The alert sounded in the carpentry workshop, one of the oldest areas of the Aquinos Group factory complex in the Industrial zone of Sinde, Tábua. It’s just after 5:30 pm and the person responsible for the unit’s security has just reported a fire in the dust removal system’s electrical panel. The building was quickly evacuated, with the 24 workers who worked the afternoon shift being taken to the “meeting point”. However, there were 10 missing. «They are inside the facilities», explains Bruno Espinhal, responsible for security at the company Aquinos. 10 employees who are inside a 50 m2 space, with several machines, wood and… a fire to be built.
Firefighters from Tábua, Vila Nova de Oliveirinha and Coja are already on site, with firefighting vehicles pumping water into the interior. Estela Pais, the company’s Human Resources director, follows the operations step by step and reminds us of the importance of recording/controlling the people who are working.
Data that allows, immediately, he emphasizes, to understand that 10 people are in danger inside the carpentry, who need to be rescued. The first victim appears. A young man who is already on a stretcher and is taken to the ambulance. Another one immediately follows. A man comes limping, supported by two firefighters.
Firefighters reinforce resources and Vítor Duarte, also responsible for the company’s security, begins to express some anxiety. «It was expected that they would have already managed to get everyone out», he says, worried about the course of the operations and the strategy adopted for the fight. Indeed, he has reason to be worried. At the door of the carpentry are nurse Vanda and security technician Diana, who are “controlling” the removal of the injured. The diagnosis is the most diverse: «we have people in cardiorespiratory arrest, unconscious, burned… and one dead».
Fortunately, it was nothing more than a simulation, which tested, late yesterday afternoon, the Aquinos Group’s Internal Emergency Plan in the Sinde factories, which represent a universe of 1,900 workers. «We have to understand what goes wrong», says Vítor Duarte.
Monitoring the different scenarios, where there was no shortage of forest fires, were the Sub-Regional Emergency and Civil Protection commander, Carlos Luís Tavares and the second commander, Nuno Seixas, who today intend to take stock of this “AquinosRescue24” simulacrum.
