RAF Waddington joined forces with multiple civilian agencies to test and prove RAF Waddingtons personnel and systems of contingencies in coping, containing and resolving a major incident.

Exercise Silver Siren

19 April 2013

RAF Waddington joined forces with multiple civilian agencies to test and prove RAF Waddingtons personnel and systems of contingencies in coping, containing and resolving a major incident.

The scenario known as Exercise Silver Siren was based around the highly unlikely event of an E-3D aircraft crashing on to RAF Waddington Airfield. To add to the already dramatic scene the scenario also included the aircraft colliding with a fuel bowser causing a simulated fireball and smoke plume. As the Station responders got to grips with the incident, the emergency services and the local authority arrived on Station as they would in a real incident. To command and control the incident the Station’s senior officer’s joined forces with their opposite numbers from Police, Fire, Ambulance and Local Authority whilst the Police, Fire and Ambulance forces on the ground worked with Station personnel at the various scenes. To enable the coordinators to replicate a ‘real situation’ smoke systems were utilised, bloodied casualties were strewn across the airfield and RAF Cranwell Theatre Club acted (quite convincingly) as distraught next of kin.
Wing Commander Alun Roberts who commanded the Crisis Management Cell at RAF Waddington during the exercise said:
“Reducing risk as far as possible and then being able to respond to an incident is a major focus of work at all Military bases. This controlled exercise allows us to test the Station’s Major Accident Plan to ensure it meets Major Accident Control Regulations (MACR) and also affords the opportunity to bolster the professional relationships and coordination between RAF Waddington, and the Lincolnshire Emergency Services”

Through the professional and determined efforts of both military personnel and our civilian counterparts the MACR Competent Authority who monitored the exercise throughout deemed it a success and declared RAF Waddington competent in the management of a Major Incident. Now a distant memory, the airfield has returned to normal and its business as usual for RAF Waddington.
Photograph:
Exercise Silver Siren.
RAF/MOD Crown Copyright 2013