Page 26 - Signal Summer 2018

| EMERGENCY RESPONSE |

‘Beast from the East’:

A Lieutenant’s Perspective

The unprecedented weather of late February and early May brought a series of severe chal-
lenges to the State and its response capabilities. With the Defence Forces providing a host
of emergency response capabilities, 2/Lt Patrick Tobin, Platoon Commander, Sp Coy, 3 Inf
Bn, provides his recollection of what was involved for his area of operations (AO).

he ‘Beast’ gave us plenty of warning but until you
Tcan see, feel and be affected by it, it was difficult to
believe it could arrive with the ferocity the warnings were
giving. My Unit, the 3 Infantry Battalion, were not taking
any chances. Lt. Col. Mark Brownen, OC 3 Inf Bn, the Bn
2 I/C Comdt Conor O’Shea and Ops Officer Capt Kieran
Brennan chaired meetings in the days coming up to the
forecast snow to outline the units response, acquire the
necessary vehicles and equipment we needed for the
snow and to ensure the personnel within the unit were
ready to deploy in any Aid-to-the-Civil-Authority (ATCA)
role we were required to fulfil.

Thursday
There was no bread on the shelves in many shops, and
people were told not to leave their houses, but I could not
imagine this to be anything more than scare mongering
until the snow finally arrived, in intimidatingly large pro-
portions. Our units’ AO covers the counties of Kilkenny,
Carlow, most of Tipperary and parts of Laois, Waterford Troops of the 3rd Infantry Battalion delivering medical supplies to
and Wexford. The unit pre-positioned ATCA kit and per- Wexford General Hospital. Photo courtesy of 2nd Lt Patrick Tobin.
sonnel to our RDF Barracks in Wexford and Waterford.
Troops closest to these barracks would then report there General to a nearby hotel, where the HSE wisely decided
until our response had been concluded. The remainder of to accommodate its staff from Thursday onwards. Some
our troops reported to Kilkenny. These personnel would patient transfers were carried out using our 4x4s on
be local to these barracks and would shorten their com- Thursday for those in outlying areas, who were concerned
mute (if they could move) and offer local knowledge to that the conditions would be too poor to return home that
agencies requesting our assistance. Leaving Wexford evening. Dialysis patients were of a particular concern as
barracks on Thursday March 1st I could not foresee the they would normally travel with either a relative or a taxi
chaos that the following day would bring. Driving home
without a worry (after the time we were warned not to
make unnecessary journeys) made me think this was per-
haps all a bit unnecessary. With these warnings heeded
by the general public, it gave me a very clear, quick, traffic
free run home to nearby Enniscorthy.

We spent Thursday prioritising work for Friday morning
and preparing the barracks for the accommodation of a
platoon of troops for what we thought then might only be
a day or two. Throughout the day Capt Dave Murphy had
been attending meetings with the regional Emergency
Management Coordination Committee in Wexford County
Council buildings in Wexford town. We also completed
some patient and critical staff transfers. Taskings included 2nd Lt Patrick Tobin meeting An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD, at
moving doctors, nurses and staff to and from Wexford Wexford Ambulance Station. Photo courtesy of 2nd Lt Patrick Tobin.

| SUMMER ‘18 | | 37