Training is key to safely broadening Fire Service remit: with the changing threats that we face, fire personnel need to be trained in whole new areas. In short they need to understand the skills necessary to respond to terrorism threats or incidents involving chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive agents

Increasing awareness of the dangers to public safety posed by weapons of mass destruction has led to a need for executives, managers, health and safety professionals as well as first responders to learn the appropriate response methods to such events. Although most believe that the majority of casualties resulting from a terrorist incident involving weapons of mass destruction will likely occur within the first ten to 20 minutes, the reality is that the effects of most CBR agents may be present for a period of hours or weeks. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the entire response community and particularly those likely to be first at the scene to have the training necessary to minimise the number and severity of casualties--the most important of these being the Fire Service.

September 11 reminded the world that we are all--even the most powerful of nations--vulnerable to terrorist attacks. In recent months, the threats the UK specifically faces have been brought into sharp relief and terrorism will be a recurring theme in the UK throughout 2005, with events such as the general election set to raise the alert status within the country.

The government has recognised this and in recent months the UK has seen the introduction of the Civil Contingencies Bill. This is the first time that business continuity has been made a legislative requirement in the UK, focusing on delivering a marked improvement in the UK's resilience to emergency situations. Similarly the Queen's Speech in December 2004 called for increased focus on national security, understanding how we clearly live in an era of global uncertainty and the need to understand and manage the risk of disruptive challenges is vital in this environment--especially for those on the front line.

January 2005 saw the announcement by the UK government that it will be setting up a new central service to help authorities and organisations prepare for and deal with the consequences of incidents where chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) materials are released into the environment. This is part of the government's commitment to ensuring that well-laid plans are in place to prevent and respond to a range of CBRN emergencies.

This must be seen as a call to action for all emergency services--including the most local ones--to take responsibility for their own training and to ensure they are equipped to handle any form of terrorist attack. 2005 will be the year where measures must and will be taken to arm the fire industry with the correct knowledge and training. Emergistics have specifically developed time and cost efficient training packages to meet this demand, with a range of material covering 'Anticipation' to 'Recovery' under the proprietary banner Total Resilience Management.

Proposals for major improvements in London Fire Brigade were approved for consultation by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority meeting on Thursday 4, November 2004. The proposals, detailed in the Draft London Safety Plan, will now go out for extensive consultation over the next few months. Key proposals contained in the draft plan include:

* Setting up a strategic resource using existing fire crews and engines to focus more on community safety work to prevent fires and other emergencies and on training. One of the benefits of setting up this resource would be to support the home fire safety check programme--more than 25,000 checks are planned over the coming year.

* Changes to improve the overall standard of emergency response. Achieving this involves moving ten fire engines to stations where they can make the most difference. The result would be that a second fire engine will be able to respond to a situation, on average faster than before.

* Investment in new rescue equipment and firefighter training would continue to ensure the brigade could deal with major incidents including terrorism.

These changes are the first stages in one of the biggest transformations of the service since the second World War and the focus lies heavily on further training and investment in new equipment. Although it is encouraging to see a focus on training in new areas the plan also sees the closure of London Manchester Square station and the loss of an engine to four other central London stations-suggesting perhaps a lack of preparedness and indeed understanding for the increased threat London, as the capital, faces from terrorists.

Firefighters today no longer simply fight fires. They are required to deal with a wide range of dangerous and life-threatening situations. With the changing threats that we face, fire personnel need to be trained in whole new areas. In short they need to understand the skills necessary to respond to terrorism threats or incidents involving chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) agents. This involves knowing how to detect the presence of weapons of mass destruction, how to protect themselves in the field and having a good knowledge of incident command systems.

This is something the fire services in the US have been focusing on for some time--especially since 9/11. The City of San Antonio's Fire Department has been focusing on its preparedness to face CBRNE attacks since 2003. The department took part in three CBRNE training seminars that included classroom instruction, tabletop exercises and a field exercise to demonstrate the use of protective equipment and response techniques. By partnering with a training company the fire department ensured that its firefighters were working with instructors with highly specialised experience in fields such as military preparedness and healthcare, including extensive management, testing and evaluation of CBRNE defence projects.

Preparedness begins at a local level. Fire departments have long since served multi-purposes in a community, but it is only in recent years that the threat posed by CBRN agents has really come to the fore. Training must be employed to meet this threat and although we are seeing progress with government initiatives and proposals for improvements in London these are just small steps in a journey that must be embraced by the fire industry as a whole in 2005.

Mark Greenwood is MD, Emergistics Europe Ltd. For further information, contact Emergistics Europe at email [email protected] or call 01428727070.

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