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Fire and rescue services from across the country gathered at Aintree in Liverpool to see the new multi million pound home of the National Resilience Centre of Excellence, where services from across the country can train to use the equipment that is deployed to national incidents.
National resilience resources have been used in recent years in response to the pandemic, to wildfires, flooding and extreme heat. They have also been instrumental to the delivery of aid to Ukraine and to many natural disasters as the UK International Search and Rescue is also based in Merseyside. Hosting the opening ceremony, Chief Fire Officer Phil Garrigan spoke about the programme of work he led to deliver the centre of excellence that has been funded by the Home Office.
“From national disasters to terrorist attacks, our emergency services will play a key role for keeping us safe and secure. This centre will help them to enhance their capabilities further.”
CFO Phil Garrigan, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service.
After the 9/11 terrorist attack on New York in 2001, the then Labour government provided £200m funding to the fire and rescue service in England (and Wales at the time) to increase its capability to respond to a similar event. The New Dimension Programme was set up to deliver national resilience assets that would be strategically located across the country to provide resilience and a swift response should the worst happen. The high volume pumps, urban search and rescue equipment, CBRN related kit, including decontamination facilities and monitoring equipment were all bought along with Incident Response Units to enable the response.
Fast forward 20 years and the equipment is still in use today, with a programme of replacement and enhancement taking place as each capability is assessed and refreshed. Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service hosts the National Resilience capability including the control room operation that is stood up when an incident requires the assets to be activated. Nick Searle, Deputy Chief Fire Officer in Merseyside, said that that in the last year the national resilience assets had been called up on over 1300 times.
National Fire Chiefs Council Chair Mark Hardingham spoke at the ceremony and congratulated the service for completing the project to deliver this national facility.
“The Centre of Excellence is a unique facility with unique resources; a unique capability delivered by Merseyside but supported by every UK fire and rescue service.”
The gathering at Merseyside Fire and Service’s Aintree location allowed services from across the country to see the result of the £40m+ government investment in an extensive training centre where the site includes a substantial search and rescue environment simulating the aftermath of an earthquake; an industrial style building with real fire using LPG and not fossil fuel; and an impressive high rise building to simulate rescue at height.
There is also a facility to test out high volume pumps and a specially configured area where crews can simulate water rescue from surface level flooding.
In her first official visit to a fire and rescue service since her recent appointment as Minister of State in the Home Office with oversight of police and fire, Dame Diana Johnson said that the opening ceremony was an “opportunity to celebrate the tireless work” by the service “to bring this bold vision to life.”
“Labour has an ambitious programme of change. We have been elected with a convincing mandate to implement that change and moving forward we want a renewed focus on resilience and national standards which lies at the heart of what we do and of what you do.”
Dame Diana Johnson MP, Fire Minister.
She commended the National Fire Chiefs Council and the team led by Phil Garrigan for delivering the programme on time.
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