Mock disaster test for emergency services

Death, injuries & chemical spillage.......

Twelve people died, dozens were injured and large parts of central Putney had to be evacuated following a chemical spillage during a practice emergency exercise undertaken by the council and its partners in the emergency services last week.

Town hall staff were joined by representatives from the police, fire brigade and ambulance service in drawing up plans to cope with the aftermath of a collision between a double decker bus, a chemical tanker and two cars at the junction of the Upper Richmond Road and Putney High Street.

The exercise - dubbed Operation Gridlock - was designed to test the responses of the council and the blue light emergency services to an unfolding crisis. Staff involved in the exercise had no prior warning of the disaster scenario or what they would be called upon to do.

After being informed of the initial incident, staff had to respond to a series of subsequent events and crises put forward by a team of emergency planning officers from other local authorities and the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.

These included the formation of a poison gas cloud above the town centre, a mass evacuation of residents, workers and shop staff, traffic chaos on the roads and the cutting of the electricity supply to an area stretching from the Wandsworth one-way system to Putney Common.

Council officers had to set up emergency reception centres at libraries, leisure centres and community halls for people who had been evacuated from the town centre and then provide food, drink and bedding. As part of the exercise they had to demonstrate fully how this was to be achieved, bearing in mind that traffic had been brought to a complete standstill throughout the area.

Later on an additional centre had to be set up at the Battersea Arts Centre to shelter people displaced from trains that were forced to terminate at Clapham Junction rather than continue through Putney.

Throughout the exercise freelance reporters and press officers from the Government news network tested the council's communications plans to gauge how effectively the town hall could provide information to the media and the general public.

The exercise culminated in a televised mock press conference held by representatives from the council and the blue light emergency services.

Wandsworth's chief executive and director of administration Gerald Jones, who was in charge of the council's response to the emergency said: "The scenario we were faced with was the sort of tragic incident that could happen at any time of the day or night.

"Fortunately we have well laid plans for dealing with a whole range of emergencies......I am delighted to say that on the whole, our response was first class, and although there are always lessons to be learned from an exercise like this, our services coped extremely well with the demands placed on them.

"I am particularly grateful that all emergency services participated, which added greatly to the realism and the value of the exercise."

January 28, 2004