Civil Protection and Emergency Response in Madrid

Posted on Dec 8, 2024 in Geology

PLATERCAM: Civil Protection in the Community of Madrid

The Community of Madrid, by virtue of its powers, has prepared the Territorial Plan of Civil Protection of the Community of Madrid (PLATERCAM), approved by Decree 85/1992 of December 17, with the character of Master Plan. The PLATERCAM is intended to address situations of serious risk, catastrophe, or public calamity that may arise within their territory and establish the general organization.

Assumptions in Plan Implementation by Levels:

  • Level 0: Emergency municipal level, at this level PLATERCAM is not activated. In this situation, the direction of operational coordination is for the corresponding city.
  • Level 1: Emergency municipal level requiring a coordinated response by the Community of Madrid.
  • Level 2: Emergency exceeding the possibilities of local management response.
  • Level 3: Emergency in which the national area of operations interest is present.

Areas of Operation

The area of operations is divided into the following areas or divisions:

  • Intervention Area: This is where the emergency has occurred. It is where the actions of the Intervention Group take place. This area should be as clear as possible of unnecessary obstacles.
  • Relief Area: Immediately adjacent to the intervention area and to the rear, it organizes and performs emergency medical treatment and classification of injuries. It must be as clear as possible of unnecessary obstacles.
  • Base Area: This is where support means are concentrated and organized, as well as reserve staff in the intervention group. In this area, the first reception of evacuees will be organized and controlled, being the place to install the Advanced Command Post.

Kinds of Plans for Civil Protection

  • Territorial Plans and Regional Plans: To deal with emergencies that may generally be present in each geographical area of “autonomous community and lower level.” The Territorial Plan of the Autonomous Community may have the character of the Master Plan, establishing the general organizational framework.
  • Special Plans: Special plans will be developed to address the specific risks of a nature requiring technical and scientific methodology appropriate to each. Unlike territorial plans, these plans have the territorial limits of the specific risk as analyzed.

Types of Special Plans:

  • Basic Plan for situations of war and nuclear emergencies.
  • Special plans that may be state or supra-autonomous, or an autonomous region.

Classes of Fires

Fires are classified depending on the type of fuel affected by an acronym, according to EU rules:

  • Type A Fires: They are composed of solid materials such as wood and paper, retaining those that burn oxygen inside and leaving a residue of charcoal.

  • Type B Fires: These are produced by liquid fuels such as gasoline and oil. They only burn on the surface, as it is in contact with oxygen in the air.

  • Type C Fires: These are fires of gases such as propane, butane, etc.

  • Type D Fires: These are special fires. The use of water as an extinguisher is contraindicated. They normally involve finely powdered metals such as aluminum, magnesium, and sodium. Also included are highly radioactive metals.

Although there is no classification of electrical fire, a distinction must be made for live electrical fires or those in the vicinity of the additional risks reported.

Extinguishing Agents

1. Liquids: Water and Spray

Water can extinguish a fire by cooling it, falling on a large amount of heat absorbed by suffocation, producing about 1880 liters of steam that will move the air and therefore the oxygen it contains, and by dilution. According to their form of projection, water jet with powerful and the spray, which has very little range, but makes a very fast cooling. It is mainly used for extinguishing fires of classes A and B, increasing to 1600 times its volume evaporated. Being electrically conductive, it should not be used where there may be electrical power.

2. Foam

Foam is a set of small bubbles of less density than liquid fuels. It may cover and adhere to vertical surfaces and horizontal flow freely on a surface, forming a layer fire-resistant and continuous air away and prevents the venting of volatile vapors. The principal use of the foam is the extinction of flammable liquid fires, and it can act to hold water, cooling, suffocation, or isolating the fuel from oxygen in the air.

3. Solid: Powder

Multipurpose dry chemical powder and inorganic salts are formed by finely powdered. Its function is to halt the chain reaction. Three types are:

  • Normal: Appropriate for fires by class C. It is called chemical dry.
  • Multipurpose: Appropriate for such fires A, B, C. Embers melt coating, isolating the air.
  • Special: The chemical powder extinguishing acts by inhibiting the chain reaction, suffocation. This effect is noticeable in the dust polyvalent inhibition after the first time.

4. Gas

  • Carbon Dioxide: Carbon dioxide is a colorless, odorless, non-corrosive, is a poor conductor of electricity, more dense than air and during the discharge has a very low temperature, about 70 degrees below zero. CO2 acts on the fire by suffocation (to be diluted with atmospheric CO2 vapor, the oxidation is considerably reduced) and cooling. CO2 is effective against fire class A, B and C, being the agent suitable for extinguishing fires with equipment high electrical voltages.

  • Halogenated Hydrocarbons – Halon: Halons act on the fire by inhibiting the chain reaction and cooling slightly, do not leave any residue and were banned in the manufacture and some countries even today its Use are only allowed in some very specific activities such as civil aviation, in military field tanks and formula one car.

The Fire Triangle and Tetrahedron

The Elements of Fire

1. Fire Triangle

It is known as the graphic representation of the reaction of the union of these three elements, combustion, fuel and heat (activation energy), known as the Triangle of Fire.

Intervention in Flooding

The local police officer will work with the civil protection service, high involvement, and responsibility.

Intervention

  • Let the neighbors know what the signal alarm is.
  • Know the assembly point where they must meet for evacuation and ensure that all know it.
  • Follow exactly the instructions given by the director and responsible plan of the security group (control 112 of the Civil Guard headquarters) to take the following measures:
  1. Make a quick inspection of buildings if there were landslides caused by the flood.
  2. Refrain from drinking water that meets the sanitary guarantees.
  3. Immediately notify the department concerned, to locate dead animals by the flood.
  4. Preventing the return of the affected homes, until the authorities (director of the plan), give instructions to that effect.
  5. Guarantee public security and public order.
  6. Search for victims in collaboration with the intervention group.
  7. Support for dissemination of warnings to the population, according to the instructions of the information cabinet.
  8. FCSE collaborate with the protection of property against possible antisocial acts.
  9. Ensuring access control and traffic management in the area(s) of flooding in the area.

Rescue in Building Collapse

Procedures for Locating Victims

The victims are not directly visible, generally, all are based on area computer tracking, searches by street, circular searches with dogs, geophones, etc.

What the Local Police Do

  • Maintain calm, to avoid spreading to others.
  • Check for injuries and provide assistance if possible.
  • Do not move injured unless it is essential.
  • Try to locate trapped people with metallic noises (knocks on pipes, metal beams, etc.).
  • Close gas and electricity if found open, to avoid fires and floods.
  • Check for broken water and lighting facilities.
  • Do not use lighters, apparatus for flame and be careful with broadcast equipment.