Fire and resilience

Site clearance

Clearing and disposing of the massive quantities of rubble and other debris created by the destruction on 11 September 2001 of the World Trade Centre in New York presented challenges and demands far beyond those previously encountered or envisaged.

Whilst our first priority is to detect and prevent any similar catastrophic incident in the UK we must be ready to respond quickly and effectively should the need arise, whatever the cause. For this reason Ministers have determined that development of a Site Clearance capability should form one of 19 key work streams being taken forward by Government Departments within the Capabilities Programme overseen by Cabinet Office. The aim of the Programme is to ensure that the UK has in place the capability to respond to and deal with the full range of contingencies likely to be faced in the first decade of the 21st century.

Working in close consultation with the Devolved Administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and other key stakeholders, Communities and Local Government has developed generic guidance that will provide the basis for subsequent development of regional site clearance plans reflecting regional and local assessment of risks faced.

Building on the site clearance plan prepared for London and previous experience in both the UK and elsewhere the guidance focuses on the clearance of a site affected by a catastrophic incident - anything from a terrorist attack to a natural disaster - and appropriate disposal, or otherwise making safe, of rubble and other debris; where the scale of the incident goes beyond the existing day to day capability of local responders and authorities.

Related publications

New Fire Kills website

Visit the new Fire Kills website on Directgov with useful information on how to prevent, detect and escape from fire.

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