Civil protection; information on the tasks of the civil protection authorities

A disaster within the meaning of the Bavarian Civil Protection Act (BayKSG) is an event in which the life or health of a large number of people or the natural basis of life (environment) or significant material assets are endangered or damaged to an unusual extent and the danger can only be averted or the disruption can only be prevented and eliminated if the authorities, departments, organizations and forces involved in civil protection work together under the direction of the civil protection authority.

In Bavaria, the disaster control authorities are the district administrative authorities - i.e. the district administration offices and the independent municipalities -, the governments and the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior, for Sport and Integration. The disaster control authorities have the task of averting disasters and taking the necessary preparatory measures.

Civil protection is primarily based on the emergency services of the fire departments, voluntary aid organizations and the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW). In addition, all authorities and departments of the Free State of Bavaria, the municipalities, counties and districts, the other corporations, institutions and foundations under public law subject to the supervision of the Free State of Bavaria as well as the associations of non-statutory welfare organizations are obliged to provide disaster relief.

Operational management and leadership in disaster control

The disaster control authority (usually the district office, independent municipality) determines the existence and also the end of a disaster (Art. 4 BayKSG). Once the disaster has been declared, it directs the operation and ensures that all measures are coordinated (Art. 5 BayKSG). To this end, it has a comprehensive right to issue instructions to all deployed forces and participating authorities of the same or a lower level (Art. 5 BayKSG). Article 2 Paragraph 3 BayKSG gives the governments and the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior, for Sport and Integration a right of entry, i.e. they can take over the operational command themselves.

The disaster control authority should appoint a local incident commander to carry out its duties at the scene of the incident. Within the framework of the mandate and the instructions of the disaster control authority, this person manages all operational measures on site and can issue instructions to all deployed forces (Art. 6 BayKSG).

Tasks of the disaster control authorities

Preparatory measures

• Planning
  • Alarm planning in fire and disaster control
  • General disaster control planning
  • Special disaster control plans for facilities and installations with special hazard potential
• Regulations
  • Regulation of incident command and management in the event of disasters and major incidents
  • Training and further training
• Exercises

Command and control in the event of a disaster

• Overall incident command
• Coordination of all operational measures, emergency services and authorities involved
• Requesting external resources/operational forces