Military Emergencies Unit

The Emergency Military Unit (Spanish: Unidad Militar de Emergencias, UME; IPA: [uniˈðað miliˈtaɾ ðe emeɾˈxenθjas]) 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.

Emergency Military Unit
Unidad Militar de Emergencias
Coat of arms of the unit
Founded	October 7, 2005; 19 years ago (2005-10-07)
Country	Spain
Role	Emergency management
Size	3,987 (2008)
Part of	Spanish Armed Forces
Headquarters	Torrejón Air Base
Motto(s)	Perseverando para servir (Persevering to serve)
Colors	Yellow
March	"Himno UME"
Anniversaries	October 7
Website	www.mde.es/ume
Commanders
Commander in Chief	King Felipe VI
Unit Commander	Lt General Luis Manuel Martínez Meijide
Insignia
Guidon
Aircraft flown
Bomber	Canadair CL-215
Utility helicopter	Eurocopter EC135
Transport	Eurocopter AS532 Cougar

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 (Unidad de Cuartel General, UCG),

• five emergency intervention battalions (Batallon de Intervención en Emergencias, BIEM),
• a support regiment (Regimiento de Apoyo a Emergencias, RAEM),
• a communications battalion (Batallón de Transmisiones, BTUME) and
• an aviation group (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

NATO code	OF-10		OF-9		OF-8		OF-7		OF-6		OF-5		OF-4		OF-3		OF-2		OF-1
Military Emergencies Unit v t e
							General de división		General de brigada		Coronel		Teniente coronel		Comandante		Capitán		Teniente			Alférez

Enlisted

NATO code	OR-9						OR-8		OR-7		OR-6						OR-5						OR-4				OR-3		OR-2						OR-1
Military Emergencies Unit v t e
	Suboficial mayor			Subteniente			Brigada		Sargento primero		Sargento						Cabo mayor						Cabo primero				Cabo		Soldado de primera						Soldado

Gallery

• 
  Suzuki DRZ 400 S
• 
  BMW R1200GS
• 
  Santana Aníbal
• 
  Military police vehicle
• 
  Communications vehicle Mérida
• 
  URO VAMTAC
• 
  URO M3-24.14. based BFP 40-106 J-1884 firetruck
• 
  M-113 APC
• 
  Mobile command center
• 
  Canadair CL-215T
• 
  Eurocopter EC135T-2
• 
  Zodiac IV

See also

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