Some of the biggest incidents fire and rescue crews have attended in Berkshire over the last six years have been revealed.

Recently, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) filed a freedom of information request to Berkshire’s fire and rescue service asking it how many terror and bomb disposal incidents it has attended since 2017.

The Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) has now responded with the information requested.

Fire and rescue crews attended two incidents where bombs were suspected.

Although one of the incidents is unknown, rescue crews were dispatched to reports of an explosive device being found in the men’s toilets at The Oracle shopping centre in Reading.

The device turned out to be harmless, and was later found to be planted by a shopping centre staff member called Sergio Costa “who wanted to be a hero.”

The Oracle bomb hoax occurred over a day on June 12, 2018.

Costa, of Elm Park Road, Reading was sentenced to two years in prison in October that year.

Both of these incidents happened in 2018 and were categorised ‘public order – bomb suspected’ with the code P2.1.0.P.

More recently, rescue crews attended the horrific Forbury Gardens terror attack in Reading, where knifeman Khairi Saadallah murdered three men.

The attack occurred on June 20, 2020, with Saadallah being sentenced to life in prison in January last year.

The incident is categorised as a Marauding Terrorist Attack (MTA) with the code P6.1.0.P.

READ MORE: How the Reading terror attack unfolded 

Therefore the RBFRS has attended three terror and bomb disposal incidents in Berkshire since 2017.

The LDRS was prompted to find out the information after covering a meeting of Bracknell Forest Council’s overview and scrutiny committee.

During the meeting members discussed firefighter crew readiness to deal with terror incidents.

The LDRS also asked the RBFRS how many large-scale incidents the crew from Bracknell fire station has attended between 2017-2022.

While the RBFRS does not categorise incidents by size, it does have a record of incidents which involved 10 or more pumps (including over-the-border pumps) in Berkshire only.

You can see the figures here:

Examples of a major incident attended would include the Maidenhead Club fire in 2019, when a fire started in the former Roma nightclub in Queen Street.

Crews were called to the club fire on March 12, 2019, with it being reported at 11.59pm the previous day.

A tragedy involving rescue crews could have occurred when Gufran Ahmed, 27, and Noor Fatima, 24, both from Slough, both plotted to set fire to the Empire Cinema at the Queensmere Shopping Centre in December 2019.

Luckily, the cinema was evacuated when guests began to smell petrol.

Ahmed was sentenced to eight years and nine months imprisonment and Fatima was sentenced to nine years imprisonment this March.

The Bracknell Forest Council overview and scrutiny committee meeting took place on Thursday, March 16.

READ MORE: Question raised over firefighter readiness to deal with terrorism

Members discussed the RBFRS draft Community Risk Management Plan 2023-2027.

The service held a public consultation on the draft which ended on March 27.

Councillor Paul Gittings (Labour, Southcote), the chairman of the Royal Berkshire fire authority said The Community Risk Management Plan is due to be adopted at a fire authority meeting on April 27.