Mock terrorist attack training for 999 services

The training will test procedures for dealing with multiple ‘major incidents’ in South Yorkshire, a spokesman for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said.

‘Exercise Keep Valley’ will simulate the decontamination of people who have been covered in poisonous chemicals as part of a suspected terrorist attack.

The main activity will take place at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium – but another major incident simulated elsewhere in the county will test how fire services respond to more than one large scale event.

The exercise will involve staff and vehicles from all four fire and rescue services in Yorkshire and the Humber, plus other partner agencies, to test the arrangements those organisations already have in place for supporting each other across traditional county borders.

The ‘incident’ will include the deployment of the fire service’s Detection, Identification and Monitoring and Mass Decontamination vehicles which carries showers-tents and emergency clothing.

A small area around the Keepmoat Stadium will be closed to the public so the specialist equipment can be deployed.

SYFR group manager Andy Hayter said: “Although it is extremely unlikely that an incident such as this would occur in South Yorkshire, recent international events have once again highlighted the importance of public organisations testing their emergency response procedures to assure the safety of the communities we serve.

“Routine exercises like this one enable the emergency services and other organisations to practice their responses and, for fire services in particular, to test their ability to deploy to large scale incidents beyond their usual borders.”