Last weekend the Royal Dutch Marines kept their annual Hurricane Exercise (Hurex) with the Fire Department, Voluntary Corps of St. Maarten (VKS) and the Sint Maarten Red Cross, several of the agencies responsible for disaster relief on the island in the event of a hurricane.

On Saturday August 29th the focus was on support of the fire department. During the day the marines were instructed by and trained jointly with the fire fepartment at Mullet Bay. Several scenarios were staged where marines would arrive first at an incident and had to deal with the matter at hand. The focus was on stabilizing a situation, creating a safe work area and putting ones own safety first. All exercises where performed under the supervision of the fire department’s instructors.

The training day ended at night with a big staged accident. A police car in hot pursuit of a criminal ended up under a tree, whilst the criminal’s car crashed into a house. The criminal was launched into the bushes and the car burst into flames. The house itself was about to cave in while the owner was trapped inside. Marines reached first at the scene and feverishly tried to stabilize the situation before the arrival of the fire department. Several citizens tried to rescue their trapped neighbor by entering the unstable house. They also wanted to attack the wounded criminal. All the different exercises of the day culminated in this large scenario.

Cooperation between the various agencies went very well. In the event of a hurricane situation or any other type of disaster, assistance by the marines might be needed. Good cooperation between the several entities is therefore essential. Both marines and the fire department look back at a day where the relief groups worked as one team.

In the pictures several scenes from the events during last Saturday’s exercises (as taken by fire officer Silvanico Pauletta):