Page 28 - Signal Summer 2018

| EMERGENCY RESPONSE |

The Defence Forces provided a range of logistical,
humanitarian and emergency support during the storm.
Photos courtesy of An Cosantóir.

Saturday Lessons Learned
Troops worked late into night and on into the Saturday I continued to be based out of Wexford RDF Barracks
morning without rest or rotation while such urgent tasks while troops were re-tasked to operations that involved
still continued to pour in. On Saturday morning more road and path clearance which continued in Enniscorthy,
troops made their way in and a number were collected Bunclody and many villages around the county until the
using our ROPs vehicle which also rotated exhausted following Thursday, March 8th. The troops of the 3 Inf
hospital staff, some of whom had been without relief for Bn’s 2-3 Star platoon under the command of 2/Lt Ciarán
over 30 hours. A snow plough also made its way down Troy also made their way down and put in a monumental
on Saturday adding to our fleet of vehicles, along with a effort for grateful locals in Wexford town. Engineering and
road clearance capability. On Saturday the main effort for transport assets from both 1 Bde HQ and the DFTC were
the NAS and the HSE was the dialysis patients who had acquired and liaised with the local Councils to continue
missed appointments over the previous 24 hours. Close the clean-up effort throughout the County. The bulk of our
coordination between Capt Murphy and Anthony Byrne, work was completed from Thursday March 1st to Sunday
Assistant Chief Ambulance Officer, for the South East March 4th of that week, with troops deployed performing
Region ensured the back logged dialysis patients were tasks way beyond anything that any of us had previously
prioritised and more than 80 patients were transported experience before in training or in previous ATCA opera-
to and from treatment within the AO. On Sunday a stores tions. It forced all of us in the 3 Inf Bn to truly think and act
truck with much needed supplies for Wexford General ‘outside the box’ and push ourselves in the most difficult
Hospital arrived down from St. Luke’s Hospital Kilkenny. of weather conditions that we have experienced in the
As ambulances could finally, yet cautiously, venture back recent history of our AO. That experience was invaluable
onto the roads on Sunday, our vehicles were re-tasked looking back and our future training exercises will certainly
to deliver medicine and patients to outlying clinics in the incorporate, but never be able to actually emulate, the
Wexford Region. extraordinary few days we had battling with the ‘Beast
from the East.’

| SUMMER ‘18 | | 39