Incident One

Name Of accident?
September 2001 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers (New York) The attack happened on the Tuesday 11th September 2001, the first plane hit the North Tower at 08:46am.

When did the accident occur?

What happened?

At 8:46 a.m., five hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the World Trade Centres North Tower (1 WTC), and at 9:03 a.m., another five hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower (2 WTC). Five hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93, under the control of four hijackers, crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh, at 10:03 a.m. after the passengers fought the hijackers. The causes were down to 19 terrorists from the terrorist (Anti Western group), Al-Qaeda. They hijacked 4 planes in total, 2 hitting the towers, one hitting the pentagon and 1 crashing in Shanksville due to the passengers over powering the hijackers. There were around 2,996 people killed in total and over 6,000 people injured due to dust, debris etc.

What were the causes of the accident? How many casualties were there? How long did it take for the fire service to mobilize? How many firemen were required at the scene? What equipment did the fire service use at the scene? What did the fire service actually do? What preventative measures did the fire service have prepared for such a situation?

The fire service reacted immediately as they were stationed only hundreds of metres away from the scene, they attempted to climb thee towers to rescue people.

There were over 200 units deployed to help deal with the situation, which involved over 400 firemen.

The fire service used hoses and ladders to help cool the pressure and heat on the towers and ladders to help people get out of the tower.

They attempted to cool the fires with the water but the building eventually collapses whilst firemen were inside of the buildings trying to help get people out. The US Government made a program Homeland Security, this helps protect the people of the United States. Specifically made to prevent future terrorist attacks within the US, and to also minimize the damage of the attacks.

Accident Two
Name Of accident? Boscastle Flood When did the accident occur?
The accident occurred on the 16th August 2004.

What happened?

The incident was a major flood, this was caused by a months worth of rain falling within 4 hours, this causing the river Valency to overflow which then damaged the village. The current was so powerful that it swept buildings, cars and boats out through the harbour. The main causes was due to the large quantity of rain which has fell within a few hours, it was reported to have been one months worth of rain within a period of 4 hours. Also, there was a lack of river bank and height of the defences, so the rivers rose and over flooded into the village. There were no fatal casualties, Two dogs were reported to have been lost and were not found. There were 50 people who had been taken to hospital to be checked but none were injured. The first fire service to reach Boscastle was Cornwall County Fire Brigade, many others arrived later on.

What were the causes of the accident? How many casualties were there? How long did it take for the fire service to mobilize? How many firemen were required at the scene? What equipment did the fire service use at the scene? What did the fire service actually do? What preventative measures did the fire service have prepared for such a situation?

29 brigades from the 31 available were required at the scene, which consisted of

The Fire Service did not necessarily have to use any serious equipment because there were no fires and there were no people trapped in cars, they may have had to use their hoses to wash debris into the river and then downstream. They helped get people out of the buildings if they could be reached and then helped with the search and rescue after the water levels had dropped slightly. They also helped with the clearing up of Boscastle. The Fire Service had no preventative measures in place for this type of accident.

Accident Three
Name Of accident? Ladbroke Grove Train Crash When did the accident occur?
The accident occurred on 5th October 1999 at precisely 08:11am just pass the junction SN109.

What happened?

What were the causes of the accident? How many casualties were there? How long did it take for the fire service to mobilize? How many firemen were required at the scene? What equipment did the fire service use at the scene? What did the fire service actually do? What preventative measures did the fire service have prepared for such a situation?

At about 08:06 on 5 October 1999 a Thames Trains train for Bedwyn in Wiltshire left Paddington Station. From Paddington to Ladbroke Grove Junction (about 2 miles (to the West), the lines were joined together, this causing the First Great Western train colliding with a Thames Train with a combined speed of 130mph. This was due to the poor visibility of the lights at the junction SN109. The main cause of the accident was the poor visibility of the lights at the junction where the tracks cross each other. And it is also reported that the driver had under-gone training which was not to a high enough standard according to a new Training manager. In this crash, there were many casualties, mainly being injuries over that of deaths. There were 31 deaths and 523 injuries caused by broken bones, burns, head injuries.

It took the Fire Service 1 minute to actually immobilize from their station but did not arrive at the scene until 10 minutes after the initial impact.

Around 60 firemen were available to turn up to the scene and help provide support with water and to assist people away from the scene.

The Fire Service used hoses (water) to douse the flames and cool the spilt fuel and other materials hazardous, they also used ladders so they could get people out of the trains from the top windows and get them to safety. The Fire Service helped save people from the wreckage and cool the fuel and other materials down with water, this preventing further damage and deaths/injuries. They also put up a rescue mission over the next day to check for surviving people and bodies of those who did not make it. The Fire Service had no preventative measures in place for this type of accident.