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Fire service historian and author

Roger Mardon

 

 

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Amdac-Carmichael

April 2010

Towards the end of 2009 it was believed that Amdac-Carmichael, the only British company still building airport crash tenders rather than importing vehicles built abroad, was about to be taken over by Plastisol. In mid-January 2010 it became apparent that this was not going to happen.

 

For the home market Amdac-Carmichael currently has in build a Cobra 2 / Snozzle (Cobra 2 HRET) for Bristol Airport and a Scania Viper for Galway Airport in Ireland. The company has completed the upgrade of 15 Defence Fire Service major foam vehicles (MFVs), has 12 more in progress and a further 9 on the books. Others are being completed by DSG (Defence Support Group) using kits of parts supplied by Carmichael. Work is progressing on the prototype of a specially-upgraded MFV with enhanced cooling and air filtration for service in the Middle East.

Kent Fire & Rescue Museum Under Threat of Closure

January 2010

It is proposed that the Kent Fire and Rescue Service Museum at Service Headquarters, Maidstone should be closed.

 

The issue will be discussed at the meeting of Kent & Medway Fire & Rescue Authority’s Planning and Performance Committee on 28 January.

 

Search & Rescue Teams Deployed to Haiti

January 2010

Just three months after returning from the earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia, UK search and rescue teams have once again been deployed abroad. An earthquake of magnitude 7.0 struck the Caribbean island of Hispaniola on Tuesday, 12 January. The epicentre was 15 miles from Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti on the western side of the island. Details remain sketchy but reports suggest that up to 100,000 people have been killed and that 3 million have been injured or made homeless.

 

On 13 January a team of over 60 British firefighters, two search dogs and 12 tonnes of equipment assembled at Horley fire station in West Sussex before flying out to assist in the rescue effort. Personnel have been drawn from Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Kent, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Mid & West Wales, West Midlands and West Sussex. They landed in the Dominican Republic at 07.00 hours (UK time) on Thursday, 14 January and from there were flown to the small international airport at stricken Port-au-Prince in neighbouring Haiti.

 

Search & Rescue Teams Return Home from Haiti

January 2010

The team of 64 British firefighters which flew to Haiti on 13 January to assist in the international rescue effort following the earthquake there returned home early on Saturday morning, 23 January. Searching in areas that had not been accessed by other emergency crews, the UK teams were instrumental in the rescue of five people trapped in collapsed buildings before the search and rescue phase was declared over by the Haitian government .

 

John Mazzey from Kent Fire & Rescue Service said, “Our initial task was to concentrate our search and rescue efforts in the capital, Port-au-Prince, where the UK International Search and Rescue (UK-ISAR) team rescued several people trapped.

“On Sunday we were sent to the town of Leogane, about 25 miles west of the capital, which was much nearer to the epicentre of the earthquake. We found houses that had been completely ‘pancaked’ (flattened) and worked with local people who had either heard voices in the rubble or knew of people trapped inside.

“We experienced a major aftershock in the early hours of Wednesday morning (20 January) but fortunately it did not harm our crews. Soon after, 15 members of UK-ISAR team flew by helicopter to Petit-Guave to carry out reconnaissance. They identified seven buildings that had sustained further damage and cleared these buildings, while our firefighters resumed operations in areas of Port-au-Prince that had not yet been reached by search teams.”
 

The UK team comprised personnel drawn from Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Kent, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Mid & West Wales, West Midlands and West Sussex. They took with them two search dogs, Echo, a golden Labrador from Greater Manchester, and Holly, a black Labrador from Lincolnshire, along with 12 tonnes of equipment. Both dogs have been quarantined for six months after return to the UK.

 

The Haitian government has estimated that 200,000 people were killed in the earthquake. UN sources report that 132 people were pulled alive from the rubble.

 

Photo by courtesy of Kent Fire & Rescue Service

A proposal that the Kent Fire and Rescue Service Museum at Service Headquarters, Maidstone, should be closed was discussed at the meeting of Kent & Medway Fire & Rescue Authority’s Planning and Performance Committee on 28 January 2010.

 

The decision was taken that the museum could not remain at Service Headquarters but there was unanimous support for the principle of keeping the collection together. A Project Team, including representatives of interested parties, is to be established to develop plans for a 'virtual museum' and for rehousing the artefacts. The Committee Chairman, Keith Ferrin, MBE, made it clear that it was not the intention to close the existing museum straightaway and he undertook that everything possible would be done to rehouse the collection in one place.

 

This is not a financial issue as the museum running costs are minimal, being mostly staffed by volunteers. The service does not believe the museum is well sited at Service Headquarters and there are competing demands for use of the building which was erected in 1963 specifically for the museum. The original proposal was to relocate the museum artefacts and records to other museums around the county and to create a virtual fire museum accessible through the Internet. Whilst there is merit in an e-museum as an additional facility, it cannot provide a ‘hands-on’ experience where visitors can truly appreciate the nature and substance of the exhibits. If artefacts are distributed around the county that experience is likely to be lost and the concept of a fire service museum will certainly be lost.

 

Whilst it is disappointing that the museum will have to move, the support for keeping the collection together is encouraging. Every effort must now be made to find somewhere where this can be done.

 

The wide diversity of the museum’s content is illustrated by this 1897 Shand Mason steamer new for Bromley Urban District Council ... ...

 

... ... and this telegram dated 22 June 1895 calling the Kent Fire Office insurance brigade from Maidstone to a fire in Wateringbury

Click here to see a BBC News Channel item with views of the museum and an interview produced before the decision to close the museum on its present site had been taken.

Kent Fire & Rescue Museum

January 2010 (expanded May 2010)

Kent Fire & Rescue Service Opens New USAR Centre

February 2010

Kent’s new Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) Centre at Loose Road, Maidstone, was officially opened on Wednesday, 3 February 2010. The £1.4m building provides a full-time base for the county’s USAR team which had been temporarily housed in Maidstone fire station. Click here for more.

Report on FiReControl Project

March 2010

The Communities and Local Government Select Committee appointed by the House of Commons has reported on the FiReControl project which will reduce the 46 stand-alone local fire controls maintained by the individual fire & rescue services in England to a network of 9 nationally-linked regional control centres (RCCs). The aim of the project is to enable the mobilisation of firefighters in response to a fire or other related incident to be carried out with greater speed, responsiveness and efficiency.

 

The committee concluded that the project had been inadequately planned, poorly executed and badly managed, and that there were considerable doubts about whether the project could be delivered. However, given the investment of public funds already committed and the benefits that will accrue, the committee also concluded that the project should continue, subject to significant concerns and issues being addressed by the Department for Communities & Local Government (CLG).

 

The costs have gone up from an anticipated £120 million in July 2004 to the current forecast of £423 million. CLG originally expected the project to realise efficiencies and save costs locally that would be in excess of the costs of the project but it now expects the overall project to cost £240 million more than the local savings forecast. Not every fire and rescue authority will save costs locally as a result of the project and the department plans to make annual payments of £8.2 million to those authorities.

 

The change-over from local controls to RCCs has slipped from the 2004 target of 2007-09 to the current forecast of 2011-2012.

 

New Government to Stop Forced Regionalisation of the Fire Service

May 2010

In its document The Coalition: our programme for government (May 2010), the new coalition government says it will stop plans to force the regionalisation of the fire service. Whether this means cancellation of the FiReControl project is unclear but it is likely to have some impact on the project.

Transfer of New Dimension Assets

March 2010

Over half of all fire & rescue authorities have agreed to the transfer of New Dimension assets from central government but some have declined asset transfer, due to take place on 1 April 2010. The Department for Communities & Local Government (CLG) will be considering options for ownership of those assets which remain on its asset register.

 

CLG has reiterated that the costs of remedying loss of equipment or damage caused by the use of New Dimension assets at local incidents should be borne by the local fire & rescue authority. (CLG Circular 16/2010 dated 30/3/2010)

 

 

Government Ends Regionalisation of Fire Services

July 2010

No decision was announced on the future of regional control centres but Fire Minister, Bob Neill, announced on 28 July that central government is stepping aside so that fire & rescue authorities can decide what their priorities should be and what is in the best interests of the communities they serve.

 

A National Framework sets out the Government's expectations for the service and what is required of fire and rescue authorities to meet those expectations. Fire and rescue authorities must have regard to the framework in carrying out their duties but the latest announcement means that  the minister will no longer expect to enforce the following aspects of the Framework:

 

 

Regional Fire Control Project Abandoned

December 2010

The Government has called a halt to the FiReControl project which was meant to deliver nine Regional Control Centres (RCCs) to replace the 46 stand-alone control rooms operated by the fire and rescue services in England.

 

On 20 December 2010 Fire Minister, Bob Neill, called a halt to the project after reaching an agreement with the main contractor, Cassidian (formerly EADS Defence and Security). Earlier in the year it was reported that costs had gone up from  an anticipated £120 million in July 2004 to a forecast £423 million and the change-over from local controls to RCCs was four years behind schedule. The House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee had concluded that the project had been inadequately planned, poorly executed and badly managed, and that there were considerable doubts about whether it could be delivered.

 

The Department of Communities and Local Government and the contractor have now concluded that FiReControl cannot be delivered to an acceptable time frame. Details of the settlement between Government and contractor have not been released.

 

Consultations will now take place to determine the best use of FiReControl assets and the future of fire control services in England, based on the principles of localism.

 

Scotland and Wales rejected proposals to replace local fire controls some years ago.

 

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