On September 11, the Vayots Dzor Regional Rescue Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations organized and conducted a demonstration special-tactical exercise on "Firefighting, search and rescue and accident recovery operations" at Yeghegnadzor Secondary School No. 1 in a partially collapsed section of the school building.

The exercise was led by the Head of the Regional Rescue Department, r/s Colonel Hakob Sargsyan, and the Chief of Staff was the Deputy Head of the Rescue Department, r/s Colonel Harutyun Margaryan.

Vayots Dzor Deputy Governor A. Khachatryan, the Heads of the Regional Departments of the Police of MIA of RA and NSS Vayots Dzor, other officials.

Participants in the exercise included the staff of the Vayots Dzor Regional Rescue Department, one fire  from Fire and Rescue Squad No. 59, the emergency recovery teams from Vayots Dzor Regional Division of Gazprom Armenia and the emergency recovery groups of Yeghegnadzor site of "Electric Networks of Armenia" CJSC, the patrol squad and guard of the Yeghegnadzor Division of the Vayots Dzor Regional Police, the emergency medical team from the Yeghegnadzor Medical Center and the rapid response team from the Vayots Dzor branch of the Armenian Red Cross Society.

The purpose of the exercise was to:

• check the preparedness of the response forces in firefighting, rescue and urgent emergency restoration activities;
• improve the practical abilities of the responding forces in order to fulfill the tasks in the created situation.

During the exercise, activities were conducted including reconnaissance and situation assessment, fire extinguishing, providing first aid to the casualties and their evacuation, as well as accident recovery operations.

Subsequently, an analysis and summary of the completed work at the Vayots Dzor Regional Rescue Department, during which the identified shortcomings were highlighted, several professional recommendations were given and future tasks were outlined.

At the end, the Head of the Regional Rescue Department, r/s Colonel Hakob Sargsyan, expressed his gratitude the participants of the exercise, positively evaluating the effective collaboration and joint activity.