Southend Airport Incident

Justin Nicholson, Head of Airside Operations / Fire Service Manager at Southend Airport, spoke to the delegation on the operational response to the aircraft crash that occurred in 2025. Justin gave a full overview of the response, including the lead up to the accident, the RFFS category 6 response and scene upon arrival. He explained the category requirements of the airport and how they vastly exceeded the stipulated quantity of water required to fully extinguish the fire. He detailed the incident command structure throughout the incident and the roles and responsibilities involved for the scale of the incident. The challenges of the incident were insightful, from the length of time it took to extinguish the grass fire so they could access the aircraft fully, the water supply issues, the location of the casualties, post fire security, specifically the foam draining quickly into the surrounding ground. Justin covered the aspects of the incident that worked well, these included, The initial response – 48 seconds to the incident, Firefighting Tactics and Techniques, JESIP and the collaboration with Essex Fire Service, Handover to various agencies including the AAIB. He then gave an honest overview of what they learned from the incident, Welfare/Counselling being one of the most important lessons, not just for the responding crews but for the wider airport, who had interacted with the aircraft crew that day.