Monday 2 July 2007
10.50hrs
The Fire & Rescue Service National Co-ordination Centre
(FRSNCC) in West Yorkshire has requested the use of Avon Fire &
Rescue Service’s (AF&RS) High Volume Pump (HVP) to assist with
flood relief in Toll Bar, Doncaster. As a result, AF&RS
mobilised its HVP to help South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service
in its efforts.
The HVP was taken to South Yorkshire by firefighters from
Nailsea Fire Station, who have been on alert for such a call over
the last week. As a result, six firefighters and a senior fire
officer travelled to Toll Bar, Doncaster, to join teams from South
Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, alongside fire and rescue
service teams from across the country, to help in pumping
floodwater from affected areas.
The AF&RS team were called to help deal with approximately
10 square kilometres of urban environment flooded to about four
feet in depth. The crews worked for 18 hours pumping water away
from the residential area in Toll Bar to a Beck (small river
cutting) about two kilometres away, which feeds into the River
Don.
There are currently 24 HVPs from across the country in the Toll
Bar area and Avon’s appliance is expected to be needed until the
end of the week - when Avon crews will return to collect it.
Station Manager Steve Kendrick, who lead the team to South
Yorkshire, said: "During my time with the fire and rescue service I
have obviously seen many incidents of localised flooding, but never
to the vast scale of Toll Bar. With water rising to the sills of
ground floor windows and spread across numerous streets of homes,
it is difficult to describe just what the local people are facing
and the devastation the floodwaters have caused.
"In South Yorkshire it was a real team effort with services from
across the country co-ordinating efforts to help local people. What
really hit home was when an elderly lady approached us to offer her
sincere thanks, before stepping into a boat to collect what
belongings she had left from her flooded bungalow."
Fire Resilience and New Dimension Assistant Co-ordinator, Rob
Davis, from AF&RS’s Risk Planning Team is also helping the
flood relief effort and travelled to the FRSNCC in West Yorkshire
to provide support to colleagues who have been working tirelessly
over the last week. With co-ordination being lead by the FRSNCC, UK
fire and rescue crews and numerous other agencies have be able to
provide essential services around the clock. To date they have
dealt with more than 8,000 incidents and 3,000 rescues across the
UK.
Rob’s role doesn’t end here, as this morning he is travelling to
Humberside, where seven HVPs are being mobilised, to act as a
Tactical Advisor in the flood relief operation.
Chief Fire Officer / Chief Executive Kevin Pearson said: "Over
the last week we have been in close contact with our colleagues
across the country via the national FRSNCC in West Yorkshire and
the National Flood Support Centre team in Worcestershire regarding
the co-ordination of resources. As a result of the situation across
the UK, fire and rescue service teams, including our own at
Nailsea, have been on standby to assist areas worst affected by
flooding.
"At this stage we believe that our HVP will be required for a
number of days to help in the vital effort to pump flood waters
away from some of the worst affected areas in South Yorkshire.
Although the Met Office and Environment Agency are not forecasting
major flooding in the Avon area, we are confident that should high
volume pumping be required, we can call on the assistance from
South Wales Fire & Rescue Service’s HVP. Despite our HVP being
out of the Avon area, we remain covered by light portable pumps on
18 of our appliances on duty across Avon. Further to this we have
two Davey Micro Pumps in service should we need them.
"I’m extremely proud of the work our firefighters are carrying
out across the country in providing critical support in the flood
relief effort. In times of need the fire and rescue service pulls
together and once again this highlights the professionalism and
dedication our staff have to their role in protecting not just the
local community, but the community at large."
About AF&RS’s High Volume Pump (HVP)
AF&RS
received its High Volume Pump in September 2006 as part of the then
ODPM’s (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) £200 million New
Dimension Programme. HVPs have two functions - to provide high
quantities of water for firefighting purposes at large scale fires
and to disperse large amounts of floodwater. Each HVP is capable of
moving up to 7,000 litres of water per minute.
As a result of the New Dimension programme, 46 HVPs were
strategically positioned within fire and rescue services across the
country. The purpose of their location was so that they would be
geographically spread and could be mobilised within their ‘host’
fire and rescue service’s area, or to regional and national
incidents.
About the Flood Co-ordination Centre
As further
severe weather warnings were issued, the fire and rescue service
established a Flood Co-ordination Centre in Worcestershire to make
sure that the various resources around the UK were made available
to areas in most need.
The centre, which is operating on a 24-hour basis, is working
closely with the Environment Agency and members of the Public
Weather Services’ Advisory Team on strategic planning.
The National Flood Centre identifies water rescue resources
(both equipment and staff) from agencies such as the fire and
rescue service, RNLI, coastguard, military and mountain rescue from
around the country that are available to support affected
areas.
This intelligence is then matched to requests for assistance.
The Flood Co-ordination Centre then provides recommendations to the
FRSNCC (Fire and Rescue Service National Control Centre), which
mobilises resources in anticipation of, or in response to,
incidents.
Flood safety advice
Please visit the
following website for community safety advice on flooding:
http://www.cfoa.org.uk/cfoa_public/article.asp?id=264&did=47&aid=6706&st=&oaid=-1