Emergency Evacuation - Gateshead Council

The Client

Gateshead Council is the local government authority for the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear. The council is made up of 22 electoral wards, they also own and are responsible for the day-to-day management of nearly 20,000 homes.  

The Challenge

Residents of a ten-storey high rise in Gateshead were immediately evacuated amid a very complex fire across the 160-flat building in 2018.

The local Civic Centre served as an immediate safe zone for terrified families to congregate as firefighters tackled the blaze until temporary accommodation was arranged.

Eight fire engines spent almost 24 hours battling the blaze, with support from an incident command unit, however residents were unable to return to their homes until the following week.

Amid the disruption, CMAC was called upon to safely transport and provide temporary accommodation for the evacuated residents.

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The Solution

Responding rapidly to the call from Gateshead Council, CMAC called upon its established network of transport and accommodation suppliers to provide a suitable emergency relocation strategy in under 20 minutes.

CMACs experienced team quickly secured appropriate hotel rooms for all the affected residents, under one roof, within a six-mile radius of the incident before arranging taxis to transport each household to their temporary accommodation whilst firefighters continued to tackle the blaze.

Alongside arranging safe and reliable crisis transport and accommodation, CMAC organised hot meals for the distressed residents of 138 council-owned homes who could not return to their residences until it was deemed safe the following week.

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