Merseyside firefighters training to deal with a disaster on the scale of Grenfell
Around 200 staff and volunteers took park in the major mock exercise
A rescue from a Bootle high rise this morning was part of an intricate fire training exercise to test response to a major incident in a tower block.
More than 100 staff and volunteers took part in the mock emergency at Irlam House on Church Walk, in Bootle – and the exercise involved 13 fire engines from three north west fire services.
Fire chiefs say the Grenfell tragedy serves as a constant reminder of what can happen ‘when risks become real’.
Crews responded to a mock scenario where some youths had set fire to furniture in a 10th floor flat.
The flat’s door was wedged open and the window was ajar, meaning the fire soon spread, not only elsewhere on the floor but into the flat above.
More than 50 performing arts students from Priestley College in Warrington played the role of tenants, who could be seen in the block’s windows as the ‘fire’ raged on.
Speaking at the scene, group manager Gary Oakford said while such a fire is being tackled, there are still many, many other components at play.
He said: “At this time we’re getting calls from a lot of anxious tenants in other parts of the block asking what they should do and where they should go, so we’ve got officers rapidly accessing each floor, each part of the building.
“Since Grenfell, people are naturally more anxious so you tend to get more people self-evacuating, which means as our officers are going in to rescue people, or to assess the situation, they’re meeting people on the way down and then they need to find out where they have come from.”
The training exercise took around seven weeks to plan.
Chief Fire Officer Phil Garrigan said: “We have more than 200 high rise buildings across Merseyside so its only right that we make sure we have the right procedures in place and ensure we can deploy crews safely and correctly.
“In this situation you have 50 plus individuals inside the flats, all of whom will behave and react differently and unpredictably.
“Today’s exercise is about testing our capabilities for dealing with a high rise fire. It’s a challenging and complex situation for us to face, and what we learn over the course of today we will feed back to our partners.
“This isn’t just about the fire service; it’s not just putting out a fire. We need to know how we can accommodate these residents in the first instance, and then where will they go? Where will they stay? How will they be catered for in short term and the long term?”
For free fire safety advice or to request a home fire safety check, call 0800 731 5958.
Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service also provides free smoke alarms for Merseyside residents aged 65 or over or those referred by partner agencies