The Civil Defence reinforce emergency response in peacetime and protects the civilian polpulation in accordance with the Geneva conventions in war.
As of 2016 the Norwegian Civil Defence has an operative force of 8,000 men and women with duty to serve.
Each group consists of 24 persons that are specially trained in decontamination of people that has been exposed to chemical, biological, or radioactive agents (CBRN).
It was later renamed to the civil air protection (Norwegian: Det Sivile Luftvern).
This is also evident in the law from 1953 (Norwegian: Lov om sivilforsvar) that still governs the organization.