Manchester Arena Inquiry: Fire chief had 'tunnel vision' after bombing

A senior fire chief admitted he had "tunnel vision'' in the immediate aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing and said he would "never get over'' the multi-agency response failure.

The first fire crew did not arrive at the scene of the terror attack at the end of an Ariana Grande concert until more two hours after the explosion, on the evening of May 22, 2017.

Firefighters were deployed to a station three miles away from the city centre venue, as they awaited more information, but senior officers could not get hold of Greater Manchester Police's force duty officer (FDO), the initial commander of the incident.

Retired Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) group manager John Fletcher told the hearing that at midnight, nearly 90 minutes after the blast, he was still unclear what police and ambulance resources had been deployed to the scene.

Mr Fletcher, who held the role of contingency planning manager at the time, said shortly after "all went quiet'' in the GMFRS command support room when the TV was switched on to Sky News, and they could see"lots of ambulances, presumably going to the Arena''.

He said: "Seeing the ambulances deployed was a game-changer.''

Earlier he had spoken to colleague Andy Berry on the phone as the latter was "lost'' en route driving to the rendezvous point at Philips Park fire station to the east of the city.

Mr Berry told him he had been unable to get through to GMP's FDO, and Mr Fletcher agreed to try on his behalf, but the line was engaged on the "several occasions'' he called, he said.

Mr Fletcher agreed with inquiry chairman Sir John Saunders that the failure to speak to the FDO "effectively stalled the whole of the response by GMFRS'', but said he had not envisaged a situation in which the FDO line would be "swamped''.

Sir John asked: "Did you think round the topic, to say perhaps I will try NWAS (North West Ambulance Service), after all you are ... meant to co-ordinate with your opposite numbers in the police and ambulance?''

'This is something that I feel I will never get over'

Mr Fletcher replied: "I focused too much on the force duty officer, I have to hold my hands up to that.''

He told counsel to the inquiry Sophie Cartwright QC: "I should have thought about the ambulance service.

"I have no excuses for that, my focus was then to get into the command support room.

"I thought this incident was at the start and it was going to escalate further.

"I think the phrase is tunnel version, I just focused on getting in.''

In a witness statement for the hearing he said: "From a personal perspective I think about the Arena attack every day.

"This is something that I feel I will never get over.

"It is devastating to think that after many years of planning and working with multi-agency partners that our response should fail in this manner.

"Many lessons have been learned and implemented but it is clear from this incident and the outcomes of previous terrorist atrocities that concise and accurate communication is essential in the immediate aftermath to ensure the best co-ordinated response possible.''

The inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the suicide bombing that killed 22 people and injured hundreds continues.