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Firefighters test Rotherham United’s safety procedures

The fire service has practiced its response to an incident at Rotherham’s AESSEAL New York stadium, testing how the football club would deal with a blaze at the ground.

Rotherham United FC welcomed various emergency services to their stadium to carry out a live training exercise, involving tackling a fire in the ground and providing first aid to casualties.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, Yorkshire Ambulance Service and South Yorkshire Police worked with stewards to test the football club’s procedures to ensure the maximum safety of spectators should an incident like this ever occur during a game.

Station Manager Matt Gillatt said: “We know that these types of incidents are rare, but it’s imperative that the football club practice their emergency plans to make sure fans are as safe as possible.

“It also gives the different emergency services that would be called out to a situation like this a chance to refine their skills and learn more about the stadium.

“We perform a lot of realistic exercises like this so we can be certain that any response from the fire service and all of our partners would be as strong as possible. Going through plans on paper is one thing, but often the only way of really testing our decision making ability is to re-enact the incident in a live environment.

“I’m pleased to say the training was a great success and that the fans of Rotherham United FC should be reassured by the club taking their safety so seriously.”

A Rotherham United FC spokesperson said: “Rotherham United would like to thank all the parties who attended from the emergency services and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council who contributed to the exercise.

“Close liaison helps us to deliver a safe environment for people to attend football matches safe in the knowledge that we have robust procedures in place to deal with varying challenges, many of which will hopefully never occur.”

This content was last updated on August 20th, 2015