Oxfordshire fire fighters head north to help with floods
The pump, a specialist piece of equipment designed to disperse large amounts of water, is normally based at Banbury.
A team of six firefighters together with a Station Manager will head North to deploy the pump and could possibly remain there until at least New Year’s Day.
If they were scheduled to work over this period at Banbury station, their places will be filled by other firefighters called in to cover their absence.
Area Manager John Lloyd said: ”We have all seen the images of the terrible devastation the flooding has cause in parts of the north of England, particularly in Cumbria, Yorkshire and Lancashire.
“Our High Volume Pumping (HVP) Unit based at Banbury will deploy to Cumbria at 1100 hrs today (Dec 29th) with a crew of 6 fully trained Firefighters ( 4 Wholetime and 2 On Call ) and One Officer, Station Manager Mark Ames. It is expected that they will attend a briefing this evening and then be deployed as required within the region, to assist with the ongoing situation there and the potential poor weather expected tomorrow. Until they have been briefed, we are unsure of their exact role or how long they will be required, so it may be necessary to rotate crews / Officers but it is possible that they will be required over the New Year period at least.
“Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service will still maintain the capability to deal with any flooding should it occur locally, despite this deployment.
“ We are only too happy to join with other specialist teams from around the country help out with the flood relief effort and play our part in protecting people and their property and then helping to try to restore some normality to the communities who have been hit so hard, some of them several times in a few weeks. Our crews have trained for situations like this and will now have the opportunity to use these skills for the benefit of the community.”
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