1:11pm Friday 19th March 2010
RAF HIGH Wycombe was evacuated this morning and surrounding roads closed due to a bomb scare, which turned out to be false.
A 'suspect package' was discovered in the social bar area of the base in Naphill at about 11am – but it turned out to be a rucksack.
Bomb disposal experts from the Royal Logistics Corps and fire crews from High Wycombe and Beaconsfield were called to the scene, with a 100-metre cordon being placed around the base.
Police directed traffic away from the roads surrounding the RAF base.
Parents were also advised to collect children from nearby schools, although they were not evacuated.
Watch Manager Jon Franklin from High Wycombe fire station said: “On attendance I was informed by the on site fire service that there was an unknown package in their social bar.
“Exclusion zones were put in place by the on site procedural people from the fire service.
“Then I took command of the incident, liaised with the senior management of the site and really it was a waiting game.
“We put various things in place, we started a full evacuation of the area to include the school which backs onto the area.”
Bomb disposal specialists from RAF Northolt were called in.
Parents were advised to collect children from nearby schools, although they were not evacuated in the end.
Watch Manager Franklin said: “It's not our remit to deal with the package.
"All we were looking at is the protection securing the area and in the event of something happening.”
As soon as the bomb disposal specialists arrived the owner of the package turned up to claim it.
He spoke with the RAF and police who identified it was his rucksack at 12.15pm.
Watch Manager Franklin said: “They were happy it was just a rucksack so a lapse of concentration at the end of the day has caused a lot of upset on site, bearing in mind it's a sensitive site.
“The bottom line is it's not turned out to be anything and it's been dealt with properly.
"Undoubtedly he'll be spoken to by management on site.
“It does two things – it tests procedures which worked very well – inter-liason between site and ourselves was very good.
"Agencies worked very well together which is the key thing and we got it to a very quick close.”
He said the important message was not to leave packages anywhere.
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