'Thunderbird'
Training for Firefighters Funded by Government
Fire Minister Parmjit Dhanda has announced a
further £3.2million grant to England's Fire and Rescue Authorities
as part of the Government's ongoing 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.
Fire Authorities in the North West will receive more than £370,000,
with £70,000 going to Cheshire; £88,510 to Cumbria; £70,000
to Greater Manchester; £89,375 to Lancashire; and £54,375
to Merseyside.
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 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
