Jarvisbrook 180East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service has tested its response and collaborative working with a range of emergency services and partner agencies by hosting two training exercises in a railway tunnel.

Firefighters put their core skills to the test during two different exercises, at Jarvisbrook Tunnel on the closed line through Crowborough, which took place on Friday 22 January and Monday 25 January over both a day and a night shift.

Combining with Sussex Police, South East Coast Ambulance Service, Crawley HART, Network Rail and BAM Nuttall Crews were faced with a range of challenging scenarios which included an emergency response to help two work men who had been run over by a piece of equipment, resulting in crush injuries. One casualty had his leg trapped underneath a crane flatbed in the 1,000m-long tunnel.

The second exercise took place during a night shift, and involved a simulated fire in the tunnel where a heavy plant operator was trapped in the crane cab following a heart attack, trapping two of his colleagues in the load trailer. BAM Nuttall communications manager Jade Hibbins said the drill was "a fantastic display of collaboration".

John Haizelden, Crew Manager at Crowborough Community Fire Station, added: "This has been a really good example of testing our emergency procedures in conjunction with our partner agencies.

"Crews were presented with some very challenging situations due to the logistics and locality of the incident alongside the severity of the injuries we were faced with. It was an extremely beneficial training exercise, and allowed our crews to practice their core skills within a realistic simulation of a multi-agency incident."