London fire chief: Chemical suicide attack 'huge concern

Britain's most senior fire chief has warned that the potential for a terrorist chemical attack in the country is a "huge concern".

Dany Cotton, recently appointed first female commissioner of London Fire Brigade, said she would be increasing the number of chemical attack practice drills carried out by her crews,The Telegraph reported on Saturday.

She also suggested the public needed more education about what to do in the event of an attack.

Her comments came just days after the security minister warned Daesh terrorists wanted to use chemical weapons in a mass casualty attack against Britain.

Ben Wallace said: “They have no moral objection to using chemical weapons against populations and if they could, they would in this country.”

Daesh fighters have been accused of repeatedly using chemical weapons on the front line in Iraq and Syria and one leading expert in the field said they were becoming “the norm” for the group.

Cotton said: “I think the chemical attack is a really big threat because its an unseen one, it’s something you do with a relatively small amount of chemical if you can find the means to disperse it."

She said in the event of such an attack, the public would need to make sure they did not inadvertently spread deadly chemicals.

She said: "The natural reaction would be if something happens to run away and go somewhere else. But that just spreads it, which is what the terrorist wants. It’s very important that people stay contained and allow the emergency services to help them and out and to deal with the situation.”

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former Army officer and chemical warfare expert, said such an attack may not kill many people, but would have a huge psychological impact. He said an attack need not use military grade chemical weapons, but could involve industrially available gases such as chlorine.

He said: “One of the challenges for Daesh in this country is that actually doing an active shooter attack like in Paris is very difficult because they can’t get guns.

“For Daesh that’s the preferred modus operandi and it’s not going to happen in this country. That’s why why they are keen to focus on asymmetric attacks, like chemical attacks".

Source: MENA