Terrorist Attack on
Britain 2
"We felt we would
have died while we waited for the emergency
services" is one family's experience of the
UK's biggest mock terror exercise. Standing in a
car park for two hours with 400 other angry and
confused nerve gas "victims" has left
many unnerved at the prospect of a real terror
attack.
Just after 9.30am on a Sunday, several
"suicide terrorists" played out a
scenario of spraying nerve gas into a crowded
hall 19 at Europe's busiest exhibition centre,
near Birmingham. The emergency services arrived
minutes later, but until they were sure what they
were up against no crews were deployed.
The "victims", dressed in tracksuits
and T-shirts, were evacuated and security guards
told them emergency crews would be with them
imminently but the first fire engine did not move
in to start decontamination until 11.20am. One
photographer commented, the coffee and cream
cakes arrived before the emergency services.
Meanwhile, two army volunteers also found time to
escape the exercise and grab a cup of coffee with
expectant media crews mingling at what was called
Exercise Horizon. "We could have escaped
into Birmingham but, because this is just a
training exercise, we thought we would have a cup
of coffee instead," they told reporters,
leaving organisers with much to reflect on after
the region's first full scale
"disaster".
Emergency services said they will review why it
took three hours to begin decontaminating
"victims" in the mock chemical attack.
The event, named Exercise Horizon, was followed
by the world's media including Arabic TV station
Al Jazeera, and involved 2,000 people. It was the
largest mock terror attack ever staged in Britain
and was designed to test the responses of
emergency crews from the West Midlands,
Herefordshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire,
Warwickshire and Worcestershire.
Police sealed off the scene outside the NEC
within 15 minutes of the incident. A fire service
spokeswoman said 14 fire engines were on the
scene by 9.47am but none of the casualties were
treated immediately. After waiting two hours,
several victims tried to escape the containment
zone but were apprehended by police officers in
protective camouflage suits.
The officers managed to bring the situation under
control and all the casualties were gathered
together in a tight group. The casualties were
forced to strip off their clothes and replace
them with bright orange capes. They entered the
decontamination unit, designed to clear any
traces of the "nerve gas" from their
bodies.
Between 160 and 180 firefighters were on the site
to deal with the victims, but the Fire Brigades
Union said its members were taking part under
duress as firefighters are still waiting for
their pay award to be honoured. So, if any
terrorists are planning to attack the West
Midlands, it would be appreciated if they could
postpone the attack until the FBU's pay award has
been settled.
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