Manchester Arena Inquiry: Fire manager angry at bomb response

The decision not to send specialist fire crews to the Manchester Arena attack was wrong, an inquiry has heard.

The Manchester Arena Inquiry heard senior firefighter Dean Nankivell was "incredibly angry" at the response to the bombing and suggested sending specialists to the scene on the night.

He had argued they were trained to work in the aftermath of terror attacks.

He also said the decision to muster fire crews three miles from the scene of the attack had been "bizarre".

Twenty-two people were killed and hundreds more were injured when Salman Abedi detonated a home-made device in the arena's City Room foyer at 22:31 BST on 22 May 2017.

The inquiry into the atrocity has heard how Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) Chief Fire Officer Peter O'Reilly overruled his incident commander and sent 12 regular firefighters to the scene instead.

The decision, taken more than two hours after the explosion, sparked an argument among senior fire officers.

Mr Nankivell, who has now retired but was GMFRS group manager at the time, said the decision by the incident commander should not have been overruled.

He said former Mr O'Reilly as a "very intimidating guy" but was "absolutely not" a bully.

"The Chief Fire Officer… may have got more information than I had available, but I've never known an order or something being countermanded of an incident commander," he said, adding: "I would always run with the incident commander."

The inquiry heard on the evening of the attack, Mr Nankivell arrived at GMFRS headquarters to help set up the command support room.

Among them was Assistant Chief Fire Officer Geoff Harris, who Mr Nankivell accused of "interfering with play" during the response.

"I didn't know what his role was on the night," he said.

"He was just repeating everything I said or picking up on things other people said.

"So he was just another voice that we didn't need, in my opinion."

He also told the hearing he found it "bizarre" that fire crews had been initially mobilised to Philips Park Fire Station, which lies three miles away from the arena, although he said he did not question it at the time because he assumed there was a good reason for it.

He added that he had only found out about the police rendezvous point was nearer the arena much later in the evening.

He said on being told that, he had felt "disappointment", adding that it had been "quite gut-wrenching" to discover.

The inquiry continues.

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