Tactics workshops: development and training at the same time
Tactics workshops serve two purposes. First, fire services are developing the optimal tactics for "their" tunnel. Secondly, under realistic conditions, incident commanders train to cope with the exceptionally demanding coordination and communication tasks during operations in underground transport systems (UTS).
Facility-specific solutions
The concrete practical implementation of the basic tactical pattern <<extinguish in order to rescue>> must be adapted to the specific characteristics of the respective UTS as well as to the respective possibilities and needs of the fire services. This is for what our tactics workshops serve. Here, fire services – if necessary together with the UTS carrier – develop a site- and facility-specific operational planning.
Less stress due to intensive training
Firefighting in UTS usually requires the simultaneous use of several fire services and in railway tunnels additionally immediate close coordination with the railway company. However, due to the spatial distances, the officers cannot meet vis-a-vis for a situation report. All coordination must be carried out via radio under high time and decision-making pressure. In the Tactics Centre, incident commanders learn how to deal with this stress load. They train in a focused way to reconnoitre, identify options and weigh them against each other, decide in a goal-oriented manner and communicate in a concentrated and precise manner.
Planning and training in one
In the tactics workshops, the officers of a fire service are directly involved in operational planning. You then know not only what to do and when, but also why the decision has been made how it is. If all officers of a fire service take part in such a tactics workshops, information equality can be achieved, and additional training at home becomes superfluous.