An injured driver and his passengers were trapped in a car after it ploughed into the side of a building. Another casualty is trapped under the vehicle and there are multiple others injured.

That is the scene which Dartford’s firefighters and ambulance crews were confronted with at a joint training day.

Jointly-led by Kent Fire and Rescue Service and South East Coast Ambulance (SECAmb) the exercise at the Watling Street fire station included a simulated collision, and a number of mock casualties.

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The 'injured' were played by students from North Kent College in the town.

KFRS crew manager, Jody Morgan, said: "The collision scenario deliberately replicated the conditions crews might face during an incident of this type, where it’s essential that we work closely with our blue light emergency service colleagues.

"We’re called to a wide range of challenging incidents and have to work under pressure, often in confined and difficult working spaces.

"But our job is about saving lives and achieving the best possible outcome for those trapped or injured as quickly and effectively as possible and this simulated crash provided an excellent opportunity for both teams to test our response, incident command, casualty handling and time critical care skills."

The fire and ambulance crews worked for around an hour helping release and treat the casualties using the latest hydraulic cutting equipment steel cutters, forceable entry tools and to pierce through all barriers and airbags that can lift a car or lorry to rescue someone trapped underneath

SECAmb focused on the care provided by, and support given to, its highly trained Critical Care Paramedics (CCP).

SECAmb’s CCP practice lead Jim Walmsley added: "Training such as this is invaluable. It provides our crews with the opportunity to train and learn alongside our fire service colleagues in an environment which is as close to the real thing as possible. Thankfully multi-casualty incidents such as this are, as a percentage of our total work, very rare, so training such as this is vital. We will take forward any learning points to ensure our patients benefit from the highest possible standards of care."