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A REPORT on the operational response of fire and rescue services in England to the floods of summer 2007 has recommended a host of improvements – but has stopped short of calling for a new statutory ‘flood rescue’ duty for the service.
Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser Sir Ken Knight’s review of the flood response praises the dedication and professionalism of firefighters and control room and support staff. He describes their work – for example, in rescuing people trapped in their homes and in deploying high-volume pumping appliances – as ‘magnificent’.
However, as the Facing the Challenge report explains, there are aspects that can be improved on, including the response to emergency calls from the public and ensuring that the necessary capability is available in terms of boats, equipment and training. Indeed, Sir Ken makes 28 recommendations covering coordinating responses, sharing of information, resources, training and health issues.
Even so, the report concludes that a flood duty for the fire service – as advocated by the Chief Fire Officers’ Association – is not needed. ‘A statutory duty does not, in itself, ensure interoperability and common-ality of equipment, training and competence,’ argues Sir Ken. ‘The issue is not one of legislative change but instead one that relies on making available the necessary capability to enable an effective national response from the service.’
Instead, he argues that the service should be given even greater capability to undertake flood rescue and that local fire authorities should ensure that firefighters have appropriate personal protective equipment and training.
On the issue of emergency calls, the report says that the floods underpin the case for the new network of nationally-linked fire control centres being established across Eng-land. According to the review, the operational response was hampered by outdated, disparate and overloaded equiment in the 46 individual control rooms in England – something the FireControl project will overcome.
Furthermore, Sir Ken says that common standards of training with multi-agency accreditation for inland water rescue operations should be considered by the appropriate Government Skills Council. There are also recommendations for the sharing of information, flood planning, media liaison and communications.
The recommendations will feed into the final Pitt Review of the flooding, due to be issued shortly.
Facing the Challenge is available via the ‘Publications’ section of website: www.communities.gov.uk/corporate/
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