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Eastnor Castle Exercise a Success

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Eastnor Castle Exercise a Success

The exercise, held at the castle on Sunday 10 April, aimed to test the Fire Service's response to a fire at a heritage property, particularly with regard to incident command procedures and the recovery of items of cultural value and significance that might be found at the many heritage sites located within Herefordshire and Worcestershire.


Fire crews from Ledbury, Malvern and Upton and the Aerial Ladder Platform from Hereford attended the exercise, along volunteers who acted as casualties.

Station Commander Bob Sproat from H&WFRS thanked the owners and staff at Eastnor Castle for their support with the training exercise, adding: "The early feedback from this exercise has been very positive, and has undoubtedly given us a greater insight into the particular challenges associated with heritage properties, especially with regard to the salvage of art, furniture and furnishings and other items of historical importance.

"Exercises like this enable us to evaluate and adapt our plans for operational response to specific sites. Consequently we are constantly looking to engage with local partners (like Eastnor) to identify training venues for all types of operational training."

He added: "Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service has worked closely with Eastnor Castle in the past when we have used the castle grounds for our Limited Traction Courses, involving some of our off-road vehicles. We value this partnership with Eastnor and will look forward to working with them in the future."