It is disgraceful that ministers repeat their tired old mantra,“fires are down,” as justification for cutting critical resources for rescues of all kindsThe biggest ever disaster-training exercise for emergency services took station final week. Hundreds of “casualties” with realistic bloody wounds inhabited a disused power station. Bloodcurdling screams for attend issued from the eight upended tube carriages that had been hit by an imaginary building falling on them at a mocked-up Waterloo station, or with the casualties banging against the windows in panic. Fake blood was smeared over ticket barriers and train carriages. The only real element were the hundreds of firefighters who,along with other emergency services workers, conducted a simulated rescue that was off the scale in terms of what has been done previously to improve co-ordination and planning during a major disaster.
The aim was to recreate realistic challenges for firefighters and others in an emergency. The firsthand experiences of firefighters were used to design the various scenarios. Lessons learned from 7/7 and other disasters of recent years were brought together to test our emergency services and improve planning and preparation.Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com