Apology for delay in response to arena attack

A fire chief has made a public apology for firefighters being delayed two hours before joining in the response to the Manchester Arena terrorist attack.

Dawn Docx, interim chief fire officer of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, said she apologised unreservedly for the failures in the previous leadership of the service at the time of last May’s attack. “It is clear that our response fell far short of what the people of Greater Manchester can expect,” she told a press conference following the publication of a report by Lord Bob Kerslake into the emergency response to the attack.

Salman Abedi detonated his device at 10:31pm on 22 May last year, in the foyer of Manchester Arena as 14,000 people streamed out at the end of an Ariana Grande concert.

The fire service was left “outside of the loop” of the police and ambulance emergency response, and firefighters did not get permission to go to the scene straight away.

The 226-page report by Lord Kerslake concluded that the emergency response was “overwhelmingly positive”. But he described the failure by fire chiefs as “extraordinary” and “incredible”.

Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said no-one should bear all the responsibility and no-one should be “scapegoated”.