RESCUE teams from around the region will rehearse their response to an aircraft crash in Hereford next week.

The one day 'multi-agency emergency response exercise' takes place on the Rotherwas Industrial Estate, near Chapel Road, next Wednesday and will rehearse the region’s civil and military response to an aircraft collision.

The simulation will include smoke, so businesses and residents are asked not to be alarmed. 

The agencies participating in the exercise will be Herefordshire Council, West Midlands Ambulance Service, West Mercia Police, Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service, RAF Cosford and the Environment Agency.

The purpose of the exercise is to challenge the responding agencies and test the processes where civil and military agencies across the West Midlands work together to resolve a major incident.

The exercise will enable the regional agencies to build relationships and further develop emergency response skills.

Following the process, each participating organisation will identify areas of strength and improvement which will then feed into future emergency resilience planning.

Businesses and residents will be unaffected by the exercise and will be directly informed prior to the event.