RRT Leicester Attend Hinckley Road Explosion Incident Site

On Sunday 25th February 2018, six fire engines were sent to a shop with two flats above it on the Hinckley Road in Leicester, after a large blast occurred at around 7pm. Police were sent in to cordon off the area, and quickly declared it a major incident, and a multi-agency response was implemented.

RRT Leicester were notified of this, and after offering our assistance to the emergency services, we were asked to attend. By 10.45pm the first RRT volunteers had arrived on site.

At 11:30pm we had established a marquee and began serving hot drinks to the emergency personnel. Temperatures were well below freezing level and the emergency crews were extremely grateful for the hot beverages that were being served. One police officer said “You guys are the real life-savers!”

We continued to serve the personnel throughout the night, and into the following morning. At 7am the team served bacon rolls to all the emergency services which by this time had grown to approximately 75 police, fire and search & rescue personnel on site working at the scene.
The incident commander requested that we remained on site for as long as possible, and the RRT agreed to continue serving food until the end of the day (Monday 26th).

At lunch, burgers were grilled on a barbecue and served to the remaining emergency services personnel on site. By this time it had started to snow heavily in the area and many of the crews were exhausted having worked at the scene through the night and all morning, so another warm meal was exactly what they needed.

Another policeman told us “This is the best day I’ve had at work. Never been fed like this before!”
After lunch, the team continued to serve hot beverages and snacks through to 5pm.