Emergency services in Greater Manchester have been taking part in a series of joint large-scale training exercises over the last month.

The multi-agency exercises was intended to ensure that the emergency services  are ready to respond and help people in the event of terror attacks or incidents involving large numbers of casualties.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS), Greater Manchester Police’s (GMP) Firearms Training Unit and North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) all took part in the weekly night-time exercises at the University of Bolton since 8 June.

The emergency services have been responding to mock real-life scenarios to put their joint responses to the test and to help ensure that Greater Manchester is in the best possible position to respond to a terror attack or mass casualty incident.

Up to 60 volunteers took park in the scenario, playing the role of casualties. Their realistic injuries were created by the university's SFX students.

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. All services take part in regular exercises and our activity at Bolton University is just one of many examples.

“In this case, with the oversight of GMP’s Firearms Training Unit and the valuable support of GMFRS and 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.”

GMFRS recently rolled out its improved marauding terrorist attack (MTA) capability following an intensive year-long project across the Service. Now 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.

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.”