A Telford business became the centre of a major fire incident with firefighters searching for people in dark corridors, as part of a vital training exercise for the fire service.
The exercise was held at self-storage unit, The Space Place, in Stafford Park on Sunday (16 August), with firefighters donning breathing apparatus to hunt for “missing persons” in the building.
Managers at The Space Place said they were happy to help the fire service by allowing them to use their premises for the exercise.
Ian Freeman, site manager, said: “Our building is pretty much opposite the fire station in Stafford Park, and they came over recently for a routine familiarisation visit to see the layout of the building and that sort of thing.
“While they were here, they said it was an ideal building for a training exercise because there are lots of corridors spread over a number of levels, which is unusual in commercial units of this size.
“We were very happy to host the crews on Sunday, which we hope was helpful for the fire service.
“We like to think our fire safety is excellent, but it’s reassuring for us and our customers storing their belongings here to know that our local fire service have an even better knowledge of the building now!”
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service carries out a number of exercises across the county and Green Watch Crew Manager at Telford, Michael Davidson, said they were a vital part of the service’s training.
He said: “We regularly carry out exercises to ensure our procedures are all working as they should, and we are very grateful to the managers and staff at The Space Place for allowing us to use their premises.
“This particular exercise was all about testing our response in a smoke-filled environment using breathing apparatus. The scenario was that a fire had been extinguished and firefighters were clearing the building and searching for some people who were unaccounted for.
“The Space Place was a very useful location because its long corridors and numerous locker units make it a flexible area to carry out exercises like this.
“We switched the main lights off in the corridors to give an element of poor visibility and it was a really useful exercise for us.”
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