A Multi-Agency Live Exercise will be conducted on Wednesday 29th March in the new tunnel that will serve as the vehicular access road to and from the frontier with Spain.
Members of the public can expect an increased blue-light presence in the area, as well as the use of smoke machines within the tunnel. The PA system within the tunnel will be tested and will be audible to residents of the area. Messaging alerting of a 'fire in the tunnel ' will be audible and visible on signage along Devil’s Tower Road.
The Airport Tunnel Emergency Plan has been in development for a number of years. This LIVEX will practice and test the emergency response to an incident within the tunnel, in advance of its opening on 31st March. It follows a number of table-top exercises, the first of which were conducted in June 2022, that have tested the response plans to a variety of emergency scenarios within the vehicular tunnel and pedestrian subway.
The Minister for Civil Contingencies, the Hon Samantha Sacramento, said: ‘The new tunnel under the runway will become the main route for vehicular traffic to and from the frontier, Gibraltar International Airport and other important sites in the area, from one day to the next. It is vitally important that Gibraltar’s emergency responders, together with the tunnel’s Control Room are able to properly test the robust systems and plans that are already in place with regards to a number of potential emergency scenarios. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in the extensive preparatory work to ensure that these plans are comprehensive as possible.’
