Herts and Essex emergency services prepare for the ‘unthinkable’ in terrorist exercise

Police, fire and ambulance services in Hertfordshire, Essex and the rest of the East of England region got to grips with “marauding terrorists” in a training exercise.

The emergency services descended on the old Papworth Hospital near Cambridge, which is the only site in the region with suitable outdoor and indoor spaces.

The exercise was intended to help plan against serious attacks, such as those in London and the Manchester Arena in 2017.

Steven Moore, head of emergency preparedness and specialist operations for the East of England Ambulance Service, said: “The Papworth site, which is closed to the public, allows us to train in conditions as realistic as possible.

“The exercises include smoke, simulated gunfire and actors playing casualties with very convincing wounds.

“After recent events, blue light services can’t have the luxury of believing that some situations are unthinkable. We have to work together and be as prepared as possible for when the unthinkable happens.”

The training exercises were carried out through the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Programme (JESIP). Similar ones ran last year, training around 1,500 emergency responders. This year there were 20 training days.

A joint statement from Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire police forces said: “The exercises have provided an invaluable platform to allow armed officers to train in a realistic operational setting with other emergency service responders.

“This real-world training is essential to prepare officers in the event of a live incident.

“We have also been able to include unarmed local policing officers and all of our tactical firearms commanders in the training, giving them a unique insight into JESIP working and shared situational awareness with colleagues from the ambulance and fire and rescue services.”

Ade Yule, national resilience co-ordinator and regional exercise lead for Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “The six fire services within the eastern region have taken this opportunity to put specialist and non-specialist crews and commanders through these exercises.

“The scenarios have enabled commanders to respond to challenging and realistic scenarios which require a dynamic and fluid joint emergency response.

“While these incident types are rare, it is important we train regularly with our blue light partners to ensure the best response is made if called upon.”