The weather gods were favorable to the organizers of eRIC 2026. Under a clear blue sky, thousands of trade visitors were able to learn about the latest innovations for disaster response, incident management and crisis management. The 'indoor' lecture program and various master classes also attracted full houses. And on 'the strip' where the annual multidisciplinary demonstration took place, twice a day the fair visitors lined up thickly in front of the fences.
After an introductory film about the increasing geopolitical threat in the world and the consequences for the Netherlands, they were shown a 'cut' scenario, with an incident in two variants: on public roads and behind the gates of a military compound. Presenter Robbert Heinecke talked the scenarios together and led the audience step by step through the various phases of emergency response. The audience behind the fence moved in groups from one scenario to another to see how specific operational challenges were addressed.
Increased risk
Both sub-scenarios involved increased risk. Situation 1: a collision between a passenger car and a Department of Public Works road inspector's vehicle that stopped traffic outside the gate of the military compound. A complication: the motorist, after a license plate search by the police, turns out to be a firearms dangerous person with impressive criminal history. He is "talked out of the car" by members of a Royal Military Police surveillance unit, with service weapons drawn, and taken away handcuffed. His co-driver is still seriously injured in the car.
Because it is uncertain whether there is still a threat from "buddies" of the criminal or explosives in the car, the incident is not being approached as a "routine job. It is too risky for unprotected ambulance personnel to simply approach and remove the victim from the car. This is ideally a job for the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) of Ambulance Amsterdam; so far the only ambulance team in the Netherlands that is specially trained and equipped with ballistic protection to save lives in situations of extreme violence or threat thereof.
The procedure in a SORT deployment is that the ambulance team with equipment, accompanied by armed police officers, goes to the incident in a "train" walking. Armed police officers shield the accident scene and peer outward to immediately ward off any threats, while the SORT team takes care of the seriously injured victim. After life-saving first aid and rescue, this part of the scenario is over.
Heavy load and danger of explosion
Then attention shifts twenty meters to the right, behind the entrance gate of a military compound. The gate, with armed military security guards, is carefully placed on the strip. That way it is "just like the real thing. Reason for the heavy security: the military threat is high and Defense is in a state of mobilization. A column of military vehicles with personnel and ammunition wants to leave, but just before the gate it comes to an accident. A soldier ends up with her leg under the rear wheels of an armored wheeled vehicle. The start of scenario 2.
Such a vehicle is incomparable in robustness and weight to passenger cars or civilian trucks, so there is a lot involved in stabilizing and lifting the rolling "heavyweight. Emergency services arrive and want to get to work. But then an explosion sounds and signs of fire and smoke become visible in the cargo of a truck loaded with ammunition! All signals go to red. Keep your distance, cordon off the area and eliminate this danger first. It is a situation in which a reconnaissance and extinguishing robot can prove its usefulness. And such a device has been in the possession of Defence since last year, as part of the experimental electric tank fire engine of the Royal Netherlands Air Force Command that has been tested and practiced at the Fire Service Education and Training Center in Woensdrecht for about a year.
The electric fire-fighting vehicle positions itself at a safe distance behind the incident and the fire-fighting robot, fed by a hose line, rolls remotely controlled toward the burning truck. Thanks to the cameras and sensors present on the robot, the firefighting unit can direct the deployment from a safe distance and fight the fire with its fire monitor without putting people in the danger zone. In scenarios with such high risk, it becomes clear that remotely controlled emergency response tools, such as ground robots and drones, are much more than "newfangled toys. Anno 2026, they actually belong in the toolbox of all emergency response professionals by default, to effectively and safely approach high-hazard incidents.
Once the fire has been extinguished and the danger of explosion has been eliminated, a firefighting team led by specialists from training provider Artem (heavy rescue training) gets to work with hydraulic jacks and lifting cushions. Their goal: stabilize the armored vehicle and lift it a bit. The plan succeeds and the victim is freed. Again, the SORT team gets to work. You never know, with that ammo on the truck....
Are you ready?
The multidemo 2026 showed in well-defined sub-scenarios briefly and concisely what the challenges are in an incident in the border area of a military site and public space: which services are involved, what risks and dangers do they have to take into account and what is their operational perspective? Key lessons: make sure you have good knowledge and the right equipment to handle the heavy loads of armored military vehicles. But there is more to it, such as operational and managerial authority in incidents involving military transport situations. In a master class on this topic, interested parties were able to hear much more about this, while near the demonstration strip interested emergency responders were also allowed to work with hydraulic lifting instruments and a heavy military vehicle themselves.
The organizers of the demonstration hope that with this current scenario they have aroused the attention of safety regions, police and ambulance services: do you know how to handle such an incident and what is involved in terms of knowledge, skills and equipment? Perhaps the demonstration will be followed up in the (near) future. With the demonstration scenario and the substantive knowledge sessions, eRIC has taken new steps towards a greater learning effect of a trade fair that is and will remain highly relevant to the security domain in the future.