A 999 hero has said an exercise on the River Clyde has proven how well the city's emergency services work together.
Steve Muldoon, who is a senior coastal operations officer for HM Coastguard (West Central Scotland area), was part of a multi-agency training exercise on Wednesday which took place on the Albert Bridge in the city centre and in the River Clyde.
Speaking to the Glasgow Times, Steven said: "Today has shown how well (the emergency services) all work together.
"Right from the planning stage back in November up to this morning, everything has gone incredibly well and everyone on the ground has worked extremely well together. It has been absolutely brilliant."
The exercise, which was led by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) saw more than 100 personnel from Police Scotland, the Scottish Ambulance Service, HM Coastguard, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, and the Glasgow Humane Society take part in fake 'emergency' situations in a bid to practice multi-agency responses, and sharpen collaborative skills.
Several scenarios were set up on the bridge and in the water after the action-packed morning kicked off around 9am.
Scenarios such as a road collision and a crashed bus in the water saw lifeboats and HM Coastguards working to get 'casualties' out of the bus and water and to safety, while the fire service hooked the bus up to a crane and lifted it out the water.
We also saw ambulance, fire and police crews working together on the 'crash', where 'casualties' were taken away on stretchers and 'treated'. The car doors were also cut to lift fake casualties to safety.
The casualties were played by medical students from the University of Glasgow School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Nursing - and some went all out with fake blood and life-like prosthetics.
A HM Coastguard Rescue helicopter was even spotted flying overhead and observing the scene, and 999 crews were seen gathered in a large circle to discuss their emergency strategy.
Speaking on how 'important' today's exercise was, Scott McIntosh, watch commander for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, said: "The importance for us as emergency services is the inter-agency working. Today, we are testing out our standard operating procedures, communications and control.
"This exercise today sees whether we are able to conform to the standards that are set for us."
Scott added that parts of the day were particularly challenging, such as the bus scenario.
He explained: "The challenge was, with the mini bus going in the water, we were fighting against Mother Nature.
"We could change a lot of things today but we couldn't change what the tide was going to do - so, that was the big part of today that was time-bound and we were under a wee bit of pressure."
Constable Helen Dobie from Police Scotland, who works in emergency planning for the force, said that she was incredibly proud of how everyone came together today, having been one of the main planners for today's exercise.
She added: "It has been a great opportunity for Police Scotland to be involved in such a large- scale exercise that has brought a lot of realism to what emergency services are faced with on a day-to-day basis and today has given them a chance to practice the crucial skills that we learn as part of our day jobs."
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