Polish firefighters who searched the ruins of the port in Beirut have returned to Poland after four days of work. Their campaign is summarized by the spokesman of the chief commander of the state fire service, senior captain Krzysztof Batorski.
“The four-day foreign mission was one of the most difficult ones for our firefighters. We should remember that 10 years ago our firefighters undertook rescue operations in Haiti after the earthquake and 5 years ago in Nepal, also after an earthquake. Most of the firefighters from these previous missions took part in this action in Beirut. The conditions were very difficult when we talk about Beirut after the explosion, the scale of damage is extensive. 39 firefighters from the search team “Musar” with 4 dogs, and 4 firefighters specialized in chemical salvage.
This unit carried out searches in Lebanon. The authorities assigned us the largest exploration zone of over 62 hectares. Our firefighters, as one of the two teams, had the right to conduct search and rescue operations in the civilian zone. The second team were rescuers from France, but they were under completely different rules as a result of bilateral agreements, so it can be assumed that, apart from the French, only Poles were given the opportunity to work in the civilian zone.
Our main activity was searching for the survivors, testing the stability of buildings to assess whether the building is so damaged as to collapse. Our rescue teams also provided first aid, qualified first aid, and left on site their medical supplies worth over PLN 50,000, for the Lebanese people to use.
To conclude: we worked in high temperatures, over 35 degrees C, but our rescuers happily returned to Poland yesterday evening and at the moment they are resting and recovering, and they undergo a series of medical tests in accordance with our procedures”, said captain Krzysztof Batorski about the mission.