Fire Service exercise at local Amazon site

Last week fire crews from across Nottinghamshire took part in a district exercise at the Amazon site on Sherwood Way South, Mansfield.

‘Exercise Prime’ tested firefighters on their Breathing Apparatus (BA) operations in a large open building and their search and rescue procedures.

Firefighters from Mansfield, Ashfield, Edwinstowe, Hucknall, Stockhill and Highfields Fire Station took part in the exercise, along with Alfreton Fire Station from Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The exercise took part in one half of the warehouse, where a fire had started in a vending machine. Once the exercise had begun, the building’s fire alarms went off, and 2,000 employees were evacuated following their usual evacuation procedures.

As the exercise progressed, a firefighter had become destressed and was rescued from the building. A further two casualties were then rescued from the second floor of the warehouse.

Following the exercise there was a debrief and evaluation, where both the fire service and Amazon staff discussed the outcome.

Ian Edmonds, Exercise Director, and Watch Manager at Mansfield Fire Station said: “I am very pleased with how the exercise went and extremely grateful for the opportunity to be able to work in collaboration with Amazon.

“Exercises like this one allows crews to be best prepared in the case of a real incident, alongside allowing us to practice vital skills needed in order to keep our communities safe.

“I would like to thank everyone who participated in Exercise Prime, including the members of staff from Amazon who have supported us, not only today, but also in the previous weeks whilst we were organising this.”