Police officers and firefighters respond to 'large scale public order incident' in training exercise at Sixfields

Police officers and firefighters took part in a training exercise whereby they had to respond to a “large scale public order incident” at Sixfields in Northampton.

The training took place on Monday (November 13) at the football stadium to test the emergency services’ abilities to respond to a large-scale incident.

At 10.15am, both emergency services were presented with an incident which started as a large-scale public order scene and developed into a multi-faceted incident involving police officers, fire crews and medics having to respond to a variety of issues including large crowds, medical emergencies and an out of control vehicle.

Event organisers, Sergeants Ellie Baird and Megan Sae-Thang, said: “The event went really well and it was reassuring to see how well the emergency services worked together in order to respond to this test incident.

“Whilst we hope never to have a large-scale incident that requires this type of response, it’s really important for us to regularly organise these exercises to ensure that we are equipped and ready to work together to deal with it.

“We’d like to thank everyone who helped to make today’s exercise event a success including Northampton College, Moulton College, the Rapid Relief Team, our amazing police volunteers, and Northampton Town Football Club for both the use of their venue and for their stewards’ involvement in the exercise – we really appreciated it.”

Station Commander at Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service, Nick Gayton added: “These multi-agency exercises are vital for us to test how successfully we work with other emergency services at a variety of incidents. They also provide an opportunity to work alongside other organisations, to ensure that everyone’s emergency protocols achieve the best possible outcome for all involved.

“We are hugely grateful to everyone who has taken part in this exercise. It takes a significant amount of planning and operational input to set up a realistic incident that gives all involved a chance to put their emergency response plans to the test.”

Members of the public were warned about the training exercise ahead of time to reassure that there was not an big, ongoing incident.