NATO Multimedia

Emergency responders from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia come together as NATO tests emergency response technology.

The NICS Montenegro Field Exercise 2019 took place in Montenegro from 1 to 4 October 2019. The exercise aimed to enhance the cooperation, planning and deployment of international emergency response teams by utilising the Next-Generation Incident Command System (NICS).

Developed in cooperation between the NATO Science for Peace and Security (SPS) Programme and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), NICS is a web-based communications platform that allows first responders and commanders to coordinate large-scale emergency responses in real time.

The exercise involved emergency response teams from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia.

Footage includes various shots of the NICS system in use, firefighters from various nations battling barrel fires as part of exercise scenario, shots of the command centre and Montenegrin aeroplanes dousing water on simulated bush fires.

1. (00:00) VARIOUS SHOTS – MONTENEGRIN AEROPLANES DOUSE SIMULATED FIRES WITH WATER FROM THE AIR DURING EXERCISE
2. (00:18) VARIOUS SHOTS – MONTENEGRIN AEROPLANES FLYING OVERHEAD
3. (00:40) VARIOUS SHOTS – HELICOPTER PERFORMS A MEDICAL EVACUATION AS PART OF EXERCISE
4. (00:50) VARIOUS GOPRO SHOTS – INSIDE THE COCKPIT OF MONTENEGRIN AEROPLANES AS THEY DROP WATER ON THE SIMULATED FIRES
5. (01:27) VARIOUS AERIAL SHOTS – MONTENEGRIN FIREFIGHTERS BATTLE BARREL FIRES DURING EXERCISE
6. (01:57) VARIOUS SHOTS – CROATIAN FIREFIGHTERS ARRIVE ON THE SCENE OF BARREL FIRES
7. (02:10) MID SHOT – BOSNIAN FIREFIGHTERS AT SCENE OF BARREL FIRES
8. (02:19) AERIAL SHOT – FIRE ENGINES AT SCENE OF BARREL FIRES
9. (02:25) CLOSE UP – SOCIAL MEDIA OFFICER DEMONSTRATES HOW MESSAGES ARE POSTED ON PHONE AND ARE SENT TO COMMAND CENTRE
10. (02:31) VARIOUS SHOTS – FIREFIGHTERS USE TABLETS TO COLLECT INFORMATION FROM THE COMMAND CENTRE ABOUT THE BARREL FIRES
11. (03:04) VARIOUS SHOTS – DRONE OPERATORS FLY DRONES OVER THE ONGOING SIMULATED FIRES TO SEND A LIVE PICTURE BACK TO THE COMMAND CENTRE
12. (03:21) VARIOUS AERIAL SHOTS – DRONES FLYING ABOVE BARREL FIRES
13. (03:41) VARIOUS SHOTS – INFORMATION IS GATHERED, PROCESSED AND RELEASED INSIDE THE COMMAND CENTRE
14. (04:24) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – STEPHANIE FOSTER - NICS PROJECT LEAD, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT)

“NICS, the Next-Generation Incident Command System is a command and control platform that allows first responders to collaborate and make decisions in real time. You can share data, you can see the data that you need and you can leave data that you may not need. The main purpose of the system is to provide each responder with the resources that they need to do their work and to be able to share it with others in real time.”

1. (04:56) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – STEPHANIE FOSTER - NICS PROJECT LEAD, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT)

“In the case of an international disaster for example, there’s a lot of things going on all at the same time. There’s a lot of different data being shared, exchanged and the idea of NICS is to bring all of that data into one place and to share the pieces of that data that each responder needs to do their job efficiently.”

1. (05:18) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – DR EYÜP TURMUS, NATO SCIENCE FOR PEACE AND SECURITY (SPS) PROGRAMME MANAGER

“In Montenegro young researchers were able to develop a mobile phone application which is called 112 and any tourist, guest visiting the country can download this application and if they are in distress they will be able to send their exact locations to the operational centre.”

1. (05:36) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – DR EYÜP TURMUS, NATO SCIENCE FOR PEACE AND SECURITY (SPS) PROGRAMME MANAGER

“This region is unfortunately affected frequently by natural disasters as was shown in 2014 during the devastating floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina and these disasters know no borders and require international collaboration. This is why NATO and its partner countries are working together to respond to these disasters.”

1. (06:02) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) – ĐORĐIJE VUJOVIĆ, EXERCISE DIRECTOR

“NATO, or more precisely the NATO SPS office, Science for Peace and Security, is the programme we are all involved in and with our capabilities and partners, which we are working with, to the NATO, we are merging everything in one piece here together, so NICS is a great system and it will be developed through NATO resources here to all the countries and we are really proud that we can work together and develop it upon our needs here.”

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