WILTSHIRE’S Fire and Rescue Service is ready and prepared to tackle any eventuality at the Olympics.

The service will provide back-up, known as mutual aid, to Dorset, where sailing, yachting, wind surfing and other water sports are being held in Weymouth.

A mobile mass decontamination unit and portable changing rooms held in Swindon will also be ready if needed.

And the service has already taken part in a large-scale exercise with colleagues from Dorset Fire and Rescue Service.

Ian Jeary, area manager for Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “We are part of the mutual aid for Weymouth and while there are no plans to send anybody there on a day-to-day basis, we will be ready if needed.

“The exercise we held there earlier this year was a response to a large scale incident as part of the planning for the Games. Part of the exercise involved testing our convoy procedures from Swindon with Wiltshire Police, as we will be part of multi-agency response.”

A mass-decontamination unit, which can treat 200 people an hour, is based at Westlea fire station, while a ‘de-robing’ unit is held at Cricklade. There is a ‘robing’ unit in Warminster.

In the event of an accident or terrorist attack people in the area will be able to get changed and use walk-through shower, with everybody given some level of decontamination.

Mr Jeary said: “The fire service's role in a mass decontamination will be to work in the hot zone to prevent the situation getting any worse and stop any leaks or spills.

“Secondly we would try and detect, identify and monitor any chemicals and try and find out what they are. After that we would assist the ambulance service in decontaminating members of the public.

“We need to be prepared for any eventuality, whether that's an industrial incident or terrorist or criminal activity.

“We would be working with Dorset Fire and Rescue Service if they had an incident at Weymouth. We would also work with our partners across the country if there was an incident of this nature. We are part of the national resilience framework along with every other fire and rescue service.

“If a traumatic, large-scale incident did take place we would need other services to help us, as it could involve potentially hundreds of people and need to be dealt with on a large logistical scale.”

The mass decontamination facilities were introduce to Britain in 2003 to deal with the aftermath of biological, chemical or nuclear attacks. The vehicles – which can transport the large tents used as dressing and undressing units – cost £150,000 and weigh 26 tons.

The Government spent £56m rolling out 80 of the units across England and Wales.