Firefighters took part in a plane crash training exercise at Southampton Airport on October 23.
Photo: HIWFRS
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It involved a multi-agency response to the challenging simulated incident, which saw a plane crashed into a car park with multiple resulting casualties and vehicles involved.
Responders from South Central Ambulance Service, HART, Southampton Airport Fire Service and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, as well as the HIWFRS Incident Command Unit team were also tested.
Border Force, Air Accident Investigation Branch, Rail Incident officers, and other Local Resilience Forum partners were also represented in the exercise.
Representing HIWFRS on the planning committee for the exercise was tactical advisor and Eastleigh Fire Station commander Paul Lawler.
Photo: HIWFRS
He said the exercise had taken months of planning, and that the scenario had challenged firefighters’ and commanders’ response to a “major incident at one of our area’s critical sites”.
He said: “The size of this exercise highlights how complex an incident of this nature would be, so this training has provided an incredibly valuable experience for our teams, testing not just our firefighting and rescue skills, but also blue-light and partner collaboration.
“Of course, we hope we never have to use these skills in real life, but it’s important we prepare ourselves so that we are ready for whatever scale of incident we are faced with.”