EMERLAN has experienced an intense week of activity between March 26 and 29 on the islands of La Gomera, Tenerife, and El Hierro, combining emergency interventions, specialized training, and preventive coverage of events.
The activity began on Wednesday, March 26, with storm Therese, which strongly affected the island of La Gomera. Given this situation, EMERLAN, in coordination with Ayuda y Emergencias Anaga (AEA), diverted the team that was heading to El Hierro for a preventive service, transferring it to La Gomera to support in whatever was necessary to our neighbors.
In parallel, EMERLAN's K-9 unit, present in Tenerife for a few days, was pre-alerted for a possible activation.
The EMERLAN-AEA team traveled to La Gomera on the 23:00 boat, chartered by the General Directorate of Emergencies of the Government of the Canary Islands, where it carried out cleaning, evaluation, and inspection tasks in the affected areas. The device was deactivated at 12:00 on Thursday, March 27.
During the days 28 and 29, the K-9 EMERLAN unit participated in the II Cinological Rescue Conference organized by Protección Civil La Laguna, developing a continuous 24-hour training. Searches in large areas, collapsed structures, confined spaces, and in conditions of total darkness were carried out, in addition to workshops on initial victim assessment.
These sessions brought together different intervening groups such as: Civil Protection La Laguna, Civil Protection Candelaria, GPS Canarias, AEA and GOSER La Palma, allowing to share methodologies, action protocols and operational experiences.
From EMERLAN they thank Civil Protection La Laguna for the invitation and organization of these conferences, highlighting the work of their entire team and, especially, of Domingo Torres for his professionalism and coordination.
To close the week, on Saturday, March 28, EMERLAN participated in the Magma Bike Marathon, on the island of El Hierro, collaborating with AEA in the preventive device to guarantee the safety of the event.
EMERLAN thus continues reinforcing its commitment to intervention, training, and coordination among teams, key to offering an effective response to any situation.
