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A three-year £80million funding programme for sustaining the fire and rescue services specialist resilience equipment has been announced by Fire Minister Parmjit Dhanda this morning.
Since 9/11 (2001) the Government has been planning and establishing a more resilient fire and rescue service. This has resulted in the Communities and Local Government's investment of £1billion in integrated resources including the new national network of linked fire control centres and Firelink radio communications.
A key part of the resilience investment are the New Dimension units enabling mass decontamination of the public, high volume pumping, search and rescue from collapsed buildings, including the use of the USAR dogs, and equipment for detection and identification of unknown potentially dangerous chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear substances.
The programme has played a vital role in protecting people across the country in times of crisis including last summer's devastating floods where High Volume Pumps (HVPs) were crucially deployed in the worst-hit areas. The government has already put in expenditure of over £200million for purchase of the New Dimension equipment, plus on-going training and support grants.
To make sure this high-tech equipment can be sustained for future emergencies the Government is now announcing an £80million cash injection for the host FRAs over the next three years. The funding covers the costs including training, replacement of consumables such as oxygen, maintenance of special protective clothing, and USAR crewing and providing other specialist services.
The proposals over the three years total:
* 2008/09 - £23.9m
* 2009/10 - £27.8m
* 2010/11 - £28.3m
Fire Minister Parmjit Dhanda said:
"In times of crisis our firefighters need the latest equipment, from the high volume pumps that played such a key role in last summer's floods, to urban search and rescue dogs.
"That's why the Government invested over £200million in the New Dimension programme to equip the country's FRS for any kind of emergency from severe flooding, to rescuing people from collapsed buildings or other unstable structures and decontamination. These new capabilities can be used whatever the original cause - whether it is industrial accident, severe weather or terrorist activity. "
Also announced today is the letting of a long term maintenance contract to help ensure interoperability and national resilience requirements are maintained. The contract with VT will run for 16 years with a value of over £100million, with an option for up to four 1-year extensions.
The Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser found in his report that the HVPs proved to be invaluable in protecting critical local infrastructure during the floods of summer 2007.
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