# Military Emergencies Unit

The Emergency Military Unit (Spanish: Unidad Militar de Emergencias, UME; IPA:) 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. This was enacted in law by the Real Decreto 416/2006 (Royal Decree 416/2006) on April 11, 2006.

## Missions

* 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.
* Intervention fighting forest fires.
* Intervention during emergencies derived from technological hazards; among which are chemical, nuclear, radiological and biological hazards.
* 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.
* Intervention during situations of environmental contamination.
* 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 | 19 July 2008 |
| Lieutenant general | José Emilio Roldán Pascual | 25 July 2008 | 26 September 2012 |
| Lieutenant general | Cesar Muro Benayas | 28 September 2012 | 15 May 2015 |
| Lieutenant general | Miguel Alcañíz Comas | 23 May 2015 | 16 October 2019 |
| Lieutenant general | Luis Manuel Martínez Meijide | 23 October 2019 | 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 | Torrejón de Ardoz Air Base |
| BTUME | Torrejón de Ardoz Air Base |
| AGRUMEDA | Torrejón de Ardoz Air Base |

## Ranks
### Officers

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

### Enlisted

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