Urban search-and-rescue personnel from the London Fire Brigade responding to July's string of terrorist bombings in London relied on training they received at the Texas Engineering Extension Service's Disaster City, according to TEEX.

TEEX, a part of the Texas A&M University System, has trained 178 urban search-and-rescue specialists from the London Fire Brigade at Disaster City in a partnership that dates back to June 2003. Fourteen classes have been conducted at Disaster City for 652 search-and-rescue specialists from throughout the United Kingdom, with other responders frequently attending classes in College Station, said Jason Cook, TEEX communications director.

Members of the London Fire Bridage each spent two weeks at Disaster City for the 80-hour course, which included hands-on training sessions in heavy rescue (internal and external shoring, lifting and moving, breaching and breaking), structural collapse, structural engineering systems and technical search.

“We had taken the view that it was ‘when’ rather than ‘if’ and had a high level of training in place, including a number of our firefighters trained at Texas A&M for terrorist, anti-terrorist activities and building collapse,” said London Fire Brigade Commissioner Ken Knight in a CNN interview. “We had taken new equipment and prepared ourselves sadly for this day, and this day was the reality of that training. And firefighters throughout London came through it well.”

Disaster City is a 52-acre training facility designed to deliver the full array of skills and techniques needed by urban search and rescue professionals. The facility features full-size collapsible structures that replicate community infrastructure, including a strip mall, office building, industrial complex, assembly hall/theater, single family dwelling, train derailment and three rubble piles.

The TEEX-London Fire Brigade partnership is a result of the United Kingdom's New Dimension Programme, the most ambitious fire and rescue program ever undertaken by the country.