'Thunderbird' training for firefighters funded by Goverment

Published	9 April 2008

Fire Minister Parmjit Dhanda has announced a further £3.2million grant to England's Fire and Rescue Authorities as part of the Government's on going commitment to support the roll-out of the specialist New Dimension equipment.

The grant is largely for training for mass decontamination response units as well as additional protective clothing for use during work on collapsed buildings.

As a national resource the New Dimension equipment is hosted by England's 46 Fire and Rescue Authorities but is easily transportable in modules - with echoes of 'Thunderbirds'. The resources include mass decontamination units, detection, identification and monitoring of unknown, potentially dangerous chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear substances, rescue equipment for use in collapsed buildings, and high volume pumps for use in floods. The Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser found in his report that the HVPs proved to be invaluable in protecting critical local infrastructure.

The grants announced today are in addition to the Government expenditure of over £200million for purchase of the equipment and grants to the FRAs for crewing and accommodating the equipment and providing other specialist services.

Fire Minister Parmjit Dhanda said:

"The New Dimension special equipment is vital to resilience and these latest grants to Fire and Rescue Authorities show that the Government remains committed to fund them to crew, host and accommodate this equipment. Training is obviously vital to make best use of this equipment."

Firefighter training for use of New Dimension equipment is being fully funded by the Government. Every firefighter, some 50,000, has received basic awareness training for mass decontamination and will shortly receive basic training relating to rescues in collapsed buildings.

New Dimension equipment has been deployed at the following incidents:

DIM equipment used in the spate of letter bombs sent in early 2007
USAR equipment used following the Kent earthquake April 2007
Over 35 HVPs deployed in the summer flooding 2007 and 15 HVPs at the Buncefield Oil Depot fire December 2005
USAR teams deployed to the Warwickshire warehouse fire 2007.

Notes to editors

Fire and Rescue Authorities	Total Grant
1. Avon Fire Authority	£54,375
2. Bedfordshire and Luton Combined Fire Authority	£35,000
3. Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire Authority	£54,375
4. Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Fire Authority	£35,000
5. Cheshire Fire Authority	£70,000
6. Cleveland Fire Authority	£35,000
7. Cornwall Fire and Rescue Authority	£70,000
8. Council of the Isles of Scilly	£10,000
9. County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Authority	£35,000
10. Cumbria County Council	£88,510
11. Derbyshire Fire Authority	£70,000
12. Devon & Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority	£177,885
13. Dorset Fire Authority	£35,000
14. East Sussex Fire Authority	£35,000
15. Essex Fire Authority	£54,375
16. Gloucestershire County Council	£88,510
17. Greater London Authority	£517,500
18. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority	£70,000
19. Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority	£107,885
20. Hereford & Worcester Fire Authority	£142,885
21. Hertfordshire County Council	£35,000
22. Humberside Fire Authority	£35,000
23. Isle of Wight Council	£35,000
24. Kent and Medway Towns Fire Authority	£142,885
25. Lancashire Combined Fire Authority	£89,375
26. Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Combined Fire Authority	£54,375
27. Lincolnshire County Council	£54,375
28. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority	£54,375
29. Norfolk County Council	£54,375
30. North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority	£88,510
31. Northamptonshire County Council	£35,000
32. Northumberland Fire Authority	£35,000
33. Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire and Rescue Authority	£88,510
34. Oxfordshire County Council	£35,000
35. Royal Berkshire Fire Authority	£35,000
36. Shropshire and Wrekin Fire and Rescue Authority	£35,000
37. South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority	£35,000
38. Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Fire and Rescue Authority	£70,000
39. Suffolk County Council	£88,510
40. Surrey County Council	£35,000
41. Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Authority	£54,375
42. Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Authority	£35,000
43. West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority	£124,375
44. West Sussex County Council	£44,712
45. West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority	£54,375
46. Wiltshire and Swindon Fire Authority	£35,000
Total	£3,269,427