Hundreds turn out for Civil Protection Department open weekend

Rescue demonstrations by the Civil Protection Department fascinated hundreds of people at an open weekend at the department's facility in Hal Far, which ended yesterday.

Also taking part were several voluntary rescue organisations - including the St John Rescue Corps, the St John Ambulance Brigade, the Malta Red Cross Society and the Msida scouts, which also displayed rescue and first aid skills.

Regularly training in first aid and rescue skills, these voluntary groups are professionally-equipped with vehicles, first aid, rescue and abseiling kits which, more often than not, belong to the volunteers themselves.

Using harnesses, stretchers and ropes, the groups held collective and individual demonstrations of how casualties are safely taken out of a building in an emergency. Most voluntary groups, in fact, train to assist the Civil Protection Department during national disasters.

Demonstrations by the department's own staff focused mainly on fighting fires and rescuing people trapped in cars, but a rescue from an AFM helicopter was also held.

The Parliamentary Secretary in the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry, Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, congratulated the CPD for its efforts and its work and thanked the voluntary groups for their assistance.

Those who visited the facility yesterday could also walk around to speak to the members of the CPD, watch fire rescuers' equipment and get a glimpse of what rescue was all about.

Civil Protection Department director Peter Cordina said the idea of holding an open weekend was to create public awareness on the role of the Civil Protection Department, its duties - which range from fire fighting to land and sea rescue - and how the CPD assisted people in emergencies or in case of a national disaster.

Asked if the initiative was aimed at attracting young people to take up a career in rescue or fire fighting, Mr Cordina said the CPD, which had 105 employees, was carrying out an experiment in which it was training volunteers. "The idea is to recruit more people in the long run," he said.

The Civil Protection Department played an important role in coordinating rescue operations during the September floods last year.

"On that occasion, the Civil Protection Department coordinated rescue operations, assisted by the Armed Forces and the Police. However, we had an important role in coordinating rescue operations," Mr Cordina said.

Last year, the Civil Protection Department received 5,500 calls for assistance, 250 of which were hoaxes. Mr Cordina said till April this year, the CPD had already had 1,500 calls, 50 of which were hoax.

The CPD director also praised the initiative of NGOs which, he said, were giving a vital contribution with their training in rescue operations.

The Fire Station at Hal Far was also open for the public on Friday and Saturday. School children were also taken to the open weekend to watch a number of rescue demonstrations by the CPD.