Department of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (Nikolia)

Department of Civil Defence and Emergency Management

Uprava Civilne odbrane i upravljanja vanrednim situacijama (Sirmian) Department Obrany Cywilnej i Zarządzania Kryzysowego (Mazurian)
Official seal
Official logo
Agency overview
Formed	July 12, 1986 (1986-07-12)
Preceding agency	Department for Civil and Territorial Defence (1951-1986)
Jurisdiction	Federal Government of Nikolia
Headquarters	Carigrad, Nikolia
Employees	6,360; 358,000 volunteers
Annual budget	$621 million USD
Minister responsible	Jakov Milović, Federal Minister for Internal Affairs
Agency executives	Goran Jakovljević, Head of the Department Lazar Jakšić, Operative Commander and Deputy Head
Parent department	Federal Ministry for Internal Affairs
Website	couvs.mup.prv.nk

The Department of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (Sirmian: Uprava Civilne odbrane i upravljanja vanrednim situacijama; Mazurian: Department Obrany Cywilnej i Zarządzania Kryzysowego), commonly known as Civil Defence of Nikolia is a department within the Nikolian Federal Ministry for the Internal Affairs responsible for protection of citizens following the principles of prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation and recovery. Since its restructuring in 1986, the department is also tasked with coordination of emergency services during large-scale man-made or natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, forest fires or terror attacks.

The Department, as part of a government, is led by administrative Head of the Department and the executive board appointed by the monarch of Nikolia at the request of the Federal Minister for Internal Affairs, whereas Head of the Department appoints his first deputy who serves as an Operative Commander of the Civil Defence units.

Most of the Civil Defence personnel are volunteers (around 358,000), mostly serving their compulsory civil service as replacement to the compulsory military service. Full-time paid employees are in notably smaller numbers (around 6,360) and they are mostly fulfilling administrative, coordinative and education roles.

History

Civil defence rescuers searching for people in the rubbles caused by 1964 Korčula earthquake

The concept of Civil defence organisation started after the Great Astyrian War. First such organisation was founded in 1928 as Civilian Protection and Technical Recovery which helped with recoveries after major accidents and as a local militia in case of war. After the GAW2, with growing tensions in the region, proliferation of nuclear weapons and subsequent arms war, the Department for Civil and Territorial Defence was formed in 1951 with the purpose of organising citizen response to war and natural destruction. The first department had two subdepartments: Civil defence was primarily tasked with civilian protection by providing education, organising and maintaining bomb shelters, providing personal protection equipment such as gas masks and such, whereas the territorial defence subdepartment was organised in a form of a reserve militia force to the Nikolian Armed Forces.

With growing issues with balancing the military and civilian part of the Department for Civil and Territorial Defence, the Federal Government decided to split the department in 1986, forming the Homeland Guard from the Territorial Defence, and establishing Department of Civil Defence and Emergency Management from the civilian part of the latter department.

Main tasks

According to the statute of the Department and appropriate law pertaining to civil defence, Civil Defence of Nikolia is tasked with the following:

• Technical and Infrastructural Support
  • Debris clearance, clearing and blasting
  • Electricity supply and area illumination
  • Maintenance of civil defence facilities such as shelters and bunkers
  • Establishment of temporary accommodation, collection points and their maintenance
  • Temporary roadworks and bridge laying
  • Drinking water supply
  • Waste water management
  • Combating floods, pumping and alleviation of flood damage
  • Assisting with firefighting and fighting forest fires
• Search and Rescue
  • Urban search and rescue and salvage
  • Water rescue
  • Rescue from heights
• Logistics
  • Establishment of logistical operational bases
  • Maintenance of material, equipment and vehicles used for mission
  • Catering and welfare of operational staff
  • Transport of consumer goods for mission demands
• Environmental work
  • Remediation of damage to the environment caused by an accident
  • Detection, identification and monitoring (DIM) of chemical, radiological, biological and nuclear (CRBN) hazards
  • Decontamination
• Command and communication
  • Establishment and operation of field command centers
  • Coordination of emergency services involved in the mission
  • Establishment of temporary telecommunication systems
  • Maintenance and operation of population alerting systems such as sirens and public service announcement systems
  • Education of citizens with appropriate preparedness and disaster response, public information drives and propaganda

Organisational structure

Civil Defence of Nikolia is primarily divided territorially by hierarchy on federal, voivodeship, county and local or municipal level. Federal division serves as a top-level administrative and coordinative division and does not possess its own units, whereas all other subordinate divisions (from voivodeship division downwards) have operative and administrative sections.

Personnel

Ranks

Operative ranks of the Civil Defence of Nikolia

Operative ranks of the Civil Defence of Nikolia are divided in 3 categories: Volunteer ranks, Technical Team operatives and Operative Command.

Other than ranks, rank slides also display what team the person belongs to - vertical line in different colours indicates different Civil Defence Technical Teams.

Volunteer ranks

• Volunteer - Given to volunteers that have passed a basic Civil Defence course in duration of 4 days.
• Volunteer Specialist - Given to volunteers that have passed a specialist training and are temporary members of a Technical Team as volunteers.
• Squad Leader - Given to volunteers that have been active within the Civil Defence of Nikolia for at least 9 months and have successfully passed a basic team leadership course in duration of 3 days.
• Platoon Leader - Given to Squad Leaders that have been active within their role for 6 months and have successfully passed an advanced team leadership course in duration of 5 days.

Technical Team Operatives

• Rescuer Technician - Given to candidates that have successfully passed an advanced specialist training in duration of 3 weeks and have become a permanent member of a Technical Team.
• Technical Squad Leader - Given to Rescuer Technicians that have passed a team leadership course in duration of 3 days and have been a member of a Technical Team for one year.
• Technical Group Leader - Given to Technical Squad Leaders that have been in their role for at least one year, have been recommended by their Technical Team Commander and have passed a basic Incident Management course in duration of 3 days and advanced team leadership course in duration of 5 days.
• Technical Team Commander - Technical Team Commanders are heads of their respective Technical Teams - to become one, a person must hold a rank of a Technical Group Leader for at least one year, possess an advanced level of operational knowledge within their team specialty, pass an Incident Management course in duration of 3 days and be recommended by a member of operative command.

Operative Command

• Specialist Advisor - Specialist Advisor is a special rank within the Operative Command given to persons with advanced level of knowledge and qualifications within their field. They must hold a Bachelor's degree in their field of work and at least 10 years of experience. Specialist Advisors are appointed by the Head of the Department on proposal of the Voivodeship Operative Command and their rank is at federal level, meaning they may operate outside of their area of operations with permission from the Voivodeship Operative Command.
• Operative Officer - Given to Technical Group Leaders or Technical Team Commanders that have a Bachelor's degree in Emergency Management, have passed an advanced Incident Management training and have at least 5 years of experience in the field. Operative Officers are deployed to major and complex incidents requiring response from multiple emergency services where they would act as an incident commander, liaise between the emergency services and manage emergency response.
• Deputy Commander - Given to Operative Officers that have showed exceptional performance in field and were proposed by the Operative Commander as their deputy.
• Operative Commander - Given to Operative Officer appointed by the Head of the Department as his first deputy with a role of operative management of the Department of Civil Defence within an administrative unit of the Kingdom of Nikolia. Operative Commander is the most senior officer within the ranks of Civil Defence and his tasks are to provide guidance, policy and lead over the Civil Defence employees and volunteers. Operative Commander may get deployed to a major incident whose magnitude exceeds a territory of one Prefecture or municipality.