Civil Defence volunteers coordinated a major evacuation of Peel yesterday evening (September 8) as part of a training exercise. Arriving for their regular weekly training session, volunteers were advised there had been an incident in the vicinity of Peel Power Station/Total Storage Depot area. The training exercise scenario necessitated the ‘evacuation’ of people from their homes in Close Chairn. There were a number of casualties and three deaths in the exercise. Thirty members of the public assisted in the exercise by playing the part of evacuees. No residents were required to leave their homes. Team Leader, Civil Defence volunteer Joyce Kermeen, explained: ‘The purpose of this exercise is to enable Civil Defence to set up a rest centre following an evacuation for whatever reason. Thirty volunteers were involved and the main objective was to check mobilisation of volunteers, transport facilities for both equipment and people, providing a place of safety looking after the needs of displaced people. It exercised correct record keeping for both Casualty Bureau and decision making plus provision of first aid and ‘dealing with difficult people’. ‘We are very grateful to members of the public who turned up to assist us in the exercise – it would be impossible to achieve the necessary degree of realism without them giving their time.’ The exercise started at 7pm and concluded at 9pm. Volunteer evacuees were transported to St John’s where the rest centre was set up for the duration of the exercise. Assistant Emergency Planning Officer Ian Young said: ‘The exercise went well and was very realistic down to the fact that there were complaints about the noise level in the designated rest centre that Civil Defence volunteers had to contend with. ‘Learning points were identified including how police officers, who kindly attended and participated in the exercise, would deal with a death in the rest centre, which happened in this scenario.’ ENDS