On Sunday 2 November, local rail operator c2c Railway conducted a comprehensive fire evacuation drill at Fenchurch Street station, in partnership with the London Fire Brigade – continuing its dedication to improving customer and colleague safety.
The fire drill simulated smoke coming from the station and showed the collective response of c2c colleagues to a real incident. Four fire engines were on hand, as the London Fire Brigade’s (LFB) firefighters cleared the building and found the source of the smoke.
c2c used the opportunity presented by the closure of Fenchurch Street station, due to engineering works, to invite the LFB to conduct the simulation – as well as further train its colleagues on the procedures of a real emergency event.
c2c Safety and Operations Director, Stuart Browning, said: “For all of us at c2c, the safety of our customers and colleagues has always been our highest priority.
“Fenchurch Street station is one of London’s oldest termini and I am very proud of our teams for seeing this as an opportunity to ensure our colleagues are well trained and better equipped to respond to emergency events.
“We’d like to thank the London Fire Brigade supporting our simulated exercise, as well as for taking the time to ensure firefighters better understand Fenchurch Street station.”
To cover the simulation, c2c has made a film that shows the extent of the exercise, which can be seen below.
Tony Jackson, London Fire Brigade Station Commander for Whitechapel, said: “These kinds of opportunities are rare because of the impact it has on the station. It’s a chance for our officers to work with the station supervisors and their staff to make sure the procedures are correct and in-place.”
The simulated exercise at Fenchurch Street was organised by c2c’s Fire Safety Manager, (and former firefighter) Tony Parkin.
c2c Fire Safety Manager, Tony Parkin, said: “It is really important to carryout periodic training exercises to demonstrate how well staff are trained in the event of an emergency. We successfully achieved this at Fenchurch Street by carrying out a full evacuation on 2 November.
“To do this, we simulated a fire within the basement of the building - with persons reported missing. This gave us the opportunity to test our local emergency plans and other important procedures.
“I am proud to say that c2c colleagues worked very well alongside the emergency services and offered their knowledge and expertise when call upon. We will continue to evaluate and review our emergency procedures to ensure the highest levels of customer safety.”
Image and video credits: c2c
