Fire crews welcome new enhanced fire appliances to help at heavy rescues

Our firefighters have welcomed two new enhanced rescue pumps (ERPs) to help them continue to best serve our communities, especially with more technical and heavy rescues.

The ERPs, which include specialist ladders, winches, cutters and platforms, will be based at Longton and Stafford and will replace some of the current appliances used there.

The new appliances will enable crews to assist in: collisions on motorways involving HGVs, public service vehicles and agricultural machinery; collisions between vehicles and buildings, incidents involving machinery, trains, aircrafts and theme park rides, building explosions and collapses.

Crews from both stations were involved in developing the specification for the vehicles.

Firefighters also visited the factory in Yorkshire where the appliances were put together, while Crew Manager, Jason Heath, from Longton, helped to ensure they included the best possible equipment to help our crews.

Crew Manager Heath said: “We’ve been involved with the development of these vehicles from the start.

“It’s been great to see the project progress and to have the ERPs in service is really rewarding, as it’s the culmination of all of the hard work.

“Having now trained on the vehicles I’m confident that they are going to be a welcome addition to our fleet.”

The relevant crews have received heavy rescue operator training as well as extra driving training due to the additional driving aids and weight of the vehicles.

Station Manager, Chris Craddock, who was the project lead, said: “These really are state of the art appliances that offer the latest technology in heavy duty rescues.

“The vehicles’ specialist equipment, combined with the training crews have received, greatly enhances our ability to deal with incidents involving large vehicles, machinery or other significant incidents.

“These vehicles have been strategically positioned at Stafford and Longton for their central locations and access to major road and rail networks.

“The vehicles and equipment will provide what we need to deal with specialist rescue incidents to provide an enhanced emergency response to our communities across Staffordshire.”

Staffordshire Commissioner for Police, Fire & Rescue and Crime, Ben Adams, said: “These new enhanced rescue pumps are a significant investment in the future of our Fire & Rescue service, and the capabilities of the teams.

“Together, the new vehicles will help to ensure the safety of our firefighters and the communities of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in a range of specialist emergency situations.”

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