One Thousand Responders, Nine Scenarios, and a Radio Network That Buckled Under the Load
Published on 10/11/2026 at 21:11 | Editorial boerse-global.de
When Grafschaft Bentheim's emergency planners scheduled the district's largest-ever single-day civil protection exercise, they knew the 112 switchboard would be swamped by residents calling to ask what was going on. Their fix: a dedicated public information line, (05921) 963 333, set up specifically for the drill — paired with a blunt request that people keep away from the real emergency number.
The exercise ran from 8am to 3pm and threw roughly 1,000 responders into a series of unannounced incidents, complete with made-up casualties played by costumed volunteers. Among the scenarios: a hazardous-materials spill on a railway line in Bad Bentheim that triggered a train evacuation and helicopter transfers to Nordhorn hospital; an aerial operation against a vegetation fire in Itterbeck; and heavy rain and flooding in Nordhorn, where sandbags were ferried by boat to visitor areas around the Vechtesee lake.
The incident commander's verdict was positive on cooperation — regionally, across Lower Saxony, and with units from North Rhine-Westphalia and the Netherlands. But the day also exposed technical ceilings. Radio communication dropped out at times, and the communications network hit the limits of its capacity.
Industry, hospitals and a stadium full of simulated casualties
Elsewhere, the focus fell on sensitive industrial and healthcare sites. At the Knapsack chemical park in Hürth, an emergency drill ran from 10am to 2pm involving the plant fire brigade, site security and the company crisis team alongside Hürth's fire service, the Brühl branch of THW (Germany's federal technical relief agency) and the district police command staff.
In Herne, sirens sounded at 11am and sent 40 fire and rescue vehicles to the Ineos Solvent chemical plant on Shamrockstraße to deal with a simulated explosion. That exercise, which wrapped up at 3pm, incorporated Marien Hospital and caused temporary traffic disruption.
Lippstadt's crews — drawn from Geseke, Erwitte and Lippstadt — rehearsed a CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) response at the Benninghausen site of Lange & Co. GmbH, working from a tanker trailer and visiting measurement points across the town.
Medical mass-casualty drills featured too. About 200 fire service and hospital personnel evacuated a smoke-filled ward at St. Barbara Hospital in Gladbeck and treated roughly 30 simulated patients. In Rostock, some 400 responders from the university medical centre and the German Red Cross (DRK) used the Ostseestadion to practise caring for around 70 patients after a hypothetical drone crash, with the DRK Medical Task Force standing up a treatment area for 50 people. A hospital spokesperson said the exercise sharpened coordination between civil protection, ambulance services and the clinic. Police and rescue crews in Lünen ran a school shooting scenario at a secondary school, after which the DRK also flagged difficulties that had surfaced.
Command structures tested across regions and borders
Other units put their command processes under pressure. In Emmendingen district, more than 550 personnel were alerted from 6am and faced nine scenarios: forest fires in Elzach and Simonswald, a ship collision on the Rhine near Weisweil, hazardous substance releases in Wyhl, and a basement fire at Haus Tecum of the ZfP Emmendingen psychiatric centre involving more than 40 people needing transport, where THW secured power via a 175 kVA generator.
The Dinslaken-Voerde-Hünxe alliance drilled command structures with 160 personnel and the Kreis Wesel missing persons information office, while in Forst in Baden, rescue services and DLRG (the German life-saving association) practised severe-weather operations at Heidesee on 10 October 2026.
Across the border in Austria's Tennengau region, more than 400 responders took part in exercise TENT '26, working through heavy rain and toxic gas scenarios at the Wiestal reservoir and testing whether the Hallein command room could run self-sufficiently on emergency power for up to 72 hours.
