Fire & Rescue Service
At national Government level our lead department, Communities and Local Government (DCLG), has recognised through the Fire and Rescue Service National Framework that FRS authorities need to be able to deal with the continuing malicious threat. Conceived in the immediate aftermath of the attacks on the Twin Towers, the ‘New Dimension’ programme provided the capabilities now deployed as part of FRS National Resilience. Provision is planned for a range of scenarios: from local attacks through to those which might require the coordination of an international response.
The National Resilience offer includes Urban Search and Rescue (USAR), Mass Decontamination, Detection Identification and Monitoring (DIM) of Hazardous Substances, High Volume Pumping (HVP) and Enhanced Logistics Support. Any one of these capabilities can be used by FRS across the country in moments of need, such as, for example, widespread flooding in southern England this time last year. They also work well to support improved resilience and effectiveness, if and when a malicious attack should occur. More recently the FRS has worked with Police and Ambulance partners to develop a joint response capability to a Marauding Terrorist Firearms Attack (MTFA). Such a response requires close and trusted teamwork in a highly challenging operating environment, the sole aim being to minimise injury and loss of life of those subject to an attack.
© CI TY S ECURI TY MAGAZ INE – S PRING 2015
The FRS plans at a local level, primarily with Local Resilience Forum partners, for a range of possible eventualities either at specific sites or for generic terrorist related incident types.
at Foref ront of the Emergency Response
The key role of this and associated exercising is to test plans, rehearse response, and seek to learn and deliver improvement. The principles of the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Programme (JESIP) are being exercised on a regular basis and increasingly underpin actual incident response.
Terrorism, in its many guises, presents challenges to each of the blue light services and associated responding agencies. It is difficult to foresee any significant attack outside the UK capital which would not require the mobilisation and collaboration of a number of services and capabilities from across the country. In preparation for this, revised FRS Incident Command guidance is being written to accommodate a broader range of scenarios. This guidance is supplemented by the FRS National Co-ordination and Advisory Framework (NCAF), which sets out in detail the essential linkages and communication lines in the event of a terrorist event. NCAF clearly presents the dependencies and relationships that link the Commander of the first fire engine on scene through to the Government COBRA committee.
www. c i t y s e cur i t yma ga z ine . com
Each FRS forms part of the Emergency Services sector element of the defined national infrastructure, with elements of the organisations such as Control Rooms being ‘critical assets’. The need for services to develop, maintain and improve staff awareness through training and instruction has grown as the FRS role has become more defined and better understood. The FRS plans across a range of potential business continuity challenges and now has policies to cover the risks presented by cyber, personnel and physical security. In tandem with obligations as Category 1 responders under the Civil Contingencies Act, the level of FRS preparedness to respond to terrorist events and its ability to plan with partners is significantly improved in comparison to even 10 years ago. Collaboration is a key factor as this capability continues to evolve now and into the future.
Dave Walton Chief Fire Officers Association Lead on Environmental Protection (MTFA)
www.cfoa.org.uk > 23
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