A multinational two-day conference The Volunteer Rescuer – A Unified Approach, was held by the Emergency Fire and Rescue Unit last weekend as part of the Erasmus+ KA2 Strategic Partnerships.

The project has been bringing together volunteering teams from all over Europe and beyond to work together in search-and-rescue training, share and identify best practices and synchronise methods to increase preparedness for intervention in large-scale disasters.

It also helps facilitate inter-operability between teams from different countries. The project has also provided a platform for the compilation of the first Introductory Manual for European Volunteer Rescuers, which is the first of its kind and is intended to provide a set of rescue-related guidelines to volunteer teams

A significant part of this project has been to strengthen and sustain the association of European SAR teams which was conceived in 2014 – the EVOLSAR. This ever-growing network of voluntary organisations stands today as one of the greatest milestones in the work of the EFRU and other European NGOs towards this unified approach.

After a series of transnational meetings, rescue scenarios and multinational fora, the project has now reached its final stages. A rescue manual was published and participants took part in one last simulation exercise last weekend.

Twenty-four voluntary teams from 14 countries took part.

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