The flood wave is moving to the Lubuskie Province, we are trying to react earlier – emphasized in “Fakty po Faktach” the Chief Commander of the State Fire Service, Senior Brigadier, Doctor of Engineering Mariusz Feltynowski. He also said that the firefighters proposed to the government representative Marcin Kierwiński “to create an IT application for a good inventory of needs” when rebuilding the damage. – The IT specialists of the Main Headquarters of the State Fire Service stated that if they have 20 hours free from other activities related to providing streaming and so on, such an application will be ready for Tuesday evening – he announced.
The Chief Commander of the State Fire Service, Senior Brigadier, PhD, Eng. Mariusz Feltynowski was asked in “Fakty po Faktach” on TVN24 about the transfer of forces and resources to the Lubuskie and Zachodniopomorskie Voivodeships that he had announced.
He explained that so far there were threats in four provinces, but now “we can say that the flood threat has passed there”. – Firefighters are finishing pumping out water, cleaning equipment. Due to the fact that the flood wave is moving to the Lubuskie province, we are trying to react earlier, in excess, to be prepared for the possible arrival of the flood wave – he said.
“We would like to safely lead the flood wave all the way to the Baltic Sea”
When asked about the number of redirected equipment and people, he said that “there is such demand as reported by a given provincial commander based on the reconnaissance of district commanders”. – The national rescue and firefighting system is 150 thousand firefighters – 30 thousand firefighters of the State Fire Service, 120 thousand volunteer firefighters, who are located in over five thousand rescue and firefighting units. Additionally, we have volunteer firefighters who do not belong to this system. This is also almost 120 thousand – he continued.
The host of the program, Anita Werner, also asked whether the level of flood risk, where the flood wave is currently approaching, is as high as it was previously in Lądek Zdrój, Głuchołazy, and Stronie Śląskie.
– We always play it safe. According to what the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management and Polish Waters tell us, it should be much better. However, we would like to safely lead this flood wave all the way to the Baltic Sea – Feltynowski noted.
People Refuse to Evacuate, Then “Firefighters Take Risks”
When asked if people were following evacuation orders, the firefighter admitted that “there is unfortunately a problem here”. – We inform that in 2-3 hours there will be a flood wave here and we need to evacuate, and then people say: sir, I have lived here for 20 years and there has never been such water here – he said.
People Refuse to Evacuate, Then “Firefighters Take Risks”TVN24
As Feltynowski said, “unfortunately, this then means that if this wave is already coming, we go by car, we try to evacuate them”. When it is not possible to get there by car, – he said – “these are boats with very powerful engines and often in such a flood current firefighters take risks”. – And if this is also not possible, then high-altitude groups using helicopters, aviation, police, Border Guard, army with high-altitude rescuers on board and rope technicians – he said. As he pointed out, there are “very different methods”. He added that sometimes due to weather conditions such evacuation is very difficult.
– That is why we encourage you to trust us, because we know what to do – appealed the Chief Commander of the State Fire Service
“Drones do such an amazing job”
The TVN24 guest also explained how the services verify information about the flood threat. – We physically, after receiving information from Polish Waters or IMGW, when in 2010 we sent rescuers from the State Fire Service and volunteers, several dozen or several hundred, to monitor the embankments, now we send a drone and we have physical confirmation on the spot – said Feltynowski.
The Chief Commander of the State Fire Service – who in the past was first the head of the Independent Experts Department and then of the Drone Centre at the Scientific and Research Centre for Fire Protection – State Research Institute – also talked about how much drones help the services.
– We have almost 100 drones in the State Fire Service, several hundred in the volunteer fire departments. The drones do such an incredible job that we have an online image. If there is information here that a embankment has broken somewhere, during one of the crisis headquarters, we immediately send such a drone to the site and check whether it is true or false information – he explained.
– We are constantly monitoring this flood wave, using not only our drones, but also military drones and drones from one company. We are much better prepared than in 2010 – he emphasized.
In 2010, we “chased the wave”
He was also asked about the difference in the operation of the services now and in 2010, when there were also massive floods.
– In 2010, on Friday, when we looked in the morning during the shift (…), it was black everywhere, as far as these maps are concerned. On Monday, when we met in the morning during the shift, it was already red. So we were chasing this wave. And now information about the threat has already come to us from the Government Security Centre, which is supervised by the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration, on Wednesday, 11 (September). On Wednesday, we were already informed that there would be unfavourable flood conditions, so the staffing levels were increased on Wednesday. On Wednesday, forces and means (…) were already moved from the Lubuskie Province to the Lower Silesia Province. On 12 (September), i.e. the next day, my deputy for operational matters was already in this province. On 13 (September), we already applied to the European Union for satellite maps, for the Copernicus system – he listed.
Firefighters propose “to create an app”
He was also asked about the tasks that await the services during the process of rebuilding the destroyed towns and returning to normality. – What we offered to the minister (government plenipotentiary for the reconstruction of areas affected by the flood, Marcin) Kierwiński, (…) is to create such an IT application for a good inventory of needs”.
– The IT specialists at the Main Headquarters of the (State) Fire Service have determined that if they have 20 hours off from other activities related to providing streaming and so on, such an application will be ready by Tuesday evening – he announced. – Then such teams, which will go on reconnaissance according to another checklist, just like a census is done, will look where the electricity is, where the roof is. This is the first step – he explained.
– We will definitely want to offer the use of experts, structural engineers, because we do not have such experts in each of these search and rescue groups, as well as those who were involved in the 2010 flood and know what is needed after the flood – he added.
Main image source: TVN24