Fire crews in Manchester, UK, ‘ashamed’ over response delay following bomb blast
According to the Fire Brigades Union, firefighters felt “ashamed” that they were unable to assist the victims in the Manchester Arena attack in a faster manner.
22 people were killed in a blast in May 2017, but fire crews felt they were “out of the loop” as it took them two hours to attend the scene of the incident.
The north-west secretary, Mark Rowe, claimed that firefighters were left “angry” after “the order never came down from the top.”
Subsequently, the fire service’s chief has apologised for the failings, which were highlighted in a damning report by Lord Kerslake.
The report was initially commissioned by the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, and unearthed that poor communication between both the police and the area’s fire service meant that “valuable” assistance of their crews was held back and delayed by two hours and six minutes after the bombing incident took place, which also left hundreds of people injured.
The report also had a deeper look into the emergency services’ response, after Salman Abedi detonated a home-made device at 22:31, while 14,000 people were leaving an Ariana Grande concert on the 22nd of May.
Mr Rowe said: “Members were very angry that they weren’t being deployed to the scene.
“There was frustration. Members have talked about their embarrassment that they weren’t deployed and also feeling ashamed that they were prevented from doing anything that night.”
Dawn Docx, the interim chief fire officer of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, said the service could have helped if it had been on site and its response on the night should have been better.
