Military Emergencies Unit Explained

Unit Name:	Emergency Military Unit
Native Name:	Spanish; Castilian: Unidad Militar de Emergencias
Role:	Emergency management
Size:	3,987 (2008)
Command Structure:	Spanish Armed Forces
Garrison:	Torrejón Air Base
Garrison Label:	Headquarters
Motto:	Perseverando para servir (Persevering to serve)
Colors:	Yellow
March:	"Himno UME"
Anniversaries:	October 7
Website:	www.mde.es/ume
Commander1:	King Felipe VI
Commander1 Label:	Commander in Chief
Commander2:	Lt General Luis Manuel Martínez Meijide
Commander2 Label:	Unit Commander
Identification Symbol Label:	Guidon
Aircraft Bomber:	Canadair CL-215
Aircraft Helicopter Utility:	Eurocopter EC135
Aircraft Transport:	Eurocopter AS532 Cougar

The Emergency Military Unit (Spanish; Castilian: Unidad Militar de Emergencias, UME; pronounced as /es/) is a branch of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for providing disaster relief throughout Spain mainly, and abroad if required. It is the newest branch of the Spanish Armed Forces.

History

The decision to create the Military Emergencies Unit was agreed upon at a cabinet meeting of the Zapatero administration on October 7, 2005.^[1] This was enacted in law by the Real Decreto 416/2006 (Royal Decree 416/2006) on April 11, 2006.^[2]

Missions

1. Intervention during emergencies that have their origin in natural hazards; among these are floods, spill-overs, earthquakes, land slides, large snow storms and other adverse weather conditions.
2. Intervention fighting forest fires.
3. Intervention during emergencies derived from technological hazards; among which are chemical, nuclear, radiological and biological hazards.
4. Intervention during emergencies as a consequence of terrorist attacks or illicit or violent acts, including those acts against critical infrastructures, dangerous installations or with nuclear, biological, radiological or chemical agents.
5. Intervention during situations of environmental contamination.
6. Intervention during any other emergency deemed appropriate by the Prime Minister of Spain.

Chiefs

Rank	Name	Start	End
Lieutenant general	Fulgencio Coll Bucher	21 January 2006^[3]	19 July 2008
	José Emilio Roldán Pascual	25 July 2008^[4]	26 September 2012
	Cesar Muro Benayas	28 September 2012^[5]	15 May 2015
	Miguel Alcañíz Comas	23 May 2015^[6]	16 October 2019^[7]
	Luis Manuel Martínez Meijide	23 October 2019^[8]	Incumbent

Organisation

The UME consists of Headquarters (Spanish; Castilian: Unidad de Cuartel General, UCG),

• five emergency intervention battalions (BIEM),
• a support regiment (Spanish; Castilian: Regimiento de Apoyo a Emergencias, RAEM),
• a communications battalion (Spanish; Castilian: Batallón de Transmisiones, BTUME) and
• an aviation group (Spanish; Castilian: Agrupación de Medios Aéreos, AGRUMEDA)

Name	Headquarters	Areas Served
BIEM I	Torrejón de Ardoz Air Base	Ávila, Segovia, Madrid, Cáceres, Guadalajara, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Toledo
BIEM II	Morón Air Base	Badajoz, Huelva, Sevilla, Cádiz, Málaga, Córdoba, Jaén, Granada, Ceuta, Melilla, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, La Gomera, El Hierro, Lanzarote, La Palma, Tenerife
BIEM III	Bétera	Albacete, Murcia, Alicante, Valencia, Castellón, Balearic Islands
BIEM IV	Zaragoza Air Base	Biscay, Guipúzcoa, Álava, La Rioja, Soria, Navarre, Zaragoza, Huesca, Teruel, Lleida, Tarragona, Barcelona, Girona
BIEM V	San Andrés del Rabanedo	Pontevedra, La Corunna, Lugo, Orense, Asturias, Cantabria, León, Zamora, Salamanca, Valladolid, Palencia, Burgos

Name	Headquarters
UCG	Torrejón de Ardoz Air Base
RAEM
BTUME
AGRUMEDA

Ranks

Officers

Enlisted

See also

• 2011 Lorca earthquake
• Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Emergencies

External links

• Official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: RESOLUCIÓN de 19 de enero de 2006, de la Subsecretaría, por la que se da publicidad al Acuerdo de Consejo de Ministros por el que se crea la Unidad Militar de Emergencias (UME).. Boletín Oficial del Estado.
2. Web site: Real Decreto 416/2006, de 11 de abril, por el que se establece la organización y el despliegue de la Fuerza del Ejército de Tierra, de la Armada y del Ejército del Aire, así como de la Unidad Militar de Emergencias.. Boletín Oficial del Estado.
3. Web site: Royal Decree 39/2006, of January 20, appointing Mr. Fulgencio Coll Bucher as Chief of the Military Emergency Unit.. boe.es. 2019-10-23.
4. Web site: Royal Decree 1335/2008, of July 24, appointing Lieutenant General Mr. José Emilio Roldán Pascual, as Chief of the Military Emergency Unit.. boe.es. 2019-10-23.
5. Web site: Royal Decree 1368/2012, of September 27, appointing Lieutenant General César Muro Benayas as Chief of the Military Emergency Unit.. boe.es. 2019-10-23.
6. Web site: Royal Decree 392/2015, of May 22, appointing as Chief of the Military Emergency Unit to Miguel Alcañíz Comas.. boe.es. 2019-10-23.
7. Web site: Unidad Militar de Emergencias- El general Miguel Alcañiz pasa a la Reserva y cesa como jefe de la Unidad Militar de Emergencias. www.ume.mde.es. 2019-10-23.
8. Web site: El teniente general Luis Martínez Meijide, nuevo jefe de la UME - Por Tierra, Mar y Aire. 2019-10-23. ABC Blogs. es. 2019-10-23.