London emergency staff respond to Tube station disaster drill

Emergency crews in Kent took part in a graphic mock-up of the aftermath of a building’s collapse into a Tube station. They were testing their response to mass casualties.

Blood-covered ‘victims’, fake dead bodies, and actors with ‘sliced limbs’ and ‘open wounds’ were part of the biggest disaster-training exercise ever seen in Europe.

The scenario, at a disused power plant, near the Dartford river-crossing in Kent, involved a mocked-up Waterloo Tube station being ‘crushed’ by thousands of tonnes of rubble.

Following year-long planning, blue-light teams, and other professionals were tested on their ability to deal with 1,000 casualties, as seven Tube carriages were entombed.

Firefighters, police officers, and ambulance staff were involved in the operation, alongside London local authorities, Transport for London and the capital’s air ambulance.

London Fire commissioner, Ron Dobson, said: “Exercises of this scale are important to ensure that we are always ready to respond, no matter what happens.

“You can’t get this sort of experience from a text book. We need to play it like it’s real and ensure that, should the worst happen, our response is effective and well-co-ordinated.”

The teams’ response would be “rigorously observed” by independent evaluators, so lessons could be learned, he added.

Exercise Unified Response, funded by the European Commission Exercise Program and co-ordinated by the London Fire Brigade, also involved utility companies and search-and-rescue teams. 250 personnel worked at the scene during the four-day exercise.