Fire crews respond to 'plane crash' at Tresham College in Kettering

Fire crews and students took part in an emergency training exercise
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Fire crews and students joined together at Tresham College in Kettering to simulate a plane crash.

Three fire crews, from Kettering, Desborough and Rothwell, took part in the exercise to give firefighters an idea of what to do if anything like that ever happened in the area.

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For Tresham College students, it was a chance for those on the cabin crew course to be assessed on their emergency procedures and performing arts students played the part of the passengers.

Fire crews took part in training at Tresham College, where a plane 'crash landed'.Fire crews took part in training at Tresham College, where a plane 'crash landed'.
Fire crews took part in training at Tresham College, where a plane 'crash landed'.

Lucy Skipper, travel and tourism lecturer at the college, said: "They have to evacuate the cabin, do a full run through of the safety demonstration.

"It's such a good opportunity for them to get use of the fire service's facilities too, like the smoke machines.

"It puts them head and shoulders above other candidates when they go for jobs, because you can't replicate this in the classroom."

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Tony Evans, a station manager from Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "There are three fire crews and 17 firefighters.

Cabin crew students were assessed on their emergency procedure during the exerciseCabin crew students were assessed on their emergency procedure during the exercise
Cabin crew students were assessed on their emergency procedure during the exercise

"We do this as part of our training, we do a range of incidents and while we don't have any large airports, we do have smaller ones and any aircraft could crash land anywhere."

He added that the event was about their partnership with the college too and that the training was mutually beneficial for the fire crews and the students taking part.

The three fire crews were on standby in case any incident where there was risk to life was reported during the exercise, but Mr Evans said other crews would be sent to smaller incidents with no risk to life to allow the crews to participate in the training.

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The exercise started with the plane 'taking off' and the crew could be seen through the windows giving their safety demonstration.

Three fire crews took partThree fire crews took part
Three fire crews took part

It was 'in the air' for a few minutes and the first sign that things might be going wrong was some flashing lights from the cabin. Not long after, smoke started to pour out of the cockpit.

The first fire crew then arrived and started to hose down the fuselage.

The walking wounded passengers, who had all been given particular injuries to act out, were then accompanied off the plane and into a triage room where St John's Ambulance were treating them.

Fire fighters in breathing apparatus then searched, located and rescued the remaining passengers.

The exercise was a success and everyone was rescued.