cannot be expected to know what a “reverse lay” is. In theory, the aim of this and other exercises is to strengthen the European Union's abilities in international civil protection cooperation in or outside Europe. However, more steps must be taken within the European Union and on national levels first. For example, the radio frequencies used in Germany for fire, police and rescue are restricted to the military in Denmark. This meant that German vehicle-based radio equipment could not be used at all, which is very disadvantageous during an emergency scenario.

During this exercise, intervention teams from Sweden, Slovenia, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania and Germany worked together with several Danish municipal fire brigades and medical services.

In the exercise scenario, after the storm hits and explosives are detonated, a call for assistance goes out to the international community through the Monitoring and Information Centre. The center used the Common Emergency Communication and Information System to communication between the MIC and national authorities. Immediately thereafter the need for coordination experts as well as intervention teams arises as a result of the overstretched national resources and a second request is communicated through the MIC.

Following the arrival of international intervention teams and experts, additional explosive devices are released, causing fire and leaks at a natural-gas hub. Almost simultaneously an aircraft is taken into quarantine at the Copenhagen International Airport due to suspicion of release of chemical substances on board. As a declared act of sympathy with fellow terrorists in Denmark, another faction of the terrorist network is spreading fear in Sweden after carrying out an attack on an ammonia storage facility.

Furthermore, a chemical warfare agent has been released in a command center, and a dirty bomb containing radioactive material has been detonated in an urban area near Slagelse on Sjælland Island, Denmark. The main road leading from the east to the stricken areas in the southern part of Sweden is still blocked by fallen trees after the storm delaying possible reinforcements from other parts of Sweden. After consultation, it is decided to redeploy intervention teams from Denmark to Sweden.

Before the national groups were sent into Denmark to assemble and respond to this scenario, detailed information about the equipment and responders' training and qualifications were transmitted to the receiving Danish agency. An agency that requests outside support would voice what it would like to get. However, since equipment is not standardized throughout Europe (and sometimes not even on a national level), it is sometimes hard to truly match demand with supply.

This is important because information did get lost. For example, the German team (which was a true radiological and chemical detection and analysis team) was basically used as an USAR team during the initial stages. Being firefighters, they could do USAR; however, their mission was supposed to be different. Only after direct exchange of information with the command team at site, was the German team deployed in its original role during the subsequent evolutions.

One of the lesson learned was that even when only a detection team is requested, always pack decontamination supplies, because it cannot be expected that the receiving party is doing this kind of planning. Try to be as independent from resources of the receiving party as possible (while taking care not to go overboard).

To be successful, civil protection requires military-like structures in terms of communications, transportation and logistics. And that can be quite difficult when trying to blend as many different entities and systems as exist in the European Union.

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Holger de Vries joined the German fire service in 1981 and is now volunteer platoon commander with the Hamburg Fire & Rescue Service. He served in the German Navy and as a reserve officer is now one of the instructors at the German Navy Damage Control School. He earned a PhD in safety engineering with a major in fire engineering in 1999; he has worked in Hamburg as a freelancing consulting engineer and as sworn-in expert witness in that field. In 2006 he began as a lecturer in the rescue-engineering program at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences.