Pilot project brings police, ambulance and emergency teams together at Ukraine’s first Civilian Security Center established in Donetsk region.
On November 23 Ukraine’s first-ever Civilian Security Center started operating on the territory of Lymanska united territorial community of Donetsk region. National police, ambulance as well as firefighters and emergency teams will work together in the same premises. It is expected that placed in one spot the services will react quicker and in a more efficient way to emergency situations. Center’s work was explained by Vladyslav Husynsky, Colonel of the service for civilian protection, deputy head of the Main Department of Ukraine’s Emergency Service in Donetsk region for reacting to emergency, speaking via Skype at a press-briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center (UCMC) as part of UCMC’s project “Spokesperson of peaceful life” implemented with the support of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Federal German Republic.
Each shift at the Lymansky Center includes a team of five firefighters, one police team and one ambulance team. According to Husynsky, this should be enough to rapidly react. If needed, they will later call reinforcement. “All calls will get to the 101 emergency service call center, we will be redirecting them to the Civilian Security Center. They will be reacting and going to sites. It will work in the same way for police and ambulance,” the emergency official said. Center will service only Lymanska community, however upon the need it will be also providing assistance to the colleagues from neighboring communities.
Civilian Security Center was established as a pilot project and is part of reorganizing of the State Emergency Service in accordance with the Memorandum on cooperation signed between Donetsk regional state administration and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. The project also comes as a move in the context of the decentralization reform. Similar centers will open in the newly established territorial communities. For now they are three in Donetsk region: Lymanska, Cherkaska and Oktyabrska. “Lymanska community became the first one to get state funding as it was most ready to construct a center,” Husynsky noted. Moreover the area of the city of Lyman was “cut” in two parts by railway tracks, that was making it complicated for emergency teams to come. Now emergency service offices are located in both parts of the city.
According to the emergency service official next two centers will open in Cherkaska and Oktyabrska communities, possibly already this year. A total of five centers is planned to be opened.