On Friday, March 21, soldiers of the Logistics Battalion and Command Battalion of the 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade (10BKPanc), as well as Territorial National Reserve soldiers undergoing rotational training, took part in extinguishing a fire that broke out on the training ground in Świętoszów.
– At around 12:00 p.m., the brigade received orders to assign forces and resources to fight the fire that had broken out at the Świętoszów training ground – said Major Wiktor Kotlarz, an officer in the civil-military cooperation section of 10BKPanc. – At 1:15 p.m., almost 200 soldiers from the Logistics Battalion and Command Battalion, including 53 Territorial National Reserve soldiers, travelled by vehicle to the area of the operation.
At the scene, the soldiers were divided into groups of 10 and, after a brief briefing provided by representatives of the fire service and the State Forests district, went to the fire area. Their main task was to secure the terrain so that the fire would not spread to neighbouring areas.
Additionally, two tracked WZT-3 technical support vehicles, together with their crews, were sent to the scene. They “ploughed” the ground around the burned area, creating a strip separating it from the area not yet reached by the fire. The Biber armoured vehicle-launched bridge was also used in the operation to support WZT-3 vehicles that were getting stuck in the mud.
The operation continued until the evening. After 9:00 p.m., the soldiers returned to the barracks. The following day, the technical support vehicles, together with soldiers and representatives of the Świętoszów Forest District, returned to the area of the already extinguished fire to provide final protection for the burned area.
– It was a true baptism of fire for the Territorial National Reserve soldiers. After just a few days of service, they found themselves in an area affected by a natural disaster. The fire was difficult to extinguish, primarily because the wind direction changed frequently. This makes the fact that they were disciplined and efficiently carried out the orders of their superiors and the firefighters directing the operation all the more noteworthy – Major Kotlarz concluded.
(information: Katarzyna Przepióra, assistant to the press officer of 10BKPanc/ii)