EMERGENCY services from across Greater Manchester came together to tackle a major fire — but all was not as it seemed.

Dozens of firefighters, paramedics, police officers and representatives from other organisations were called to the blaze in a six-storey building on Friday.

The incident was the latest exercise carried out at Bury’s new fire training centre.

It was aimed at testing the centre and also how well the fire service and other agencies work during major incidents and what they can learn from it.

Crews gathered at Bury Fire Station before they were sent on to the training centre.

Once there they found the building well ablaze and a number of casualties inside.

About 15 fire engines were involved in the exercise, including a crew from Farnworth.

Firefighters then set about tackling the fire and also rescuing the people inside.

Volunteers played the role of people living in the tower, including some who were homeless and others who did not speak English.

To challenge the firefighters and help prepare them for that kind of situation, some people refused to leave the building and police had to help get them out.

Cries for help were heard as the volunteers threw themselves into their roles. Numerous casualties required treatment as paramedics and firefighters came to their aid.

Police also had to set up a cordon around the scene to try to keep people away.

Firefighters were urged at a briefing to treat the situation as if it was real. Specialist equipment was also tested, including an aerial appliance to rescue people from the top of the burning building.

A drone was also used to catch footage from the air of the blaze.

The training event took extra prominence in the wake of the Grenfell fire disaster, but had been scheduled before the tragedy happened in June last year.

Fire and rescue service group manager, Dean Nankivell, was one of the organisers of the event. He said: “It has been outstanding. The response has been good. It is good to see it working so well.”

The exercise took several hours on Friday and all the real-life elements of a major fire were put in place. There were command centres and even welfare support on hand for firefighters who might need it.

Senior fire officers even got the chance to test their abilities in dealing with the media at a major incident.

The Bury fire training centre opened last year and is one of the most advanced in Europe.

It is used to train firefighters from across the region and offers a variety of real life scenarios, including for dealing with a plane crash.