The exercise proceeded as planned and concluded on Saturday afternoon. Most of the exercises took place on the campus of the Hessian University of Applied Sciences for Public Management and Security (HöMS). Exercises were also conducted at the Central Control Center in Wiesbaden, the Helios Dr. Horst Schmidt Clinics, St. Josef’s Hospital, the Asklepios Paulinen Clinic, and the German Red Cross’s Missing Persons Center. 

Mayor Gert-Uwe Mende observed the exercise on site. He said: “An effective disaster response system depends on good preparation and on people who are willing to take on responsibility. It is particularly impressive that a large portion of the personnel deployed today are volunteers. This commitment is invaluable to the safety of our city and complements the professional staff.”

Exercise Director Senior Fire Service Officer Rainer Schremmer said: “An exercise of this scale clearly demonstrates how important coordinated structures and the personal collaboration of all participants are. The emergency responders tackled the demanding tasks with dedication and professionalism. At the same time, we have gained valuable insights that are now being analyzed and will be incorporated into the preparation of future exercises and operations.”

The exercise was based on a simulated prolonged, widespread heat wave that placed a heavy strain on the hospitals. To support medical care, a treatment station capable of handling up to fifty people was therefore set up on the HöMS grounds. Later in the exercise, a traffic accident involving a mass casualty incident was also simulated.

The simulated accident presented emergency responders with a complex situation: At the sprawling and initially confusing incident site, numerous injured people had to be rescued and treated simultaneously. While the fire department used technical equipment to free trapped individuals, medical personnel assessed the victims and determined the order of further treatment. The patients were then given first aid and transported to the treatment site. There, they underwent further stabilization and were coordinated for transfer to appropriate hospitals.

With the arrival of the patients, another important part of the exercise began at the participating hospitals. Following their respective emergency plans, the hospitals practiced admitting a large number of injured individuals, re-evaluating their medical conditions, and coordinating their internal transfer through the diagnostic and treatment processes. At the same time, the exercise tested how available treatment capacities are coordinated among the incident command, the control center, the transport organization, and the hospitals. In this way, the exercise simulated the entire care chain, from rescue at the scene to treatment in the hospital.

In total, numerous patient transports were carried out during the exercise. Approximately fifty actors playing the roles of injured patients ensured conditions that were as realistic as possible. A specially trained makeup team applied deceptively realistic-looking injury patterns to them for this purpose. In addition to medical care, the exercise also tested alert protocols, command and communication structures, the digital triage of patients, the registration of those affected, and hospital procedures.

Units from the Wiesbaden Professional Fire Department and Volunteer Fire Department participated in the exercise, along with the Wiesbaden medical and support units of the German Red Cross, the Workers’ Samaritan Federation, and Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe, the water rescue unit of the German Life-Saving Association, and the ARGE PSNV (Psychosocial Emergency Care). Also participating were the Wiesbaden Emergency Medical Service, emergency medical units from the Rheingau-Taunus District, the Main-Taunus District, the Groß-Gerau District, and the city of Mainz; the state police; the city police; the Wiesbaden Central Dispatch Center; the German Red Cross’s Missing Persons Center, and the civil defense helicopter Christoph 2. Also actively involved were the Helios Dr. Horst Schmidt Clinics, St. Josef’s Hospital in Wiesbaden, and the Asklepios Paulinen Clinic. The HöMS not only provided the central training grounds but also supported the organizational implementation of the exercise.

On behalf of the State Capital of Wiesbaden, Mayor Mende thanks all full-time and volunteer emergency responders, the actors portraying the injured, the participating hospitals, the HöMS, and all other supporters who contributed to the exercise’s success.

Should a disaster or crisis actually occur in Wiesbaden, information can be found at wiesbaden.de/krisenfall. At wiesbaden.de/notfallvorsorge, you can find information on how to prepare for various crisis situations, such as extreme weather conditions, a widespread power outage, or fires.