Did you spot a military helicopter flying over Huddersfield on Thursday night?
It was part of a huge emergency services exercise to test how organisations respond to a major incident — in this case a mock dam breach at Dovestone Reservoir in Greenfield.
Exercise Triton II was the biggest live exercise ever held in the Greater Manchester region, putting emergency services to the test, with police, firefighters and paramedics working with 33 ‘partner agencies’ including local councils and military search and rescue teams.
Crews were tasked with rescuing people from mass flooding around Hollingworth Lake and dealing with the aftermath of the dam breach, including building a dam.
James Bray shared a video of a Chinook helicopter flying above Outlane during the huge training exercise.
Residents in Oldham and Rochdale were warned that there would be air activity from 10am-10pm on Thursday, the MEN reported.
Teams successfully rescued people from the water and woodlands, with underwater search teams put to work, while the army worked with Electricty North West and successfully built a dam and secured power to 200,000 people during the staged operation.
People played ‘casualties’ in the all-day exercise, and away from Hollingworth, other agencies took part in emergency planning exercises.
