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The Singapore Civil Defence Force:
a new state of readiness
LTC N. Subhas, Director, Public Affairs Department, Singapore Civil Defence Force
T
he experiences of many overseas incidents have taught us
that the real challenge posed to the authorities in the after-
math of a terror attack is not only the search and rescue
efforts, but also restoring normality within the shortest possible
time. Should a disaster strike, the critical issue is the ability of
the population to take care of themselves during the initial
minutes of the attack before rescuers arrive. Realizing this, the
Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) has embarked upon radical
transformation to redefine its operational parameters and capa-
bilities, and enhance its engagement with communities which
must be prepared to a new state of readiness.
In order to respond effectively, SCDF operates a three-tier command
structure, with headquarters at the apex, with four territorial Civil
Defence Divisions as the second tier, and 15 fire stations and 26 fire
posts at the frontline to provide immediate response to any incidents.
SCDF also operates two training institutions, the Basic Rescue
Training Centre for new recruits and the Civil Defence Academy for
specialist training. Apart from providing training, these institutions
have an operational role – their commanders, staff and trainees will
respond to major incidents as our strategic 5th and 6th Divisions.
Of the 15 fire stations, four are fully equipped with specialist teams
trained to mitigate incidents involving HazMat, which also encompasses
unconventional chemical, biological and radioactive (CBR) threats. The
remaining 11 stations’ personnel are trained and equipped to the level
of conducting rescue, detection and monitoring in HazMat incidents.
SCDF’s operational concept is a taskforce approach that is calibrated
to the nature and scale of an incident, with the flexibility to swiftly
increase forces whenever necessary. Upon activation, responding forces
will leave their respective bases within one minute, and our target is to
arrive at any incident within an average of eight minutes from activation.
Apart from local incident response, since 1993 SCDF has responded
to ten overseas search and rescue missions under the humanitarian
framework of Operation Lion Heart. We also have six trained officers
who can assist the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination
(UNDAC) team in their international response to crisis situations.
New operating environment
Although the attacks in other countries to date have involved only
the use of explosives, we know that terrorists are capable of using
CBR materials as improvised weapons. To address such threats, SCDF
has been steadily building up its capabilities. SCDF adopts a three-
pronged strategy to deal with the new challenges:
• Strengthening our incident management system
• Enhancing operational readiness and frontline capabilities
• Tightening preventative and regulatory provisions.
Strengthening incident management
Integrated incident management
– In 1997, SCDF was
appointed as the incident manager for civil emergencies
by the Government. Correspondingly, the Ops Civil
Emergency Plan (Ops CE) was promulgated to enable us
to organize a multi-agency response to any major disas-
ter in Singapore. Ops CE lays down the functions and
responsibilities of all agencies involved in incident
response. They are organized into a Joint Planning Staff
to enable integrated incident management during any
emergency. The Ops CE Plan is regularly practiced in a
series of exercises codenamed ‘Exercise Northstar’ to
ensure familiarity with the response framework by all
agencies. The most recent was held on 23 May 2008 and
tested a multi-agency response to managing a large-scale
fire and rescue scenario on board a cruise ship.
Integrated forward command and control capability
– In
the area of incident management, SCDF believes in onsite
management with the incident manager exercising effec-
tive leadership, command and control. To put this into
effect, SCDF designed five Forward Command Vehicles
equipped with all necessary technical support and
communications systems to field an integrated incident
management capability.
Enhanced command and control for HazMat incidents
–
Management of HazMat incidents is qualitatively different
to conventional situations like bomb explosions. HazMat
incidents are dynamic because they can change rapidly; it
is essential that commanders get accurate and timely infor-
mation so that mitigation measures can be initiated. For
The Total Containment Vehicle can be deployed to neutralize
biological agents and decontaminate chemical agents
Image: SCDF