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- Collapsed building rescue funding for fire services
Collapsed building rescue funding for fire services
| Published | 7 January 2009 |
|---|
Funding to enable each of England's 46 Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) to be capable of rescuing people from collapsed buildings and undertaking mass decontamination of the public was confirmed by Fire Minister Sadiq Khan today.
Improving mass decontamination and Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) capabilities are part of the Government's £1billion investment in vital equipment to ensure that England's FRS are equipped to deal with major incidents such as terrorism, industrial accidents or extreme weather.
An additional £19m allocated today covers the costs of:
- Protective clothing for firefighters working in difficult conditions.
- Replacing oxygen and supplies needed to simulate real life situations in training.
- Support and training for search dog teams, including Leicestershire and Rutland Fire and Rescue Authority who coordinate this across the country.
- Mass decontamination training for firefighters for when large numbers of people need to have hazardous substances - which could be chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear - washed off them quickly.
On a visit to London's Battersea Fire Station, which has an Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team, Fire Minister Sadiq Khan said:
"It is vitally important that our Fire and Rescue Service is able to practice for the unexpected event that we all hope will never happen. But if it does our firefighters are ready and trained to use the vital rescue equipment. The £19million announced today is in addition to that already provided through the Government's investment of a £1billion in specialist equipment for dealing with major incidents such as terrorism, industrial accident or extreme weather."
Notes to editors
1. The specific funding allocations - see table below - reflect the different size of FRS USAR teams, training programmes and functions.
| Fire and rescue Authorities | Total Grant Payable 2008/09 |
|---|---|
| Avon Fire Authority | £871,060 |
| Bedfordshire and Luton Combined Fire Authority | £35,700 |
| Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire Authority | £871,060 |
| Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority | £35,700 |
| Cheshire Fire Authority | £71,400 |
| Cleveland Fire Authority | £35,700 |
| Cornwall Fire and Rescue Authority | £71,400 |
| Council of the Isles of Scilly | £10,200 |
| County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Authority | £35,700 |
| Cumbria County Council | £76,317 |
| Derbyshire Fire Authority | £71,400 |
| Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority | £953,149 |
| Dorset Fire Authority | £35,700 |
| East Sussex Fire Authority | £35,700 |
| Essex Fire Authority | £871,060 |
| Gloucestershire County Council | £76,317 |
| Greater London Authority | £3,698,440 |
| Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority | £71,400 |
| Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority | £911,677 |
| Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority | £947,377 |
| Hertfordshire County Council | £35,700 |
| Humberside Fire Authority | £35,700 |
| Isle of Wight Council | £35,700 |
| Kent and Medway Towns Fire Authority | £947,377 |
| Lancashire Combined Fire Authority | £906,760 |
| Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Combined Fire Authority | £889,360 |
| Lincolnshire County Council | £871,060 |
| Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority | £871,060 |
| Norfolk County Council | £871,060 |
| North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority | £76,317 |
| Northamptonshire County Council | £35,700 |
| Northumberland Fire Authority | £35,700 |
| Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire and Rescue Authority | £76,317 |
| Oxfordshire County Council | £35,700 |
| Royal Berkshire Fire Authority | £35,700 |
| Shropshire and Wrekin Fire and Rescue Authority | £35,700 |
| South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority | £35,700 |
| Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Authority | £71,400 |
| Suffolk County Council | £76,317 |
| Surrey County Council | £35,700 |
| Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Authority | £871,060 |
| Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Authority | £35,700 |
| West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority | £942,460 |
| West Sussex County Council | £456,719 |
| West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority | £1,348,770 |
| Wiltshire and Swindon Fire Authority | £35,700 |
| Total | £19,490,894 |
3. The £1billion resilience investment includes the New Dimension equipment of high volume pumps used during flooding and major fires, equipment for identifying unknown potentially hazardous substances (chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear substances); mass decontamination units and USAR teams, as well as better radio communications and the national network of control centres. West Yorkshire FRA provides the national co-ordination centre for monitoring the availability of New Dimension equipment such as the high volume pumps, and USAR.
4. Today's £19million for 2008/09 is part of a £80million three-year funding announcement made in July 2008 but specific FRS allocations have not been announced until now.
5. USAR teams have been deployed a number of times to buildings that have collapsed during construction or refurbishment. Incidents include:
- June 2007 - In central London SW1 a five storey building collapsed and a builder was rescued from between the fourth and fifth floors.
- January 2008 - In Battersea a three storey building collapsed trapping a man.
- May 2008 - In the county of Avon a mini digger, part of the USAR kit, was used to deal with burning rubber chippings.
6. Fire deaths in the UK are at an all time low with research showing that working smoke alarms save around 50 lives a year. For more information on how to stay safe from fire visit www.direct.gov.uk/firekills (external link).
Video
Visit to Battersea Fire Station
Fire Minister Sadiq Khan joins firefighters at Battersea Fire Station to announce an additional £19 million for rescue equipment and training.
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