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THERE HAS BEEN a total of 25 call outs already this year for the Army Bomb Disposal Squads in Ireland which included 16 improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Officers are on Explosive Ordnance Disposal duty around five or seven days a month on rotation and are all trained weapons and ammunition technitians. Speaking to TheJournal.ie, one officer laid out a regular day on duty and what happens when a call comes through about a suspicious device.
The call
When a request comes in, the senior duty officer briefs the on duty Ordnance Officer on information given by gardai. The officer briefs the rest of the team and makes contact with gardaí at the scene to get more details, a description of the device and agree on a cordon as well as evacuation and safety procedures based on the threat assessments.
I know this means residents being disturbed and evacuated often at night and in poor weather conditions, it’s always something that weighs on the mind, we always try to minimise the duration and scope of impacts on residents and the general population.
En route
Within ten minutes the team meet with their armed military security team and garda escort and are mobile. En route they discuss the threat assessment.
There is a wealth of knowledge and experience in the Ordnance Corps stretching back to the troubles and including our operational deployments from Lebanon and Kosovo to Afghanistan and Chad so everyone’s opinion and recommendations are sought and valued.
Arriving at the scene
First, a command post is set up and the cordon and evacuation are refined as necessary. The team meets with gardaí and witnesses to assess how to deal with the threat posed by the device and decide which approach to take.
We always endeavour to render a device safe as quickly as possible but without putting the operator or the public at risk.
Approach
The preferred option is to approach the device remotely using a robot but sometimes a manual approach is necessary where one of the team would have to dress in a specialised EOD suit. It does provide a degree of protection but can limit movement due to its weight (35 kgs).
Neutralising the device
A range of technical and non-technical render safe procedures (RSPs) are used to neutralise a device but for reasons of operational security specific details cannot be revealed.
There is an ongoing battle between those that manufacture and plant improvised explosive devices and those of us that render them safe, that’s why we are so careful about divulging our identities or how we operate.
Safe
Once the device is rendered safe, cordons are lifted and residents can return to their homes. The team then works closely with gardaí to technically and foresically exploit the remains of the IED or hoax device, either on the scene or after they return to the barracks.
Even after we have left the scene, there can still be a few hours work ahead of us. When we are finally finished, all the evidence is handed over to the gardai and then it’s back to the duty room in barracks to write up my own report, update the database on the details of the call out and then sit back and wait for the next call.
(All images provided by the Defence Forces Press Office)
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That’s a shame. Always something I’ve wanted to do and I’ve put my name down on the lottery a good few years now and never made it, some day maybe, though the opportunities to win are getting less for me as the years go by. It’s great to be able to see it via streaming but it’s not the same I’d imagine, bit like watching a game on the TV, it’s good but not the same as being at the real thing. Ah well, I’ll try again for next year.
Ah here, enough already with the COVID
@Mick Hyland: a remanent of Holohan’s reign of terror.
And some want to give a Covid bonus to entire civil service. This lot obviously still not properly back to work.
@John McCann: nowt to do with OPW not being back to work more to do with people gathered in a small chamber 1 person could be covid asymptomatic and potentially infect everyone present same applies to those gathering outside all huddled together to hear anyone speaking etc and someone could be asymptomatic. Chances are it mightn’t happen but can’t risk it either.
Why can’t we risk it? Almost the entire population over 12 is fully vaccinated. What’s the risk of a few fully vaccinated people gathering in essentially an out door space? Night clubs will be open from the end of this month for goodness sake.
We have to treat covid like the flu from here on out. Normality must resume
Surely 1 person could do it. A golden ticket. Charlie and the Newgrange chamber..
I have my eye on a lone standing stone in West Cork. Just over 2m tall but very elongated in cross section, and the long axis points NE-SW, almost exactly into a notch between 2 hills on the SW horizon. Wouldn’t it be fabulous if the Winter Solstice sunset coincided with that notch? Between 18th and 22nd December if there is any clear sunset I’m off to my standing stone to watch the sun go down!
Getting ridiculous now, almost everyone is vaccinated so crack on. Covid is just an excuse now for laziness.
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