The Front Page - Copy 42 (Lifeboats participate in Manchex Exercise)
5 November 2009
Report and Pictures by Martin Collins
Three of Kent’s RNLI lifeboats have today (November 3rd) played a major part in a multinational multi-agency emergency simulation exercise.
Dover and Ramsgate’s all weather lifeboats together with Walmer’s inshore lifeboat have been participating in the exercise which started at 0730hrs this morning. They were also joined by French SNSM lifeboats from Calais and Boulogne.
The biennial Manchex is used by the civil authorities to test their communication systems and hone their emergency response plans. The exercise took several forms including live play simulations and desktop scenarios. The different phases of the exercise took place at multiple locations including the sea between Dover and Ramsgate and Dover Harbour’s Cruise Terminal but overseen from the Coastguard’s Maritime Rescue and Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) at Dover.
The scenario set up for Manchex 2009 involved the Trinity House vessel Galatea playing the role of a stricken ferry. The lifeboats firstly performed a successful search for two exercise mannequins that had been in the water. The RNLI Lifeboats landed eighty exercise people who were playing the part of passengers from the burning ferry.
Other agencies/units involved today have included:
· Maritime and Coastguard Agency
o Maritime Rescue and Co-ordination Centre
o Emergency Towing Vessel – Anglian Monarch
· Kent County Council
· Royal Air Force
· Dover District Council
· Dover Harbour Board
· South East Coast Ambulance Service
· Sky Watch
· UK Border Agency
· French Coastguard
· Trinity House
· Kent Fire and Rescue Service
· NHS
Dover RNLI Coxswain Stuart Richardson said: “We are fortunate to be able to participate in these large exercises because it is rare that so many units can be brought together for such training. The live play we have taken part in is essential because it identifies a plan’s weaknesses in a way that a sitting round a table can’t replicate. This is the nearest thing to a real catastrophe in the Channel and supports our ethos of training for the worst but hoping for the best.”
RNLI Divisional Training Inspector Allen Head who observed the exercise at the MRCC said: “Manchex provides an excellent opportunity for us to demonstrate our interoperability with the other agencies involved, including the French. Our crews also benefit positively from observing the other agencies different modes of operation”.
The top shot from Martin Collins shows the Dover, Boulogne, and Calais, lifeboats taking part in the exercise. The second picture shows the Trinity House vessel Galatea which also took part. Simulations of injury pickup were carried out by Air Sea Rescue helicopter from the decks of The Galatea.
* * *
I have added this general picture below taken by myself which shows a wider scene, but it was taken from a fair way off in poor light so not terribly good, I had to force it somewhat. But it gives an indication of the general scene. PB
Report and Pictures by Martin Collins
RNLI Lifeboats participate in Manchex 2009- November 3rd.
Three of Kent’s RNLI lifeboats have today (November 3rd) played a major part in a multinational multi-agency emergency simulation exercise.
Dover and Ramsgate’s all weather lifeboats together with Walmer’s inshore lifeboat have been participating in the exercise which started at 0730hrs this morning. They were also joined by French SNSM lifeboats from Calais and Boulogne.
The biennial Manchex is used by the civil authorities to test their communication systems and hone their emergency response plans. The exercise took several forms including live play simulations and desktop scenarios. The different phases of the exercise took place at multiple locations including the sea between Dover and Ramsgate and Dover Harbour’s Cruise Terminal but overseen from the Coastguard’s Maritime Rescue and Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) at Dover.
The scenario set up for Manchex 2009 involved the Trinity House vessel Galatea playing the role of a stricken ferry. The lifeboats firstly performed a successful search for two exercise mannequins that had been in the water. The RNLI Lifeboats landed eighty exercise people who were playing the part of passengers from the burning ferry.
Other agencies/units involved today have included:
· Maritime and Coastguard Agency
o Maritime Rescue and Co-ordination Centre
o Emergency Towing Vessel – Anglian Monarch
· Kent County Council
· Royal Air Force
· Dover District Council
· Dover Harbour Board
· South East Coast Ambulance Service
· Sky Watch
· UK Border Agency
· French Coastguard
· Trinity House
· Kent Fire and Rescue Service
· NHS
Dover RNLI Coxswain Stuart Richardson said: “We are fortunate to be able to participate in these large exercises because it is rare that so many units can be brought together for such training. The live play we have taken part in is essential because it identifies a plan’s weaknesses in a way that a sitting round a table can’t replicate. This is the nearest thing to a real catastrophe in the Channel and supports our ethos of training for the worst but hoping for the best.”
RNLI Divisional Training Inspector Allen Head who observed the exercise at the MRCC said: “Manchex provides an excellent opportunity for us to demonstrate our interoperability with the other agencies involved, including the French. Our crews also benefit positively from observing the other agencies different modes of operation”.
The top shot from Martin Collins shows the Dover, Boulogne, and Calais, lifeboats taking part in the exercise. The second picture shows the Trinity House vessel Galatea which also took part. Simulations of injury pickup were carried out by Air Sea Rescue helicopter from the decks of The Galatea.
* * *
I have added this general picture below taken by myself which shows a wider scene, but it was taken from a fair way off in poor light so not terribly good, I had to force it somewhat. But it gives an indication of the general scene. PB