A MAJOR incident was declared when a train derailed leaving six people dead and many injured.

This was just what the emergency services needed to brush up their skills and help retained firefighters practice.

When you arrived at the quiet heritage railway you feel you have been taken back in time to an extent. However, in just a few minutes blue lights were flashing and organised chaos descended on the area.

The training exercise was a great place for the retain firefighters to learn how to handle a major incident, Michael Dowding a on-call firefighter bced in Appleby said: "It was a great night and to see everyone coming together is great. It has been hard work but I think it has been really import to do this type of training."

Smoke billowed out from train carriages and the injured were scattered on the floors and in the seats.

Some of the bodies that were included Jade Pearson Who is a member of Appleby young farmers gave up her time to be an injured passenger she said: "When the train filled with smoke it was really scary. I has a pelvis injury so they has to do a lot of different thing to be able to get me off safely. It was great to see all the work they have to do."

But as the first crew of firefighters arrived they quickly got to work making contact and accessing the area.

On Tuesday night, for the first time in 18 months ,each service had teams taking part from, North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), Cumbria Police, British Transport Police and Network Rail carried out a scenario where three carriages derailed on an embankment with multiple casualties.

As an emergency service, they need to plan and prepare for large multi-agency incidents – which are fortunately infrequent in Cumbria – but they have the potential to challenge staff and resources.

By planning and training through realistic exercises, the ability to respond to these events can be accessed and how effectively they work with partner agencies, helping to identify any areas where improvements may be needed.

The exercise was carefully monitored by the Service Operational Assurance team and highlight the importance of on-call firefighters who balance the role of firefighter with their regular employment and families to respond and protect their local communities.

After the successful rescue and only a few dolls dying in the event it was hailed a success and one of the key organisers Sue De Lima, Watch manager for On Call support team said: “On call teams are sometimes left behind, they only train for two hours a week but when the alert goes they drop everything and run. The service recognise they need a little more support so they put this team together and it has worked really really well.

“Part of our role is to organise exercises to plan and prepare for emergencies.

“You’ve got to prepare, 2007 we had Grayrigg, and that was horrendous so you have to plan and prepare.

“The most important thing I wanted from this exercise is that multi agency side, It’s easy to organise and exercise but to get everyone here it’s brilliant. It’s so much better if you meet each other for the first time, you’ve worked together prior to the big incident it makes a difference.”

Also at the training was NWAS senior paramedic Dominic Gething he said: "It's really important from our point of view to put the pressure on and know they will be able to handle it. Every minute we're not able to get on to the train could mean life or death.

"We're here to save lives and we need access.

"It's good to do days like this as it will highlight any areas that need to be worked on and what we did right."

Working alongside everyone was Cumbria police, who were handed the two people believed to have caused the incident, Sergeant Amanda McKirdy said: "It's really important that we all work together, in this situation British Transport Police would take the lead.

"This training is vital and is helps all of learn how to deal with it."

Station manager for Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service Mike Clusker said: "As a fire and rescue service we like to train and prepare, it's been a difficult year.

"It's was really great to see all the volunteers and the young farmers they have done a really good job.

"It's vital all agencies train together.

"We can build relationships and understand better how we all work together in this type of situation."