Over eight days in September, crews from Mereway, Wellingborough and Corby have been training together to ensure Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service has a joined-up approach to tackling largescale flooding.
As we head into autumn, the risk of flooding across the county increases, so we need to ensure we are best prepared to be able to respond to any potential incidents where there may be a risk to life.
For many years now, our water rescue crews in Mereway and Wellingborough have been fully trained to be able to carry out rescues in fast moving water.
Crews at Corby have now also come on board to strengthen this capability and have been given PPE to carry out their new roles.
The Corby crew had only previously been able to enter the water to set up our High-Volume Pump, which is based at the station and is deployed both locally and nationally to pump out large volumes of water.
More than 80 firefighters attended training sessions at Hollowell Reservoir across September to understand the capabilities, equipment and PPE that other stations had.
Crew Manager Tony Labrum (pictured left below) is a technical rescue trainer for the Service and was overseeing the exercises along with Watch Manager Casey Waldock.
Tony said: “The training we’ve done has allowed everyone to come together and understand where they all fit into a joint response.
“It also gave our Corby crews a chance to understand the hazards and risk of a flooded environment, and for them to teach our crews in Mereway and Wellingborough about the capabilities of the High-Volume Pump and how they operate it.
“I would like to thank Anglian Water and the Hollowell Sailing Club for their generosity in allowing us to use their facilities for these training exercises.
“We know that flooding is a growing risk for us here in Northamptonshire, so it’s vital that our crews maintain their skills so they can ensure the safety of residents across the county.”
