2024-10-09 03:00:00
José Antonio Argibay, Catalina Pérez and Marcos Araújo, from the Galician Emergency Agency GONZALO BARRAL
Axega coordinates this work in the community, having 112 as its central nucleus
09 October 2024 . Updated at 05:00
The best emergency is the one that never happens. But since zero risk does not exist, Galicia wants to be as prepared as possible to face any situation. THE Galicia Emergency Agency (HIDE) It’s the tip of the iceberg of that prevention and response system. Created in 2007, his work is coordinate and direct attention to emergencies in the community. This organization, based in A Estrada, deals with risk planning, self-protection activities and has an overview of teams from the whole community, which can be activated by 112 in a coordinated way.
The management of this European emergency telephone is one of the main skills of Axega, which also has a logistics support and intervention group (GALI) which supports local operational groups, such as the GES (Supra-municipal Emergency Groups) or Civil Protection groups. Some groups that the agency also helps to size: «We value the territory and make a map of emergency response times. The desired goal is to be able to do this reach any accident that occurs in Galicia in less than fifteen minutes. Where response times are longer, the Xunta establishes agreements with local authorities, provincial councils or councils, to create supra-municipal groups. It’s the model followed in other communities and in many parts of Europe: combining larger teams with more resources with smaller teams that can arrive earlier in an emergency,” he explains. Marcos Araújodirector of Axega. Both the GES and the Civil Protection are also helped in the purchase of material, something in which they have invested more than 20 million euros in the last six years.
112 distributes the game
Him 112 It is, in Araújo’s words, a bit like the “central nucleus” of Axega. A service active 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Only last year its operators received almost 416,000 calls. And although it is not the only emergency telephone number (for health services there is 061, the Police and Guardia Civil have their own telephone numbers) its characteristics make it an essential resource. “AND freeeasy to remember, it can be used wherever there is mobile coverage from at least one telephone operator the same for all of Europe —a Frenchman visiting Galicia can use it as in his own country—, but above all it gives you access to all the resources you may need», he indicates Catalina Perezcommunications manager for 112 Galicia.
And the fact is that 112 is a kind of dealer capable of dealing out all the cards that may be needed in an emergency. «Each accident can require many different means. For example, in a road accident, not only the interventions of the Civil Guard, firefighters, health workers, street cleaners, local police may be necessary… We have more than 168 types of protocolized interventionsand each one mobilizes different means, because In emergencies nothing is improvised“Everything must be planned and protocolized, as response times must be very short,” says Araújo.
But also, Most 112 calls can now be geolocalized automaticallysolving from second zero one of the big questions when an emergency is reported: where is it happening. “Our systems automatically receive the coordinates sent by the mobile phone and convert them into a point on the map, which allows us to visualize whether it is an isolated house, a multi-storey building… and to have very valuable information,” they explained explain. .
Finding out what happens depends on the expertise of the operatorsa staff of which Pérez highlights “them experience, knowledge and training» to extract the best information from a nervous caller in a dangerous situation.
The GALI: the armed wing of Axega
Axega not only mobilizes resources, but also has a direct action dimension. Him Logistics support and intervention group (CANDIES) It’s his operational arm, his armed wing, he jokes José Antonio Argibayresponsible for this department. “What we do is strengthen the operational capabilities of the groups that must intervene», he explains about its function.
To do this, they have specialized equipment and sometimes very expensive, which Municipalities cannot afford or which would not be profitable because they are rarely used, and which Axega makes available. For example, GALI provided all the files lightning under which work was carried out in the train accident of Fishermen with a semi-trailer capable of providing up to 70,000 watts of light power. In other cases, they mobilized a bilge pump as powerful as it can aspirate 50,000 liters per minute. Los advanced command posts of the group are also those used in large events, which integrate every type of advanced communication in real time, with power supply for 300 hours.
“THE technology he is our ally, we try to always be on the front line. In 2015, for example, Galicia was the first community with a drone operational unitwho in January of the following year carried out his first intervention in the search for a missing person in Carnota”, says Argibay.
The goal is to integrate as much as possible with the rest of the teams involved. “We can, for example, provide thermographic images and indicate to the firefighters which area is best to direct the hoses towards”, they explain. Fires, floods, disappearances, rescues even in mountain areas in the snow… Little escapes the capabilities and resources of GALI.
The near future: video calls to 112 or predictive artificial intelligence or captive drone
Staying up to date is essential for the Galician Emergency Agency. For this reason they participate in different groups and research projectsand maintain close collaboration with the emergency services of other autonomous communities and the rest of Europe, with the intention of coordinating, but also sharing the latest progress.
One of those that is already knocking on the door is the possibility of that 112 receives video calls. “There the operator will no longer depend only on what the person who reported tells him, he will be able to see what happens himself”, underlines Catalina Pérez. «If we can too transfer that image to the teams involved This will mean, for example, that firefighters will be able to see the situation and plan their intervention while traveling to the emergency site,” adds Marcos Araújo. At the moment, the implementation of this new feature is pending extension of 5G technology to a large part of the territory.
The closest date, probably the end of this year, has the incorporation of a captive drone into GALI: «It is a drone that is supplied with power via a conductive wire, so we can keep it still for as long as we need. It will be very useful in large concentrations of peoplebecause it would also allow us to anticipate large movements of people who could pose a risk”, explains José Antonio Argibay.
The application of artificial intelligencefor example for the analysis of historical data it allows predict risksit’s another line of work.
Self-protection and planning are two other pillars
Axega is also responsible for generating the file land protection planslike Platerga and others specific and sectoral which monitor issues such as the risk of flooding, snowfall, transport of dangerous goods or earthquake actions, among other things. They also manage alarm systems for the populationfor example school warnings in case of bad weather.
But in addition to the protection of the group, the three agency experts appeal to self-protection ea «sense» which can prevent us from dealing with most of the risky situations we put ourselves in. For this reason they carry out important awareness-raising work, with visits to their headquarters in A Estrada and with active communication on social networks which includes useful information and advice. “When we see a news story reporting a death, for us it means thinking: ‘We’re not there,'” complains Araújo.
Filed in:
Xunta de Galicia Civil Protection Guardia Civil Earthquake
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