Police, fire and ambulance training exercise shuts part of Belfast city centre

A training exercise for the emergency services has closed of part of Belfast city centre.

Queens Quay, which runs close to the SSE Arena, has been sealed off so the PSNI, the Fire Service, paramedics, the Coastguard and Belfast Harbour Police can test how well they’d work together in a major incident.

placeholder image — The PSNI are among several emergency services taking part in the exercise.

The simulated emergency in the city’s Harbour Estate is to check the combined “preparedness, response and collaborative working” of the bodies.

It began at 8pm and runs until 11pm, and means Queen’s Quay from the front of the SSE Arena will be closed from its roundabout. A car park in the area will remain open and can be accessed from either side of the closure.

A spokeswoman for the PSNI said the exercise has been “a number of months in the planning”. A statement from the Coastguard said: “We would like to reassure the public that this is planned exercise and will not affect our normal service.”