Emergency crews will be joined by search and rescue dogs for a large exercise at Kirklees College on 14 August.
Exercise Summer Palace is a sequel to December’s Winter Palace, which saw specialist crews from around the country spend three days searching for trapped casualties in the basement of the college. The college basement has been specially adapted to mimic the conditions of a collapsed building, with crews forced to work in difficult conditions.
Summer Palace will address the learning points raised from the previous exercise and will challenge the firefighters even more, as they will only be able to enter the ‘collapsed structure’ from a single roof window, meaning the teams, including the rescue dogs, must all enter the building using a line. They will be joined by Yorkshire Ambulance Service’s Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) and West Yorkshire Police, and the interoperability between all agencies will be tested.
It took six months to create the ‘collapsed structure’ in the basement of Kirklees College, during which time a complex series of narrow passages and confined spaces were constructed. While the structure appears to resemble an intricate maze, it has been built to resemble a series of corridors, bedrooms and communal areas which are barely recognisable due to the extent of damage.
Volunteers will play casualties and they will be located by search and rescue dogs Eddie, Dave and Spencer, who are specially trained to find live casualties.
The confined spaces are littered with obstacles and debris and the crews will be expected to work around them with no natural light.
Station Manager Lee Benson, exercise co-ordinator from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “Exercise Winter Palace was a real test of our capability and everyone involved rose to the challenge. We have made the scenario more challenging, so the crews will be tested to the limit.
“Exercises like this are essential to ensure the emergency services are trained and ready to respond to real-life situations, so thank you to everyone who has been involved in the planning, and to Kirklees College for allowing us to use their premises again.”
