Senior officers praised the commitment of firefighters who took part in a huge training exercise to simulate dealing with a smoke logged stand at the 12,000-seater Salford City Stadium.
Firefighters from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service used the East Stand of the stadium, home of rugby teams Sale Sharks and Salford City Reds, to give them an opportunity to practise their search and rescue and breathing apparatus skills.
The exercise took place last Thursday July 19, and gave the crews from Eccles, Irlam and Stretford, a unique opportunity to train in a real-world scenario.
Crew manager Gabriel Campbell said: "As firefighters, we train every single day for how to deal with fires and other emergencies, but this was the first time GMFRS has used Salford City Stadium in this way.
"We used the East Stand to simulate a smoke logged stand and our crews ran a sector to search the south half of the ground floor of the stand.
"Because it was a large wide open space it gave us a great opportunity to test our breathing apparatus (BA) procedures and it was fantastic to use the ground to train for a genuine emergency at a sporting stadium.”
Organisers of the exercise introduced a scenario involving problems with the oxygen supplies to one of the breathing apparatus teams. Another emergency team of firefighters had to rescue them.
Station Manager Paul Smitham added: "The exercise was great and really showed the commitment of the crews to train in a real environment for a genuine emergency.
"Eighteen firefighters from Salford and Trafford Borough took part and it was great to develop a relationship with the stadium so that we can hopefully build on that and train with them again."
Watch Manager Jon Stewart added: "As always, we aim to be prepared for all eventualities and this drill had the potential for many missing persons so it was a great opportunity to train and also gave us excellent knowledge for us crews in the event of a real emergency."
Officers from GMFRS will return to the stadium on August 19 to play the New York Fire Department in a charity football match in aid of the Fire Fighters Charity and the 9/11 Benevolent Fund. Tickets are available via ticketline.
