Manchester Arena Inquiry: Fire control 'responsible for failures'

A delay in fire crews getting to the scene of the Manchester Arena bombing was caused by a failure to pass on key information to officers, the inquiry into the attack has heard.

Sarah-Jane Wilson, head of North West Fire Control (NWFC), told the Manchester Arena Inquiry her team was "responsible for significant failures".

She said the communication failures were "not in any way excusable".

Firefighters arrived at the scene more than two hours after the attack.

Officers were ordered to gather at a meeting point three miles from the Arena as they awaited further details of the attack at 22:31 BST on 22 May 2017, which killed 22 people and injured hundreds more.

The inquiry heard that within 30 minutes of the attack, NWFC logged calls that police officers were arriving, ambulances were en route and a paramedic incident commander was on site.

However, the information was not shared with the senior fire officer, who had decided to send crews to the muster point at Philips Park fire station in east Manchester.

NWFC duty team leader Michelle Gregson previously told the inquiry it was "absolute bedlam" in the control room and she did not have time to review logs from colleagues.

Ms Wilson said it had "become very clear to me that... NWFC did not manage communications in the way that would have been expected of them".

"The control room was responsible for significant failures in the management of information... particularly in relation to the recording of information, the passing of information to the fire service and other agencies and also in understanding the significance of the information that was in their hands," she said.

She said the communication failures were "not in any way excusable", adding: "I want to say personally and on behalf of the control room that I deeply regret these failures and I want to unreservedly and publicly apologise to the families and to the fire and rescue service for what we failed to do that night."

The inquiry continues.

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