Quote: Ferocious Aardvark "Not sure about that. I thought that overall the ambulance service came out of it well? Can't recall any criticism of the fire service but it's a long document.
The point was though that both ambulance service and fire service were - naturally - part of major disaster planning and the reason that neither swung into major disaster mode immediately was again the inexcusable fault of the police, who, incredibly, forgot to declare a major emergency. Had they contacted the ambulance service and decalred a disaster, and used the codeword CATASTROPHE designated precisely for the purpose, then eg the "Fleet of ambulances" would indeed have been immediately despatched. As it was, as there was no declared emergency, they weren't and could not be.
Another terrible result was that the fire service, who would have had cutting etc. equipment to tear down the pitch side fencing and relieve the crush, were for the same reasons similarly delayed in a full attendance. That fact, taken with the news that in fact the claim that all victims 'would have been dead by 3.15 anyway' was yet another falsehood, leads to the unpalatable possibility that people who died in the crush would have been capable of being saved had a full emergency been immediately declared.
Indeed, but we have people still vilifying the Liverpool fans on this very thread.'"
Can't argue with most of that. My criticisms of SYMAS and the Fire Service was more to do with their preparations. Not turning up for planning meetings and therefore making sure they were incorporated in emergency plans with proper lines of communication. Obviously the police as chair of the planning group were remiss here but the other agencies should have known that they had a part to play in planning for football matches and been more thorough in their preparations. Similar blame should also be apportioned to the FA, SWFC and the local authority.
On the day itself SYMAS was hampered by the negligence of the police in failing to declare a major incident, but nobody seemed to do any triage at the scene, a responsibility that could have been assumed without the need for approval on high. Thankfully the local hospitals were on the ball or it could have been even worse.