You may see lots of smoke and emergency service vehicles, but fire crews have warned it's nothing to worry about.
Over 75 emergency personnel and over a dozen emergency service vehicles are set to be in the Bletchley area from 11am today, but Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue have said it is nothing to fear...
A large-scale emergency service training day is set to take place at Mellish Court, in Bletchley, Milton Keynes.
Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue have explained on Facebook: "Today’s exercise is enabling our firefighters, police officers, paramedics and Council colleagues to test out their joint response to an emergency situation in a multi-storey high-rise residential tower block.
"Training exercises are regularly performed by your emergency services, but today’s is a bit special as we are able to practice in a real-life environment.
"Hopefully this will reassure Thames Valley residents, who live in high-rise accommodation, that your emergency services and local authority partners train for all eventualities."
Exercises like this play a key role in emergency preparedness for local services.
They can gain vital skills in learning, practicing and delivering lifesaving procedures across the area during these practice runs.
Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue say: "The evacuation will not involve actual residents (the building is not currently occupied) – role players have “moved in” for the day, and firefighters will be under instruction to start an evacuation process using actual incident conditions.
"The artificial smoke and casualty make-up will help simulate more realistic conditions."
Jason Naylor, BFRS Station Commander Operational Assurance, who has led the planning and preparation for this large-scale exercise said: “We were presented with the opportunity to exercise at the empty 18-storey Mellish Court by the owners, Milton Keynes Council, before the building is demolished later this year.
“Being purpose-built as a multi-occupancy residential property, this offered us and our partners a fabulous opportunity to put our operational incident command and response tactics, for this type of building, to the test in a true-life environment.”
Mellish Court was built in 1965 and consists of 136 flats, spread over 18 floors.
Last year, residents of Mellish Court were relocated to new homes by MK Council after assessments showed the 60 year old blocks did not meet modern fire safety standards.
Buildings of this size and type do not present themselves often for fire training exercises and the Council say they are proud to be supporting Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Services and further afield fire crews as they use both sites for fire safety training.
The council will progress with replacing the tower blocks over the next few years and eventually build new council homes.
You can find out more about the exercise taking place today here.
READ MORE : Milton Keynes tower blocks now empty as council relocates almost 200 households
