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Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service
Headquarters
146 Bolton Road
Swinton, Manchester
M27 8US
Tel: 0161 736 5866
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0800 555 815
A national exercise took place before Christmas, testing Urban Search and Rescue Teams.
The Greater Manchester team joined crews from London, West
Yorkshire, Lancashire, Merseyside and Tyne & Wear. Hazardous
area response teams (HART) from Yorkshire Ambulance Service, North
West Ambulance Service and the North East Ambulance Service also
took part.
It was based on the scenario of a collapsed, three-storey
accommodation block. Emergency crews worked solidly on the site at
Kirklees College, Huddersfield, for three days and two nights to
rescue trapped casualties.
It has taken six months for a complex series of confined spaces and narrow passages to be constructed in the basement of Kirklees College to recreate a collapsed accommodation block. Crews worked in pitch black, in extremely cramped spaces as small as 40cm high. Volunteers acted as trapped casualties.
West Yorkshire Deputy Chief Fire Officer Steve Beckley said: "One of the most satisfying elements of the exercise was to see all the USAR teams working so well alongside regular firefighters and ambulance HART teams deep inside the collapsed structure, using complementary skills and experience to achieve a common objective.
"All those involved gave 100 per cent commitment, even when asked to respond in the middle of the night without notice. I would like to thank everyone involved in creating the exercise and all the crews who responded locally and from further afield."
