The fire chiefs afraid of danger
Manchester bomb victims faced 2-hour wait for help – because boss in charge was ‘averse to risk’
VICTIMS of the Manchester Arena bombing were forced to wait two hours for help from firemen after ‘ risk- averse’ chiefs kept them away, a report found yesterday.
As ambulances flooded to the scene, blundering fire bosses moved officers to a station three miles away because they feared a marauding terrorist was still on the loose.
Even though phone lines were blocked, no one was sent to the bombed venue to see what was needed. Frustrated crews were left to watch events unfold on television.
The error by management potentially delayed the evacuation of critically injured fans in the aftermath of last May’s attack.
Other alarming revelations made in Lord Kerslake’s report include:
Manchester’s chief fire officer Peter O’Reilly was allowed to retire last month with a £100,000-a-year pension after going on sick leave last September;
Paramedics allowed casualties to be carried out on improvised stretchers made from merchandising tables or metal barriers because the ones carried in ambulances were too complicated to use;
A ‘catastrophic’ failure by Vodafone, which was responsible for setting up a hotline for worried families, meant many had to frantically contact hospitals themselves for news of loved ones. Twenty-two people died and more than 500 were injured after suicide bomber Salman Abedi blew himself up at the end of an Ariana Grande concert at 10.31pm on May 22 last year.
Yesterday’s report concluded that had firemen been at the scene sooner, the evacuation of injured fans ‘ could have been achieved more efficiently and possibly more rapidly’ – although it could not say for certain if more would have survived.
Accusing the brigade of being ‘out of the loop’ and succumbing to ‘paralysis’, Lord Kerslake said it had shown ‘apparent risk aversion and unwillingness to deploy’. In the aftermath of the attack, fearing a shooter was on the loose, the senior fire officer on duty stuck to rules which dictate keeping emergency responders 500 metres away from any suspected danger zone.
He was unable to get through on the phone to his police counterpart to check what was actually happening and failed to dispatch a liaison officer.
It was not until the £155,000-ayear Mr O’Reilly arrived at the command room at 11.49pm – 75 minutes after the first 999 call – and personally called an ambulance officer that it was deemed
safe to send firemen. Lord Kerslake said Mr O’Reilly’s failure to base himself at police HQ delayed the response further.
The first firemen finally arrived at the venue just after 12.30am – two hours after the attack. The average response time to a domestic fire is five minutes and 41 seconds.
Mr O’Reilly cannot face any disciplinary action over his failures after he retired last month on an estimated £100,000-a-year pension.
Victim Martin Hibbert, who was taken out on an advertising hoarding and left paralysed, is among those convinced fire chiefs’ incompetence made matters worse.
‘I’m certain if there had been four or five engine-loads of firemen on the scene helping, that they’d have stuck [victims] over their shoulders or whatever,’ he told the BBC. ‘I’m sure they would have been a great help.’
‘Paralysed and out of the loop’
Speaking yesterday, Lord Kerslake said it was ‘extraordinary’ that fire bosses had not acted sooner, saying the ‘culture’ of the service meant firemen were less able to use their initiative.
‘The firefighters wanted to go forward but they were not able to,’ he said. ‘The discipline of the fire service meant that they could not self-deploy.’
Horrifically injured victims who waited to be rescued also complained that only three paramedics entered the devastated foyer.
Members of the public had to resort to tearing up T-shirts to use as bandages and tourniquets.
But, based on initial fears there may be a gunman on the loose, coupled with fears of falling shards of glass from the ceiling, Lord Kerslake backed the strategy of the first paramedic at the scene.
However, Robby Potter, 48, who survived despite being struck in the heart with a piece of shrapnel, told the Daily Mail: ‘There should be specialist teams of paramedics who go into dangerous situations in the same way as the military, so casualties can get help sooner.’ In his report, Lord Kerslake also criticised Greater Manchester Police’s failure to inform the ambulance and fire services that the bombing had been declared an ongoing terrorist incident.
Neither was informed until after midnight – long after the warning had been rescinded. However, he added that had this message been properly relayed, paramedics and first aiders would have been evacuated from the arena.
Lord Kerslake also said there had been countless acts of bravery that night, but added that it was vital that mistakes were learned from, making more than 50 recommendations. Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who commissioned the report, said the fire service ‘fell well short’ of the high standards expected and announced a ‘root and branch’ review of the organisation’s culture.
Mr O’Reilly’s successor, interim chief fire officer Dawn Docx, apologised ‘unreservedly’ for the failings under his leadership. Comment – Page 16
NO-ONE admires our emergency services’ courage and professionalism more than the Mail. But the chaos and communication failures that ensued after the Manchester bombing are deeply troubling.
Fire engines held back for two hours by ‘risk-averse’ chiefs, too few stretchers and paramedics, confusion among police commanders – the response simply wasn’t good enough. After all, with Britain still on terror alert and further attacks likely, lives are at stake here. THEY just don’t get it, do they? Every time Tony Blair, Sir Nick Clegg and now that panjandrum of smugness Lord Patten tell the British people how stupid they were to vote Brexit, the national resolve to leave Europe hardens. These three are the supercilious, self- serving political elite made flesh.