Farnborough's emergency response unit was given an early test on Friday when one of its helicopters was called to a fire at nearby Farnborough Town football stadium.
The call to action arrived when one of the airfield's Helimed 65 helicopters noticed the fire while returning to the show site after a routine exercise. After putting a call through to the site's hi-tech emergency co-ordination facility, the helicopter returned to the football stadium.
The aircraft was manned by a doctor, paramedic and two firefighters, who stayed at the site of the fire until the Hampshire Fire Service arrived soon afterwards.
Fortunately the fire was not serious and was dealt with by the fire service within half an hour.
"I think that this incident is a great example of how quickly our emergency services can respond to any incident," says Tim Pettis, emergency services planning and health and safety manager at the show site. "The call was put quickly through our emergency response facility."
Source: Flight Daily News
