Manchester Arena Inquiry: Fire boss apologises for delayed response

A senior fire officer has apologised to bereaved families for what he described as a "woeful and unacceptable" response to the Manchester Arena bombing.

Assistant county fire officer David Keelan said the service was sorry it took crews more than two hours to get to the scene on 22 May 2017.

An inquiry into the atrocity has previously heard communication and command failures caused the delay.

"We let you down when you needed us the most," Mr Keelan said.

The officer delivered the apology directly to victims' relatives before giving evidence.

He said: "I wanted to say to those who have lost loved ones, to all those who were injured and to those that were affected, I apologise for our woeful and unacceptable response to that incident."

The inquiry heard Mr Keelan was off duty on the night of the attack, when Salman Abedi detonated a bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert.

Twenty-two people were killed and hundreds more injured.

Mr Keelan returned home from dinner and saw events unfolding on the television news, the inquiry heard.

He told the hearing how he was due to be relieving the chief fire officer, Peter O'Reilly, from his shift either later that night or early the next morning.

After speaking with colleagues over the phone, Mr Keelan said he then went to bed - but not to sleep.

He said he was aware that, "in essence" only, chief fire officer Peter O'Reilly was on rota in a leadership role.

He told the hearing: "I knew at some point, either throughout that evening or into the early hours of the next day, I would have to take over the strategic responsibility for the organisation so I needed to make sure I was in a capable manner to do so.

"I didn't sleep, I rested. But I was occupied and conscious with other things at the time."

Paul Greaney QC, counsel to the inquiry, asked Mr Keelan if he would wholeheartedly reject criticism for him taking a rest.

Mr Keelan replied: "Yes, sir. I needed to be ready for what I might have to do later on that morning."

The inquiry continues.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [email protected]