Fire service operator tells Arena inquiry: 'We weren't there to help'
Janine Carden was operations manager at North West Fire Control on the night of the attack
A senior control room operator has tearfully told a public inquiry "we weren't there to help'' after it took more than two hours for the fire service to attend the Manchester Arena bombing.
Janine Carden, an operations manager at North West Fire Control (NWFC), which handles calls for four regional fire services, wiped away tears as she detailed the confusion and communication problems that led to the long delay.
As police and ambulances raced to the scene of the terror attack, fire crews, some so close they had heard the bomb detonate, were ordered to drive three miles in the opposite direction.
Amid reports of gunfire and gunshot injuries to victims, police suspected the bombing was the prelude to a marauding terrorist firearms attack (MTFA).
Police declared Operation Plato, the planned response to an MTFA, but did not tell North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) or Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS).
The force duty officer at Greater Manchester Police (GMP), Dale Sexton, quickly became "overwhelmed'', with no one able to reach him on the phone in the police control room.
Amid fears of an active shooter, fire crews, trained to help with trauma injuries and carrying stretchers, were held back, thinking police were dealing with the "threat'' before getting the go-ahead to move in.
They were ordered to stay away from the area and muster at Philips Park Fire Station, three miles from the arena in east Manchester.
Ms Carden took command at NWFC HQ at 11.10pm on May 22 2017, around 40 minutes after the bombing, which was at 10.31pm.
John Cooper QC, representing some of the bereaved families, asked:
"Did you have any appreciation that the fire and rescue service were effectively stalled at Philips Park?''
Ms Carden said:
"No. I did not. I wish I had paid more attention to the time, the time went so quick, I did not realise they were stalled.''
NWFC had received reports that armed police and ambulance crews were at the scene and Ms Carden assumed police and NWAS commanders were in contact with GMFRS opposite numbers on the ground.
She said she thought NWAS ambulances were in a "holding area'' waiting to go to the scene, rather than on scene treating casualties.
Ms Carden said:
"I probably assumed, wrongly, that the fire people were talking to the other commanders. I did not expect them to have not been.
"I had not realised there was such a communications issue at that time. I thought they were talking to their counterparts to get the go-ahead from the police.
"I did think they were all talking. I did not realise that there was not any communication.''
As the witness's voice broke with emotion Sir John Saunders, chairman of the inquiry, said the purpose of the process was not to apportion blame but to find out what happened.
Ms Carden replied:
"It's just what happened and the fact that we weren't there to help. Sorry.''
The inquiry sitting in Manchester is looking at all the circumstances of the suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert which killed 22 people and left hundreds injured.