Manchester Arena bombing inquiry: Firefighters were still asking police where to go after last survivor evacuated
Teams with specialist terror attack capability were inactive, three miles from arena
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Your support makes all the difference.Firefighters were still trying to find out where they should meet other emergency services responding to the Manchester Arena attack after the last survivor had been evacuated, an inquiry has heard.
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) had readied its specialist terror attack response but had been waiting at a station three miles from the arena after mistaken reports of an active shooter.
On Wednesday, the public inquiry was played a recording of a phone call from GMFRS station manager Andy Berry to Greater Manchester Police (GMP) at 11.50pm on 22 May 2017.
Nicholas de la Poer QC, counsel to the inquiry, said: “At the outset of that call, we were a few seconds only shy of one hour and 20 minutes post-explosion, and over 10 minutes after the final surviving person left the City Room [where the explosion took place].”
Speaking to a member of police staff who answered GMP’s force duty officer line, Mr Berry asked for a “forward command point” where firefighters could meet with ambulances and police.
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“We have got our MTFA [Marauding Terrorist Firearms Attack] capability you see at one of the stations but we will need somewhere to go to to co-locate with the ambulance service,” he added.
David Myerscough said he would find out and told Mr Berry of a rendezvous point at Central Park in Newton Heath, then after speaking to an inspector said the fire service should go to a former brewery.
Mr Berry replied: “The ambulance service apparently are at our Crompton Street fire station so we are going to muster there. OK. Thank you.”
Fire crews had been waiting at Philips Park station and did not arrive at Manchester Arena for more than two hours after the bombing.
The public inquiry will assess what the impact of the fire service’s absence from the scene was on those affected by the blast and whether that contributed, or may have contributed, to the loss of life.
It is examining the emergency response to the attack, following complaints by survivors of long waits for medical treatment and allegations that victims Saffie-Rose Roussos, eight, and John Atkinson, 28, could have survived with better care.
Twenty-two people were killed and hundreds more injured when Isis supporter Salman Abedi detonated a homemade bomb among Ariana Grande fans leaving a concert.
The inquiry has heard recordings of emergency service radio transmissions and phone calls showing initial confusion over whether the attack was a bomb blast or shooting, and whether there were secondary devices or a terrorist still at large.
The first paramedic did not enter the City Room until 22 minutes afterwards and was not joined by colleagues for another 20 minutes.
Amid a deluge of calls to 999, police officers on the ground were asking for more paramedics to be sent in, with one inspector telling the control room: “There is a lot of casualties. Any NWAS [North-West Ambulance Service] facility we have directly in here.”
In another call police requested “every available ambulance to here”, while advanced paramedic Patric Ennis said he could do with “at least four emergency ambulances” as he tried to assess casualties.
The inquiry will continue on Monday.
Additional reporting by PA