ZAGREB, November 22, 2019 – A closing firefighting and anti-pollution exercise was held at sea off the northern Adriatic city of Pula on Friday, with 27 firemen – nine each from Istria, the Slovene port town of Koper and the Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia – participating.
Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović attended the exercise, which was conducted after a two-year training of a joint unit, the first such unit in Europe, consisting of firefighters from three countries and formed to protect the common sea as part of the EU project “North Adriatic Maritime Incident Response Group – NAMIRG”.
“All modern security challenges are of a cross-border nature, which means that they require a cross-border response. To be successful in that, we must exercise and today’s exercise is a result of two years of effort invested by firemen and members of the Croatian Army, police, the Croatian Red Cross and their partners from Slovenia and Italy,” said Božinović.
He said that with the exercise Croatia had earned a certificate for putting out fires at sea.
“In recent years we have had serious accidents at sea. Croatia now has a new capability and that is the biggest value of this exercise, with efficient interaction between the Coast Guard and the Croatian Air Force to the emergency medical service and the Red Cross. The incumbent government insists on the integration of capabilities so that we can respond to any situation,” Božinović said, adding that Croatia had excellent staff and was well equipped for situations such as the one demonstrated during the exercise.
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