A joint training exercise involving emergency services from across Warwickshire has taken place this week at King Edward College in Nuneaton.
The training exercise focused on a scenario where emergency services were called to deal with suspected explosives and rogue individuals threatening students.
As part of the exercise, a major incident was immediately declared, and all blue light services and partners including Warwickshire Police, West Midlands Ambulance Service and their Hazardous Area Response Team, the Local Resilience Forum and Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council began to test the current plans and take decisive actions to deal with the proposed threat.
Talking about the exercise, Warwickshire County Council’s Chief Fire Officer, Ben Brook, said:
“Training exercises like these are vital for our firefighters, officers and our control room because they allow us to test our operating procedures in realistic and challenging environments, ahead of any real-life emergency. This helps to ensure that we are always ready and prepared to keep everyone who lives, works and travels in Warwickshire safe.
“A huge thank you goes to all agencies who took part and to King Edward College for providing us with the unique opportunity to undertake the training exercise in a real-life scenario to test our operational procedures, assess the risks and take decisive action to a range of threats.”
Assistant Chief Constable for Warwickshire Police, Ben Smith said:
“Warwickshire is a safe place to live, work and visit. The police will always be there for our communities to protect you from harm.
“Although major incidents are thankfully rare within the county, we are always prepared to respond and training exercises like this one are an essential part of testing and improving our collective response.
“We are most effective when we operate in partnership with other agencies including blue light services and we value opportunities to work together.
“We’re grateful to the local community and colleagues who have helped to plan and support this important exercise.”
Nathan Hudson, Emergency Services Operations Delivery Director, said:
“These sorts of exercises happen regularly and allow our staff to practice for events that we hope will never happen, but need to be prepared for.
“Taking part in these exercises is invaluable and gives us the opportunity to review our processes when working with partners ensuring that we continually improve and are in the best possible position to ensure the safety of the communities we serve.
“The exercise provided invaluable training and experience for everyone involved.”
Following the training exercise all blue light services received a full debrief looking at how the exercise went and how challenges were overcome.