(From L to R) WMFS Area Commander Mark Harper; Brian Ward, National Resilience Officer; Martin Audis, Babcock Operations Manager; WMFS Firefighter John Delaney; WMFS Watch Commander Neil Billingsley. Photo: West Midlands Fire Service
A new High Volume Pump (HVP) Ramping Module has been developed as a collaborative project between the National Resilience HVP Capability Team and Babcock Critical Services Ltd. The module will assist an affected fire and rescue service to resource any major incident involving HVPs, which requires a significant amount of additional HVP hose ramping capability. Its deployment will enhance the operational response and maintain maximum business continuity for local communities.
The module, which became operationally available on 1 November, is permanently located at WMFS’s Sheldon Fire Station in Birmingham – the optimum strategic location when taking into consideration the footprint of the national HVP Capability, along with access and proximity to the national motorway network. A formal handover took place at Sheldon on 31 October.
Area Commander Mark Harper of WMFS said, “It is a great honour to be able to accept this national asset on behalf of WMFS from CFOA National Resilience. This is currently the only unit of its kind available nationally. To be able to manage this resource derives benefits for WMFS, in both supporting our local communities within the West Midlands along with the national HVP capability. This underpins the commitment of the WMFS to supporting national scale emergencies whenever possible.”
Martin Audis (Operations Manager) for Babcock Critical Services stated: “It is both a pleasure and an exciting opportunity for Babcock Critical Services to have been able to support the development of this module in order to further enhance the national HVP capability. Babcock is committed to the ongoing delivery of critical operational and maintenance support to all of the national resilience capabilities within FRSs on behalf of DCLG.”
