29 January 2007 - Scotland’s Fire Resilience is Increased with the Arrival of the High Volume Pump in Hawick
Today, a High Volume Pumping (HVP) appliance, valued at approximately £250K, arrived at Hawick Fire Station. The appliance will be available to attend large-scale flooding incidents, together with wildfire and industrial fire situations. It will be located at Hawick Fire Station as it has been identified as the optimum strategic position to provide for a ready response both locally and nationally.
Similar appliances held elsewhere in the UK have been deployed at high-profile incidents, including the widespread flooding in the Carlisle area in early 2005 and the major oil depot fire at Buncefield, Hertfordshire in December 2005.
Cllr Ken Harrold, Convenor of the Lothian and Borders Fire Board, said: “ This vehicle will be a major asset to LBFRS and all of Scotland . It will enable us to respond effectively to a range of large-scale incidents. ”
Alasdair Hutton, Convener of Scottish Borders Council, said: “This is a strong vote of confidence in the Borders and its firefighters. It is a major advance in the equipment available in the Borders area, especially with its capacity to cope quickly and effectively with flooding. I am very pleased that we have been able to attract this extra asset to our ability to deal with emergencies.”
The HVP vehicle is part of the Scottish Executive/Chief Fire Officer’s Association’s New Dimensions initiative. This initiative was started to deal with a wide range of large-scale emergency incidents. To date, LBFRS has received resources from the initiative to enhance both local and national emergency response capability, including mass decontamination and urban search and rescue equipment and training.
Brian Allaway, Chief Fire Officer for Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service, said: “ This is something that we negotiated for behind the scenes for sometime. It puts us in a position to provide an increased service in our area and across Scotland . It is exciting that LBFRS has been chosen to receive one of the specialised vehicles. ”
Notes to Editors:
- Interview and Photo Opportunity:
The HVP will be available for viewing and photographs on Monday, January 29 at 11:00 . A short programme will occur with interview opportunities available with: be Chief Fire Officer Brian Allaway, Convenor of the Fire Board Ken Harrold and Convenor of the Scottish Borders Council Alistair Hutton, Euan Robson MSP and Jeremy Purvis MSP.
- The HVP, valued at approximately £250K, is one of four appliances in Scotland and is part of the Scottish Executive/Chief Fire Officer’s Association’s New Dimensions initiative.
- All wholetime personnel at Hawick Fire Station will be trained in the operation of the HVP. It is anticipated that training will be completed and the appliance will be fully operational in late spring 2007.
- A HVP has a vehicle mounted pump that moves 8000 litres of water per minute. The module weighs 10 tonnes, so there is a need to position it on a hard level surface.
- The submersible pump is used to pump out water to a minimum depth of 15 cms or pump from open water to supply an incident ground with water. The pump can be lowered up to 60 metres below the generator, for example, into a subway or down a cliff into open water and still operate.
- A HVP has a hose box module which ismade up of two boxes each containing 1 kilometre of 150mm hose. It also has a mechanical hose retrieval unit.
Enquiries: Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service Tel. 0131 228 2401
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