SPECIAL OPS
Paramedics primed to deal with disaster
CITY venues are being used for twilight terror training by specialist ambulance crews.
The Scottish Ambulance Service’s Special Operations Response Team (SORT) are using a whole range of venues, including shopping centres as part of their training for terrorist incidents and major tragedies in the city.
In one exercise last year, Braehead was used to replicate a major firearms incident, giving SORT teams and police practice of working together in crowded spaces.
They have also recreated a nightclub and newspaper office which they use for training in light of the Orlando and Charlie Hebdo attacks.
Other existing city venues have also been chosen as they resemble sites of major incidents which have taken place across the globe.
While the majority of city residents are at home sleeping, more than 100 SORT paramedics from across the country visit venues and reconstruct casualty scenarios, to ensure their training is constantly refreshed.
They work at night when the venues are quiet, and so as not to alarm the public.
Al McClean, a SORT trainer, said: “In military terms its called inoculation - you put people, in a controlled way, in to challenging and stressful environments.
“You build up the pressure and tolerance to that pressure so they can deal with real scenarios if they happen.
“You take somebody for their first time in these scenarios and they [are unable to function properly].
“When you look at the terrorist events we’ve had this year, we needed to build a training facility that allows people to function in those more stressful environments.
“We did a run of about 11 weeks where we worked at night and trained in a lot of different venues across the West and East of Scotland.
“Sad events like Nice where you have a vehicle that has moved through pedestrianised areas, we have an exercise similar to that which is not just about moving through an urban area, it’s about preparing for something on a big long promenade.
“The current evolution of events, you have to tweak your training based on events.
“The terrorist develops a way of working, so people have to tweak their response to reduce the number of casualties.”
It is just one of a whole host of measures the service is doing to protect the public in case of terrorism or other major incidents.
Jim Dickie, head of the specialist operations, explained that despite there being no intelligence to suggest there is any risk of a terrorist incident, it is vital to ensure his staff are ready.
He said: “We top up paramedics with roughly six weeks of extra training, to show them what to do.
“That includes all the different suits and uniforms we use for every scenario, and all our vehicles.
“They can be used for flooding and severe weather. fires in , for example, nursing homes... It could be a bigbang type incident.
“For us the cause is not so much of
an issue – it’s more about the effects and helping people.”
The SORT teams, which were set up in 2002, are spread across three locations in Scotland designed to give them easy access to the country’s largest cities and busiest airports.
They have been involved in some of Glasgow’s most high-profile incidents, including the bin lorry crash, Clutha tragedy and even the Ebola incident in 2014.
They were also deployed when the Glasgow airport attack took place in 2007.
Included in their fleet of specialist vehicles are water rescue ambulances, those fit for going through forests and up mountains, those for han- dling chemical spills and virus outbreaks as well as bikes for use at crowded events where vehicles can’t get through.
ALSO among their kit are protective suits for handling chemical spills or people who are suspected to have serious infectious diseases, ballistic gear aimed at protecting the paramedics in firearms situations, or in the event of an explosion.
Mike Herriot, general manager of Specialist Operational Services and National Risk and Resilience, added: “Not only can these techniques and skills be used for any terrorist incidents, but they are used in major incidents too such as the Clutha or Bin Lorry crash.
“We’ve been involved in a lot of incidents where areas have been cut off from power due to storms and things. In Arran we were involved when it got cut off, and we helped to resuscitate someone as soon as they were about to leave the ferry.
“It’s vital we have these skills and resources to be able to help people.
“Things such as putting on and taking off protective clothing isn’t something people would think is important but whatever is on that clothing, for example, and making sure you don’t spread it all over yourself, is vital to protecting the public.”