New Zealand Fire Service, along with NZ Police, Wellington Free Ambulance, Hutt Valley Rescue, Lower Hutt City Council Civil Defence, Toll Rail, and Upper Hutt Community Rescue were involved with 'Exercise Tunnel' conducted at the Rimutaka Rail Tunnel, Maymourn Upper Hutt on Sun 25 May 08.

The NZFS had a mixture of Paid Staff and Volunteers from Kilbernie Fire Service Training Centre, Rimutaka Fire Station, Trentham Fire Station, selected Directing Staff (DS) from Hutt Valley Fire Stations and the Hutt Valley Fire Police Unit. The Incident Control Commander for the NZFS was CFO Peter Bean.

The scenario was a train derailment in a Rail Tunnel. The derailment was approx 400m from the tunnel entry. The 30 exercise casualties were managers and administrators employed by Toll NZ. The first responding rescue crew to enter the tunnel was the crew from Rimutaka Fire Station, assisted by Toll NZ staff. Standby BA crew were the Trentham Volunteer firefighters. Casualty & passenger exit from the tunnel was controlled by NZ Police. NZFS rescue staff entering and exiting the tunnel were controlled by the Entry Control firefighter.

The exercise commenced at 1130hrs and was called off at approximately 1500hrs due to the tunnel gas regulator alarm being activated. All emergency service personell and the two 'injured' passengers working in the tunnel were immediately pulled out and the exercise was called off for safety reasons.

The Hutt Valley Fire Police Unit's involvement with the exercise was that of providing a canteen service, consisting of hot drinks and biscuits for all exercise personnel, as well as organising and dispatching lunch to all NZFS Exercise & Directing Staff personnel. Lunch rations were purchased and supplied from Upper Hutt Pak 'N' Save. The crew was made up of - SFP Campbell (OIC), SFP Robinson (2IC), FP’s Morton, Key and Roberts.

Due to the 'No Duff' situation there was no exercise debrief as such and all exercise participants were dismissed from the exercise area at approx 1530hrs.

Above Left: Rimutaka 4926's towed Generator/Lighting Plant at the incident. RIMU4926 can be seen in the background. The trailer also serves as a means to move a large number of highway-grade Road Cones around with relative ease.
Above Right: Refreshments, Hutt Valley Fire Police Style. Our vehicles carry a selection of biscuits as well as the means to provide both hot and cold drinks on demand. The collapsable trestle table is a recent acquisition which is already proving its worth.
Images kindly supplied by fhoneman.co.nz.

Above Left: RIMU4928 (with 4926) in the background.
Above Right: OnTrack (responsible for Rail Lines Maintenance) have special vehicles equipped to roll on railway lines. Here one is being utilised by Fire crews who will ride this vehicle into the rail tunnel to assist with the rescue.
Images by FP Bruce Key.
Article Text by FP Morton and SFP Robinson.