Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS), Lancashire Constabulary and North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) are working together to provide a joint response in areas of Lancashire where they can assist collaboratively with incidents such as fires with casualties, road traffic collisions, assaults and medical emergencies where forced entry to a property is required.
A multi-agency vehicle will be used which will be crewed by trained Operational Commanders from Fire and Police, they will respond to incidents where the team can carry out a multi-agency scene assessment, determine the level of resources required, ensuring scene and responder safety and provide specialist support. The team is expected to deploy to any relevant incident where at least a dual service response is required.
Tom Cookson, Group Manager and Head of Emergency Planning at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service said: *“During high profile events such as bonfire night, the demand on emergency services tends to increase. Locally based responders working together can provide lifesaving interventions at emergencies, and in some instances reduce the number of resources needed at a scene, allowing resources to attend the incidents they are most needed.”*
This multi-agency vehicle has been used previously and was found to be successful, with the initial trial taking pace in 2017. The collaboration meant that crews managed unnecessary incident attendance and improved time scales of crews that would usually be detained at a scene, supported on-scene commanders, offer specialised support, and provided lifesaving interventions and assessment. In 2022, LFRS responded to 158 incidents on bonfire night, and 59 of those incidents were dealt with by the multi-agency vehicles, freeing up vital resources to respond to other incidents.
The 6 multi-agency vehicles will be operating around areas of Lancashire on the 3rd,4th and 5th November. Burnley, Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn, Pendle and Preston have been identified as key areas as a result of a large increase in anti-social behaviour in previous years, including attacks on emergency service workers.
Kathryn McIntyre, Neighbourhood Inspector for Blackburn with Darwen, said:* “Working closely with partners is crucial in our day-to-day work, but particularly when there are events such as bonfire night due to the increased demand on our services.*
*“This year we will once again be ready to keep the people of East Lancashire safe and respond to any emergencies reported to us. Being able to carry out multi-agency assessments on-scene will hopefully reduce the number of resources required on the night.”*
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