Greater Manchester’s emergency services carry out training for terrorist attack involving large numbers of casualties

The weekly night-time exercises began last month, with the final one taking place last Thursday (6 July). All exercises have seen Greater Manchester's police, fire and ambulance services respond to mock real-life scenarios to put their joint responses to the test.

The mock incident, which was based on an unknown number of terrorists indiscriminately attacking people at the University of Bolton, was made more realistic for the attending crews with the aid of up to 60 volunteers playing the role of casualties, suffering from a wide range of realistic injuries that required rapid treatment and rescue.

Superintendent John-Paul Ruffle, of GMP’s Specialist Operations branch, said: “It is of the highest importance that all emergency services are prepared for major incidents so we can respond in the best possible way. Exercises provide a vital opportunity for us to test elements of the response in an environment where there is no real risk or threat of harm and to identify and implement any learnings.

“In recent years, Greater Manchester Police and key partner agencies have implemented changes to improve planning, training, and testing to name just a few.

"In this case, with the oversight of GMP’s Firearms Training Unit and the valuable support of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) and North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), we were able to test the response of our Authorised Firearms Officers (AFOs) who would be amongst the first on the scene of a suspected terror attack, who have a higher-level of first aid training, and whose vehicles carry specialist kit.”

The training comes shortly after GMFRS rolled out its improved marauding terrorist attack (MTA) capability following an intensive year-long project across the Service. As of May 2023, over 1100 firefighters across all 41 fire stations in the city-region have completed three days of specialist training and every fire appliance in Greater Manchester is now equipped with a range of specialist equipment needed for crews to respond to a terrorist attack or mass casualty event.

It means all firefighters are now ready to assist in the treatment and rescue of people in the event of a terrorist attack, whilst ensuring they are safe. It is the first time the capability has been available in Greater Manchester on this scale.

GMFRS area manager Ben Levy, MTA Project Manager said: “We’ve worked really hard to ensure all our firefighters in Greater Manchester are trained, equipped and prepared to respond and help people in the event of a terror attack or any incident involving a large number of casualties.

“We hope we never have to put this training to the test, but sadly the threat of these events is a reality that we have to be ready for. Cross-service training exercises like this are absolutely crucial in making sure we remain as prepared as possible and that the way all emergency services work together in these times of crisis is as effective as possible in protecting the public.

“The series of exercises have taken place in a complex venue with a scenario involving multiple ‘attackers’. Our firefighters were actively engaged during these sessions and deployed for an extensive period of time alongside specialist and non-specialist responders as they would be in a real incident. The exercises saw our crews fully immersed, requiring them to undertake rapid, ongoing and continual developing of shared situational awareness to develop a joint understanding of risk; the realism of the sessions is testament to the hours of planning committed by our training team and partners.”

Dan Smith, North West Ambulance Service Head of Operations for Greater Manchester, said: “These exercises give our teams valuable experience working in extreme situations alongside our blue light partners.

"Specifically, they could practise with us the triage, treatment and extraction of patients in a mass casualty major incident exercise. It also provided an opportunity to test both our specialist and non-specialist clinicians and our operational commanders.

“This means should the worst happen; we are better prepared to respond and care for whoever needs us.”