Fire, ambulance and polices services from across Hertfordshire and the East of England recently took part in a pre-planned training exercise at The Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead. Code-named ‘Frostbite’, the exercise saw responders from the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) and Hertfordshire Police join firefighters from Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service at a set-up scene to test their skills, knowledge and training in a situation as close to a real-life experience as possible. Together responders carried out a simulated rescue operation within the snow centre’s unique en ..read more

Former deputy chief constable for Avon and Somerset Police, Nikki Watson, has been confirmed as the new Chief Fire Officer of Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue. And the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) has announced the appointment of Kerry Smith as its new Assistant Chief Constable (ACC). Don’t forget to bookmark this page and check back daily to stay abreast of the latest goings on in the emergency services sector. Soon you will be able to get the daily digest straight into your inbox, but for now, be sure to register for the weekly digest out every Friday. Nikki Watson confirmed as new North ..read more

The Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) has announced the appointment of Kerry Smith as its new Assistant Chief Constable (ACC). Kerry joined the CNC last month and has 30 years of experience as a police officer in several forces, mainly Nottinghamshire Police and Leicestershire Police. She has served at all ranks up to Assistant Chief Constable and brings a wealth of experience to the role. In her most recent role at Leicestershire Police, Kerry was responsible for Specialist Operations and was the Regional Firearms Lead. She is an experienced Strategic and Tactical Firearms Commander and was pr ..read more

In the East of England, over 360 people have received faster emergency medical help thanks to a partnership between the ambulance and fire services. Firefighters, trained by East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST) can now act as Community Wellbeing Officers (CWO). These officers can respond to urgent medical emergencies until ambulance crews arrive. “We’re delighted to be working with our fire and rescue colleagues. Together we are improving the speed of response and support for people in their homes and providing home safety checks.” Tom Barker, Head of Collaborative Response for EEAST. Co ..read more

Would you know where the Eye of the Butt, the Dalek and Slippery Bottom are? Maybe not, but to emergency services on a 999 call, getting to the right place as quickly as possible could make a vital difference in a life-saving emergency. Ordnance Survey (OS) has been inviting blue light organisations around Great Britain to input local and colloquial nicknames into a new database called the Vernacular Names Tool. The database, hosted in the OS National Geographic Database, is a replacement for FINTAN, a mapping tool created more than ten years ago in response to a request from HM Coastguard. It ..read more

After a long period of uncertainty about the leadership of Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service, the Chief Fire Officer position will now be filled by Nikki Watson, former deputy chief constable for Avon and Somerset Police. She will take up her post from 16 May. The appointment was held up an IOPC investigation into Ms Watson which has now concluded; it found there was no case to answer regarding allegations made against her. Ms Watson’s appointment comes at a time of change for Northamptonshire where the former Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Stephen Mold did not stand for re-electi ..read more

In the latest State of Fire report published today, the Chief Inspector of Fire has stated that fire and rescue services should have the same legal basis as policing when it comes to inspection. And a mayor has written a letter to the Air Ambulance expressing “concern and disappointment” at the closure of the charity’s base in their town. Don’t forget to bookmark this page and check back daily to stay abreast of the latest goings on in the emergency services sector. Soon you will be able to get the daily digest straight into your inbox, but for now, be sure to register for the weekly digest ou ..read more

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service (TWFRS) is set to welcome Northumbria Police and North East Ambulance Service to their newly operational carbon-neutral community Tri-Station on Campbell Park Road, Hebburn. Designed with a focus on sustainability, collaboration and the community, this state-of-the-art combined emergency service centre is set to be the first of its kind in the UK to be completely carbon-neutral. Firefighters from TWFRS have proudly carried out their first shifts at the brand-new community tri-station, with employees from Northumbria Police and the North East Ambulance Serv ..read more

Fire and rescue services should have the same legal basis as policing when it comes to inspection, says Andy Cooke, Chief Inspector of Fire in the latest State of Fire report published today. In a hard hitting report, Mr Cooke says that some fire and rescue services have attempted to influence the outcome of its inspections and that services are not taking enough action to respond to recommendations. Unlike policing, fire and rescue services are not required to respond formally to an inspection report and Mr Cooke says that the law should be changed so that services should have to respond with ..read more

After a rigorous selection exercise to find candidates with the right temperament and resilience, humanitarian charity Serve On recently sent 10 candidates to an arduous exercise involving a mock earthquake near Pristina to see if they were ready for deployment when disaster really does strike. Highly-trained, dedicated volunteers are the life-blood of Serve On’s International Response Team (IRT), ready to drop everything at a moment’s notice to deploy to disasters around the world. After two years of recruit training, the five-day final assessment exercise is intended to be as realistic as po ..read more