Tony Ferrari
08-09-2010, 03:17 PM
Exercise Orion has been a multi national live exercise running over the last two days in Hampshire, Merseyside, Hertfordshire and Lincolnshire, with input from a large number of agencies including COBR.
Organised by Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Services with a One Million Euro grant from the European Union it is the largest event of it's kind in the UK for many years.
The scenario was one of multiple earthquakes across the UK. Of course you are all saying "but that would never happen here" but that was the point to "exercise the unthinkable" an incident that would stretch UK capacity and capability beyond our available resources and require Mutual Assistance.
Hampshire and Merseyside were the live sites, with simulated collapsed buildings , including an office block near Portsmouth that was demolished for the exercise* and multiple vehicle collisions. The feeds from these sites were then used in Hertfordshire and Lincolnshire for Strategic Level Command exercises.
*It was being knocked down anyway
So having just got back from two very long days at Police Headquarters I thought you might be interested in what went on.
So what role did 4x4 Response play? Well although in Hertfordshire voluntary agencies asked if we would like to play, this was only if we would be involved at the strategic (Gold) level, whereas we would usually be deployed at an operational (Bronze) level or at Tactical command (Silver) but neither of these were being exercised in Hertfordshire.
Also I was busy enough in the day job both as part of the event directing team and having to support the on-call Directors from the PCT who were playing, so I decided that we were unlikely to be involved.
However during a meeting yesterday I was inevitably asked how many 4x4s could I put at the disposal of the PCT, so an unannounced exercise was in order!
After sending a message via SMS Responder from an iPhone (via the Police wi-fi network) :D with the question "could you respond to an RV at South Mimms Services (M25 junction 23) within one hour" I was able to (virtually) deploy 16 vehicles.
And apologies to the one member who thought it was a "live" exercise and actually turned up at South Mimms and then found his way to Police HQ (No names will be mentioned although the enthusiasm is to be applauded).
In fact two of my Directors and a number of other senior staff were very impressed by the rapid appearance of "the voluntary sector" ;) so a good bit of PR.
The live play in Hampshire and Merseyside was very impressive with several European Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Teams taking part.
Here's some more information on the exercises
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-11210738
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-11222303
And photos from Hampshire
Organised by Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Services with a One Million Euro grant from the European Union it is the largest event of it's kind in the UK for many years.
The scenario was one of multiple earthquakes across the UK. Of course you are all saying "but that would never happen here" but that was the point to "exercise the unthinkable" an incident that would stretch UK capacity and capability beyond our available resources and require Mutual Assistance.
Hampshire and Merseyside were the live sites, with simulated collapsed buildings , including an office block near Portsmouth that was demolished for the exercise* and multiple vehicle collisions. The feeds from these sites were then used in Hertfordshire and Lincolnshire for Strategic Level Command exercises.
*It was being knocked down anyway
So having just got back from two very long days at Police Headquarters I thought you might be interested in what went on.
So what role did 4x4 Response play? Well although in Hertfordshire voluntary agencies asked if we would like to play, this was only if we would be involved at the strategic (Gold) level, whereas we would usually be deployed at an operational (Bronze) level or at Tactical command (Silver) but neither of these were being exercised in Hertfordshire.
Also I was busy enough in the day job both as part of the event directing team and having to support the on-call Directors from the PCT who were playing, so I decided that we were unlikely to be involved.
However during a meeting yesterday I was inevitably asked how many 4x4s could I put at the disposal of the PCT, so an unannounced exercise was in order!
After sending a message via SMS Responder from an iPhone (via the Police wi-fi network) :D with the question "could you respond to an RV at South Mimms Services (M25 junction 23) within one hour" I was able to (virtually) deploy 16 vehicles.
And apologies to the one member who thought it was a "live" exercise and actually turned up at South Mimms and then found his way to Police HQ (No names will be mentioned although the enthusiasm is to be applauded).
In fact two of my Directors and a number of other senior staff were very impressed by the rapid appearance of "the voluntary sector" ;) so a good bit of PR.
The live play in Hampshire and Merseyside was very impressive with several European Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Teams taking part.
Here's some more information on the exercises
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-11210738
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-11222303
And photos from Hampshire