Fire service reports - part of The Rother Valley Guide, West Sussex, England, UK

The Rother Valley
West Sussex, England
WSFRS
report 2011_2

source - WEST SUSSEX FIRE & RESCUE
Time - 22nd February 2011 - 7:15pm

WEST SUSSEX FIREFIGHTERS SET FOR NEW ZEALAND EARTHQUAKE MISSION

Specially trained UK firefighters are preparing to fly to New Zealand within the next 3 hours to help victims of the earthquake that struck Christchurch . The New Zealand government has accepted an offer of assistance from the UK with an unknown number of people reported killed, injured or trapped in collapsed buildings. The West Sussex firefighters will be part of a coordinated response from the UK . An advance team of six – including one from West Sussex – is leaving Heathrow at 1000 tonight. The main team of 60+ search and rescue specialists, doctors and medical teams is expected to fly from Gatwick at 0500 on a plane chartered by the UK government. Other fire and rescue service teams responding include West Midlands, Hampshire, Leicestershire, Grampian, South Wales, Essex, and Cheshire .

The UK teams are currently enroute to rendezvous at Horley Fire Stn, near Gatwick, to be processed for travel documents and medical checks.
The six West Sussex firefighters are from the Technical Rescue Unit [TRU] that is based at Horley but whose members live across the county. They are Jon Lacey [Haywards Heath] - Ian Smith [Worthing] - Neil Graham [Shoreham] - Brian Vincent [Worthing] - Peter Thorpe-Hincks [Steyning] - Rob Negus [Hove]
The team is equipped to respond to disasters at home or abroad, and team members have previously been deployed to earthquakes in Indonesia and Haiti .

notes
The West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service’s Technical Rescue Unit is one of twenty-one specialist search and rescues teams strategically situated around the UK . These Fire & Rescue Service teams are primarily funded by central Government through its New Dimensions programme. New Dimensions was part of the UK response to 9/11 and is aimed at providing the UK with a more resilient response to major incidents such as widespread flooding, structural collapses, terrorist attack or transport emergency.
Thirteen of these teams are trained to be deployed overseas as part of the UK response when a foreign government appeals for help after a natural disasters. When deployed overseas they are known as ISAR teams [International Search & Rescue]
All ISAR teams are trained to use the same kit and equipment, which can lift, cut, and remove concrete and rubble from collapsed structures, along with sophisticated cameras and listening devices for finding casualties.
Based at Horley Fire Station, the West Sussex team has 12 members who have been selected from existing WSFRS staff.

Thursday 24th February 10:30pm
WEST SUSSEX FIREFIGHTERS ARRIVE IN NEW ZEALAND ON EARTHQUAKE MISSION

The team of UK search and rescue specialists has arrived in New Zealand to help search for victims of the earthquake.

The UK has sent a team of sixty-one firefighters and medics in response to a request for help from the New Zealand government. An advanced party of six - including Jon Lacey from West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service - arrived in Christchurch at 0500 Thursday morning local time and were immediately briefed at the Base of Operations that has been set up for international rescue teams.
The remainder of the UK team and their equipment have landed in Auckland and are being flown urgently to Christchurch to relieve rescue teams that have been working non-stop since the earthquake struck on Monday. Hope is fading of finding further survivors but search and rescue operations are expected to continue for at least another 24hrs. The focus is on ten collapsed buildings where people are reported trapped.

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