The practice allows improving the conditions and response time of personnel in an emergency.
Facing the extreme climate of the Aysén Region, and the Calluqueo Glacier and a frozen Esmeralda Lake as a setting, the Mountain specialists of the IV Army Division developed the “White Wind” exercise, the purpose of which is to increase and perfect rescue techniques in extreme conditions such as glaciers and hard-to-reach places.
The “White Wind” exercise is of special importance in supporting the community, considering that in case of emergency such as accidents involving tourists, there are few who can carry out rescue actions, marking the difference between life and a fatal outcome.
The aforementioned exercise was presented as an opportunity to bring together the provincial Disaster Risk Management Committee (Cogrid) and develop activities within the “National Emergency and Civil Protection” mission area, for which coordination with Senapred was materialized, developing in parallel an interagency training session with the Cogrid authorities.
The Mayor of Cochrane, Jorge Calderón, referred to the exercise that speeds up the response of Army personnel in the event of a rescue emergency. “This type of exercise allows us to establish adequate coordination and improve it, to reduce response times and put our duties in better condition to serve the community,” he said.
The Military Assistance and Rescue Patrols (Parmes) of the Andean Divisional Company No. 20 “Cochrane” and the Motorized Detachment No. 14 “Aysén” participated in this action, together with the Carabineros of Chile and Conaf, an opportunity in which the rescue and evacuation of an injured person, allowing units to deploy maximum initiatives and apply the techniques learned.
The second commander of the Andean Divisional Company No. 20 “Cochrane”, Carlos Iturriaga Rojas, stressed the importance of this exercise held by the General Headquarters of the IV Army Division.
“This allows us to address different fictitious situations and to be able to reach a solution and generate these tactical links so that in real cases we can react in a better and quicker way. At the same time, the White Wind Exercise is being carried out, which was combined with this, giving greater realism to the instruction and training,” Iturriaga indicated.
Various techniques
One of the main challenges was the inclement weather to execute different rescue techniques in extremely difficult environments. During this training period, rescue techniques, amphibious insertion, first aid, self-rescue and rescue at height were approved.
The provincial presidential delegate of Capitán Prat, Marta Montiel Alarcón, said that this is the first time that this exercise has been carried out in the province.
“We have completed a very important simulation exercise. We are very excited about this whole process, given that the conditions we have here in the province are precisely those of the mountains, of hiking,” said the delegate.
The exercise ended successfully, providing the Army with highly trained patrols in techniques and rescues to operate in emergency and catastrophe situations, in adverse weather scenarios, operations that directly benefit the community when required.
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