Mass evacuation of city tower in huge 999 emergency drill.

Byline: FIONNULA HAINEY News Reporter

THERE were dramatic scenes in Coventry as a high-rise building was evacuated by emergency crews.

Passers-by might have been shocked to see smoke rising from Civic Centre Four in Much Park Street at around 10am yesterday.

Several vehicles including fire engines, ambulances and an incident command unit parked up on the roads outside and police cordons were put in place - but although it might have looked serious, the public had nothing to worry about.

The incident was in fact a training exercise set up to give fire crews, students and volunteers a realistic experience of how to deal with a disaster from the first emergency call to the aftercare of victims.

The Telegraph went along to take a look behind the scenes and see exactly how crews deal with an incident of such a large scale.

Volunteer patients began the exercise stuck up on the top floors of the building as fire crews were called from their various posts to tackle the blaze and rescue them.

Simulated smoke was used to recreate the environment of a real-life fire and patients were given nasty looking wounds, which student paramedics would have to treat. Inside the building the smoke was so thick that it was difficult to see anything further than a metre in front of you.

Fire crews had to carefully negotiate the scene to find the casualties and get them out safely.

On the ground below the story unfolded as reports of a suspected cannabis farm and multiple causalities could be heard over the radios.

Officers in charge had to think quickly about the next stage of the rescue and communicate clearly with each organisation involved in the largescale response.

Around 100 volunteers took part, with students from Coventry University acting as evacuees, casualties and student paramedics.

A rest centre was opened in the university's sports centre on Whitefriars Street run by disaster relief volunteers from Coventry City Council and the police.

The major incident documentation team were also on hand to speak to patients about where they may find more causalities, as they would be were it a reallife disaster.

Coventry University's high-tech simulation centre was used to remotely immerse fire incident commanders, plus officers from other emergency services and Coventry City Council, in the scenario.

The XVR platform, a large curved screen, shows the action live from the scene so that officers can make quick decisions and keep up to date with the latest.

Coventry University lecturer Chris Hiley, course director of the university's Forensic Investigations degree, who has been involved in organising the event, said: "This has been a fantastic opportunity for our students to get a real life experience of what it's like to work with the emergency services."