Firefighters ‘distressed and devastated’ by not being allowed to go to bomb scene
A GREATER Manchester firefighter has told of his anguish on the night of the Manchester Bomb when he and his colleagues was held back from going to help the dying and injured by their bosses.
The Kerslake Report described how it was nearly two hours after the 10.31pm blast that two crews were sent to the scene. Acting fire chief Dawn Docx has apologised unreservedly for letting down the region in its ‘darkest hour.’
Within 24 hours of the blast the M.E.N. was inundated with calls from firefighters speaking of the shame they felt at being prevented from helping. Many had elite training in how to respond to a terror attack.
Those based at Manchester Central Fire Station heard the explosion.
One firefighter who has more than a decade of experience described what happened, said he wanted to apologise to the families and added that morale in the service was now at rock-bottom.
He said his crew had actually been sent away to Beswick further from the scene while paramedics used his base.
“We were just sitting there, desperate to go. We just wanted to help.
“Police from Wales and Yorkshire and ambulances from the East Midlands were at the Arena helping the dead and wounded – 400 yards from our base. It was heart-wrenching for those sat there, with news coming back that the general public were carrying dead, dying, and injured people on advertising boards.
“Paramedics were coming back questioning why we weren’t doing anything when they needed us for basics like oxygen cylinders and to fetch and carry. To a man and woman the ambulance service went despite being told that it was still an active incident.
“Five fire engines and a speciallytrained team of firefighters, specifically for responding to terrorist attacks, sat idle at the station for the remainder of the incident.”
The firefighter described how he and many of his colleagues have found it impossible to come to terms with what happened.
In a moving plea he said: “I would like to ask for the forgiveness of the victims, their families, and other emergency service workers for not upholding my end on the night.
“If it ever happens again I will do what I should have done on that night – pick up the first aid bag off the taxpayers’ fire engine and walk to the incident myself, or hitch a ride with the true heroes of the incident, the ambulance service.
“Many of us have been left distressed and devastated by what happened.”
The firefighter said he believes rank and file crews were failed by their management on the night of the attack. What happened, he said, has badly affected morale in the brigade.
He said: “I feel that on the whole the ‘rank and file’ in the fire service do an excellent job. We were let down by management.”
He added: “With the hatchet falling in the form of the Kerslake Report I want your readers to be fully aware that on the night of the terrorist attack the firefighters up to and including the rank of station officer were expecting to be deployed to the arena.
“There was a massive feeling of regret, disappointment, disapproval,sadness. anger, and outrage that we were held back by management and could have helped in some way, however small.
“I want to be 100 per cent clear the firefighters on the night wanted to go and actively pushed management to commit us. We knew and understood the risk but were not allowed to go.
“The effects of the evening have been far reaching. We still feel let down.
“Morale has been low for a good few years now. The events of the night of the Arena have made things a whole lot worse. While I was walking aimlessly, helpless and frustrated around Thomson Street station, less than a mile from the Arena I saw a note on a tile.
“It was not an ordinary tile but one from the roof of Strangeways Prison, presented to firemen who turned out when there was a riot on. The inscription said ‘We Called You Came.’
“Reading that as I waited and waited to be sent to the Arena I felt ashamed to be a firefighter.” Firefighter left ‘sitting’ at base