At the meeting of the representatives of the County Operations Centre of the Istria County (ŽOC), which was held on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 in the premises of the Port Authority Pula, it was decided that the public demonstration exercise FIRESPILL 2022 will be held on May 12, 2022 in the Pula Port aquatorium near the customs pier.

The exercise is a regular planned activity of the ŽOC, and will be organized with the participation of several emergency services operating in the Istria County within the FIRESPILL - Fostering Improved Reaction of Cross border Emergency Services and Prevention Increasing Safety Level project, funded by the Interreg Italy – Croatia 2014 -2020 CBC Programme.

Participants of the exercise will be members and deputies of the County Operations Center (žOC) of the Istria County, employees of the Port Authority, the Fire Department of the Istria County, public fire stations in the Istria County, county port administrations, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Croatia (Coast Guard) and representatives of other emergency services in the Istria County.

The purpose of public demonstration exercises, which are held on an annual basis, is to check warning and information systems, decision making in crisis situations and management of rescue operations, fire extinguishing, prevention of smuggling, cleaning up hydrocarbon spills, as well as the capabilities of joint action or coordination of intervention teams.

The objectives of the exercise are to improve cooperation and coordination of operational staff, especially intervention teams, check the command structure of the county intervention plan, achieve a satisfactory level of communication between intervention teams, check equipment and gain experience in handling equipment, products and other means.

The exercise also serves to train command staff in the processes of assessing the situation, anticipating its development, making decisions during the intervention and commanding rescue operations, firefighting and cleaning.