Up to 1,000 emergency service personnel and security staff descended on London’s Canary Wharf on Sunday for the largest counter-terrorism training exercise in modern times.
Codenamed 'Firebird', the drill tested responders – including police, firefighters, paramedics, and counter-terrorism investigation teams – against a simulated marauding terrorist attack. Dozens of actors helped create the scenario, which incorporated lessons from the Manchester Arena attack and utilised new technology such as drones.
The exercise served as a poignant reminder of the 1996 Docklands IRA bombing, which resulted in two fatalities and over 100 injuries in the same area.
Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Kris Wright, who directed the exercise, said: “I’m incredibly grateful to Canary Wharf for providing us an iconic site for us to test these capabilities for what is, in fact, the largest exercise of its kind that I’ve ever been involved in, and in modern times.
“It is quite poignant that Canary Wharf, the site of one of the most well-known terror attacks London has ever seen, is now hosting an exercise where we assure ourselves that as that threat has evolved, our response and our ability to combat that threat has evolved with it.”
Mr Wright said emergency services would be tested to deal with a number of different types of attack scenarios.
As the threat level had moved to “severe” there had never been a better time for emergency services to test their response to any number of threats, “whether it be a marauding terror attack with knife, with gun, with fire, whether it be vehicles being used as a weapon, or even some of the more technical threats that we face,” Mr Wright said
Experiences from real-life events and previous exercises all fed the design of the exercise.
Mr Wright said: “A good example would be 10-second triage, which is the emergency services response to how we would triage, categorise and care for people, of varying different injuries at a catastrophic event.
“That is a lesson that’s come from the tragic events of Manchester Arena, that everybody in emergency services is keen to embed and work together in a consistent format.”
Organisers also worked with local make-up colleges to create realistic-looking injuries to treat at the scene.
Mr Wright said: “For me, exercises like this give me an opportunity to test what we already know or where we have seen opportunities to learn, and also to test, those newer capabilities.
“The response that Londoners see from their emergency services and partners to the most catastrophic events is, in my opinion, world-leading.
“But we shouldn’t be complacent. We should continue to stretch ourselves and test ourselves, and that’s what we do here today.”
The senior officer said that “everybody has a role to play”, including members of the public.
He said: “If people find themselves caught up in horrendous events, be assured, we are coming, we are there to support and help.
“There is a really, really well exercised and understood plan of how we will respond. We will be there to help.”
He added: “I want to emphasise that this was also not carried out in response to any specific threat or intelligence.
“The terrorism threat level across the UK was recently raised to ‘severe’ so we always need people to be vigilant, but I hope this reassures Londoners that should the worst happen, that we are ready and prepared to respond in the best possible way.”
Security Minister Dan Jarvis said: “Our emergency services work around the clock to keep us safe. Exercises like this ensure that should they be called upon, they are able to respond quickly, effectively and with confidence. I’d like to thank all those organisations who took part in this exercise and those who facilitated it.
“We have backed our world-leading intelligence agencies and counter-terrorism police with record levels of funding in order to protect us from the threats we face.
“The UK terrorism threat level is currently ‘severe’ so if you see something that doesn’t feel right, report it to the police– you will never be wasting their time.”
