Last week, the Office of Civil Contingencies and the Airport Fire & Rescue Service (AFRS) jointly organised and delivered a multi-agency tabletop exercise (TTX) to test Gibraltar’s response to a major air emergency incident. 

Held at the Gibraltar International Airport Terminal, the exercise focused on the Operational and Tactical levels of command. The exercise was preceded by briefings from the Civil Contingencies Coordinator on major incident procedures and a combined presentation from RAF Gibraltar and AFRS on the Gibraltar Aerodrome Emergency Orders. Pre-exercise briefings also included a presentation on accident investigation by the Senior Inspector of Air Accidents from the UK’s Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB). 

The air accident scenario practiced the emergency response and joint working arrangements of all responding agencies. Operations included fire and hazards management, casualty management, scene management, aircraft post-crash management procedures as well as wider consequence management. 

Over 50 personnel from across the Emergency Services and other responding agencies took part in the exercise. This included representatives from HM Government of Gibraltar, Royal Gibraltar Police, Gibraltar Fire & Rescue Service, Airport Fire & Rescue Service, Gibraltar Health Authority and Gibraltar Ambulance Service, HM Customs, Borders and Coastguard Agency, Gibraltar International Airport, Directorate of Civil Authority, Gibraltar Port Authority, Environmental Agency, Ministry of Environment, Gibraltar Sports & Leisure Authority, Gibraltar Bus Company, Gibair, NATS, Headquarters British Forces Gibraltar, RAF Gibraltar, Gibraltar Defence Police, Royal Gibraltar Regiment, Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. 

The Minister responsible for Civil Contingencies, the Hon Leslie Bruzon MP, said: “It is important that all of Gibraltar’s Emergency Services and other responding agencies are best prepared to respond to any foreseeable emergency. This includes being prepared to respond to an air emergency incident where our top priority will always be to work together to save lives and prevent further harm. Effective interoperability is key here and I recognise the great work that the Office of Civil Contingencies, led by Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Ivor Lopez, is doing is by bringing together all the different agencies as part of our emergency preparedness. I am again very grateful to the Civil Contingencies Coordinator and the Airport Fire & Rescue Service for having jointly planned and conducted such a challenging exercise. As part of the training progression, I look forward to the first quarter of 2025 which will see all responder organisations, at every level of command (Strategic, Tactical and Operational), taking part in a live exercise (LIVEX) which will test our real-time response to an air accident."