A YEAR on from the surreal, harrowing scenes Roy Barraclough was confronted with as one of the first firefighters at the Shoreham Airshow disaster, he can still remember aspects of it vividly.

The station commander for Worthing and Lancing was at the show when he looked up and saw the fireball and smoke from the Hawker Hunter jet that plunged on to the A27.

As he raced towards the scene little could have prepared him mentally for the carnage that claimed 11 lives.

Mr Barraclough told The Argus: "It's still absolutely crystal clear in my mind, being thrust into that event. I can remember extraordinary detail and things I said or did. There is incredible detail but at other points you are in sensory overload. Some of it may have been blocked out."

The 55-year-old said: "It was like a bomb scene.

"To see the road very quiet and smoke-filled on a bright sunny day was strange. The smell of aviation fuel was in the air and there were pockets of fire."

Still a serving firefighter, Mr Barraclough said: "Many people in the emergency services have struggled with the consequences of what they dealt with that day, and continue to get help to deal with it.

"Some people felt they didn't get as involved as they should have. We have had many counsellors coming in. I don't know if it's guilt or not; there was a feeling of helplessness, of, 'Could we have done more?' But no, we couldn't."

Every time Terry Alexander drives past on the A27 she experiences a moment of unease and sadness.

The 43-year-old from Hastings was volunteering as a Red Cross ambulance worker on the day.

She said: “I go that way quite often and each time there is always a flicker.  I think of all the families who lost someone that day and just remember the horror of the whole thing.”

She said: “We were waiting for our lunch to arrive when we realised the puff of smoke we could see was more serious than we first thought.

“Then there was an explosion and even more smoke and we thought, “oh goodness, this is going to be really serious.”

Ms Alexander’s ambulance was about to be sent to the crash site when they were alerted to Thomas Millner, 23, from Worthing, who had been badly burned in the crash and was looking for help.

She said: “When we got to him, he was sat on a chair and people were pouring water over him. He had quite severe burns that were bad enough to need hospital treatment but obviously with all the crowds that was likely to be an issue.

“We helped him as much as we could and he was really brave. “We took him back to our main treatment post, where he could be given extra care and support until he could be taken to hospital.

“He has recovered well since then.”

Ms Alexander eventually left the ground at about 10.30pm after spending time with the Red Cross volunteers, who had all worked together as a team all day.

She said: “We needed to support each other and get some comfort from our shared experiences.

“I think I have managed to get through the last year. Obviously this was the biggest thing I have ever been involved in and the first year anniversary brings a lot of it back.

“I was covering Airbourne at Eastbourne just recently when the news about a crash at the Herne Bay show.

“Nobody had been killed but I did get quite emotional when I heard. Obviously things were much closer to the surface than I realised.

“If there is one thing that has come out of this is that it has strengthened my desire to keep working as a Red Cross volunteer, keep up my skill levels and make sure I am always able to help other people when they need it.”

Steve Whitton, Sussex Police acting assistant chief constable and West Sussex divisional commander, gold commander for the Shoreham investigation, also still remembers the day clearly.

He said: "It was undoubtedly a hugely traumatic scene and huge devastation. Right from the start there was no doubt that the people at the forefront of everybody’s minds was the families and those people who have been through this tragic loss.

"I'm incredibly proud of how people have supported each other, how people have worked in incredibly difficult circumstances and right across the board in terms of both the emergency services and the wider community and one of the things that does stand out for me is the support from the community, the messages of support, the flowers, you know the cakes, everything, just huge support.

"I went to a community meeting soon afterwards to say thank you and that just shows that in some of the worst circumstances you can imagine we really do rally together and get through it and we will continue to move forward and continue to do all we can to support the family."