RAF ALCONBURY, England -- Firefighters from the 423rd Civil Engineer Squadron’s Fire and Emergency Services (CES F&ES) flight joined forces with Mid Anglia General Practitioner Accident Service (Magpas) Air Ambulance critical care paramedics and doctors Aug. 28 for a day of high-intensity emergency response training.
The joint exercises tested crews on multiple scenarios including a vehicle extrication and a simulated house fire with burn victims. The training was designed to strengthen cooperation between 423rd CES F&ES firefighters and community emergency responders based just a quarter-mile from RAF Alconbury.
“The point of today is to do joint training with Magpas, which is the local air ambulance,” said Andy Hughes, training captain for the fire department. “It’s to work as a team, integrating our firefighters and EMTs with their critical care paramedics and doctors so there’s a better understanding on both sides of what our capabilities are.”
Magpas Air Ambulance, a charity founded more than 60 years ago, provides advanced pre-hospital care across the region. Their crews often respond to emergencies in partnership with local agencies, and have assisted on RAF Alconbury before.
“This is effectively the jewel in the crown of a weeklong course,” said Dr. Lee Soomaroo, consultant in emergency and pre-hospital medicine with Magpas. “We’ve trained our doctors and paramedics in critical care, advanced life support, pediatrics and obstetrics. Today is about bringing it all together using on base facilities, running full-scale simulations to test them under pressure.”
Hughes explained that the installation’s fire department serves as the primary emergency responder on base, working closely with outside partners when additional support is needed. “We’ve had Magpas on base before for cardiac arrest and breathing difficulties,” he said. “It’s important to have that understanding of capability and coordination if we need support from each other.”
For the firefighters, many of whom hold emergency medical responder or EMT qualifications, the training offered a chance to assist in advanced medical scenarios. For the Magpas trainees, it was an opportunity to experience how 423rd CES F&ES firefighters operate while testing their own skills.
“A lot of it is muscle memory,” Soomaroo said. “By drilling regularly, you free up mental bandwidth for the complexities that every patient brings. That’s what makes response safer and more effective.”
Both leaders said the collaboration benefits not just the installation, but the wider community. “It’s definitely a win-win,” Hughes said. “Our firefighters can take these skills back into the community, and Magpas gets to see how we operate. It makes us all stronger.”