The MIRGs from the partner countries work hard to be up and ready for the Large Scale Exercise planned in June. The fire men and women are currently doing their Helicopter Underwater Escape Training and Survival at Sea training.

The MIRG-EU project was covered in Provant. A television programme on the European activities of the Province of Antwerp. Watch the whole item on The ATV website (MIRG starts after 4 minutes and 30 seconds).

The Belgian MIRG did its HUET in Rotterdam on 2 December. Watch their session on You Tube.

One of the objectives of the MIRG EU Project is to deliver a large scale exercise to demonstrate the progress and achievements of the Group which is scheduled to take place in June 2014 using a vessel located ‘at sea’.

In September the Calais Fire Service had their helicopter underwater escape training in Marseille. A very important part of the MIRG-EU training programme. Want to know how it went? Watch the video made by fellow MIRG-member Nicolas Leclet on our You Tube channel.

Today representatives of all MIRG-partners put their signature under the Operations Policy Manual. This manual, prepared by the EU (INTERREG IVA 2Seas) MIRG Project Group, provides the framework to support cooperation between partner states when responding to incidents requiring a Fire & Rescue Service response at sea.

The second team from Belgium has had its training session on the simulator in Calais. The twelve men are now familiar with the embarkation procedures and strategies that can be followed to contain a fire.

The 22nd Marine Firefighting Symposium was held in Hampton Roads, US in May 2013. A large scale exercise took place aboard a huge vessel moored with the “Ghost Fleet” in the James River.

The first training sessions were held in Calais in June. The MIRG teams from Zeeland, France, England and Belgium now know what they can expect when they’re called to duty. We took the pictures of the teams on the simulator.

The next issue of our news letter eMIRG will be sent out soon. You can already read the article about Michael Campbell on this website. Michael is an Australian fire fighter who came to visit one of our Calais training sessions.