THE manager of Chester nightclub Rosies has explained how the venue was able to work with the emergency services on such a large-scale city centre exercise.

Police, fire, ambulance and council teams all took part in the exercise, which saw emergency teams 'rescue casualties' (in reality actors wearing make-up depicting injuries) from the popular Northgate Street club, normally a hit with students.

 

The emergency exercise at Rosies nightclub, Northgate Street, Chester. Picture: CFRS.

The emergency exercise at Rosies nightclub, Northgate Street, Chester. Picture: CFRS.

 

For the emergency teams, it was a rare chance to harness their skills in a realistic setting, while for the nightclub itself, it was a chance to practise emergency procedures and ensure staff are prepared for the worst-case scenario.

Speaking exclusively to the Standard, Rosies manager Chris Cunliffe explained how the exercise on Monday, May 9 came about.

 

The emergency exercise at Rosies nightclub, Northgate Street, Chester. Picture: CFRS.

The emergency exercise at Rosies nightclub, Northgate Street, Chester. Picture: CFRS.

 

He said: "Obviously, we work with the services, on a week-to-week basis, we deal with the fire and the ambulance service and the police, and we just got chatting to them and asked them if they were interested in using the venue as an exercise site, because it's ideal for them and for us.

"What started up as a conversation of 'yeah, we'll bring a couple of guys and girls down and do an exercise' turned into this, which is when quite a big exercise and quite a big turn-out."

 

The emergency exercise at Rosies nightclub, Northgate Street, Chester. Picture: CFRS.

The emergency exercise at Rosies nightclub, Northgate Street, Chester. Picture: CFRS.

 

Explaining the importance of such an exercise for a historic city centre such as Chester, Mr Cunliffe said: "You've got to have a combined approach for this because the whole of Chester is wooden. So you know, if one goes up the whole place goes up. So it's imperative that the guys and girls get into these places and work out how they would fight a fire in here and stop it becoming quite calamitous around the city.

"We'd rather train hard, fight easier as the old saying is. Next time they come, if it is operational, they know the area a little bit better, they get the learnings out of it as we get the learnings out of it as well.

 

The emergency exercise at Rosies nightclub, Northgate Street, Chester. Picture: CFRS.

The emergency exercise at Rosies nightclub, Northgate Street, Chester. Picture: CFRS.

 

"It's probably the first time I would think, in a long time that I saw all of the multi agencies come together and work together. It's great for them to be able to actively do something. Not just in a training situation in a training room, but in an actual live building.

"So we've had our smoke machines running, we've had our disco lights going. We've thrown little curve balls in here and there that we've been nudged to do by the officers, just to test them as to how they'd react.

 

The dramatic emergency exercise at Rosies nightclub, Chester, on Monday.

The dramatic emergency exercise at Rosies nightclub, Chester, on Monday.

 

"I think the one main thing they've got out of this is they've worked so well, it's actually finished an hour earlier than they thought it was going to finish. They were just so good at getting into the place and dealing with it.

"And as well, because there's been a big incident in Helsby [Hill] as well, so they work around the fact that they've not got as many teams as they wanted. The teams that have gone in, have probably got to work twice, three times as hard to get the same results. And there's no damage in my venue as well, which is great!

 

The dramatic emergency exercise at Rosies nightclub, Chester, on Monday.

The dramatic emergency exercise at Rosies nightclub, Chester, on Monday.

 

"It's been a fantastic afternoon. It's been a really good day at work."