Crews take part in multi-agency training exercise

Firefighters took part in a multi-agency training exercise in Newcastle-under-Lyme on Wednesday (11 February).

Crews from Sandyford, Kidsgrove, Newcastle and Tamworth were joined by police, paramedics and the Canal and River Trust to practice a multi-agency water rescue operation.

In the exercise, crews received a report of six protestors on a barge inside Harecastle Tunnel, Kidsgrove, who had started a fire which had gotten out of control.

Crews worked quickly with police colleagues who approached the protestors and alerted firefighters to the blaze.

The fire was ‘extinguished’ and crews also ‘rescued’ a casualty from the boat, who was treated by paramedics at the scene.

Delivery Group Manager, Dave Steele, said: “This exercise was extremely beneficial in allowing our firefighters to put their skills into practice and identify any key areas of improvement, should they be needed in a serious real-life situation.

“I would like to thank local residents for their patience whilst fire crews were at the scene.

"It's vital that we continue to utilise real-life locations across Staffordshire during our training in order to give our firefighters the most realistic and effective methods of training, which in turns helps us keep our communities as safe as possible."

Wayne Eldon, Operational and Contingency Planner at Staffordshire Police, said: “This was a great opportunity for Staffordshire Police to work alongside our colleagues from other emergency services and the Canals and River Trust to practice a response to a location that we do not normally get called to. 

“It was very beneficial for our staff to practice new techniques alongside the fire service on conducting a rescue of persons trapped inside the tunnel in a safe manner for everyone involved.

“I would like to thank everyone involved in the exercise and for the surrounding residents and businesses for their patience with traffic issues that may have been caused in the area.”

David Levesley, Emergency Preparedness Manager at West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS), said: “We sent a crew, operational officer and NILO to support police, fire and canal and river trust responders to resolve a complex incident lasting hours in challenging weather.

“Opportunities like this are important to expand the knowledge and understanding of our crews and officers, enabling them to build a more effective and efficient response and gain better understanding of our partner agency responses.”

Simon Martin, area operations manager at Canal and River Trust, said: “Training with realistic scenarios at Harecastle Tunnel ensures our teams are ready to respond swiftly and safely in a real emergency.

“Lessons learnt from this and other training exercises are transferable across the network ensure we can offer the best network safety we can. We’re grateful for the support of our partner agencies and the patience of the local boating community while this important exercise took place.”