January 2014 email: protect@hertfordshire.gov.uk
22
Hertfordshire’s Community
Protection Volunteer team has launched an innovative scheme for vulnerable people who have experienced a traumatic event in their home such as a fire, flood or damage from severe weather.
Hertfordshire’s Volunteer Incident
Support Team (VIST) is only the second of its kind in the country, providing a post-incident clear-up service to those in the community who are most in need.
and help make the property liveable again, so that we can get the person back into their home as soon as possible.
“I think people underestimate how distressing it is to experience a fire.
This initiative is potentially going to make a massive difference and I’m really looking forward to becoming involved as I think it will help people to feel that their community really does care about them.” volunteers ready to provide this support.”
An additional benefit to the scheme is that the volunteers can check if the home has a working smoke alarm. If not they can carry out a home fire safety visit and fit one.
The volunteers receive intensive specialist training to ensure they are prepared to carry out the role and are issued with uniform and protective clothing.
The VIST volunteers visit a property after crews have finished at the scene and help to make it habitable again by clearing up damage caused by the incident. This might include removing burnt carpets or other damaged items, cleaning scorched furniture, washing blackened walls or removing water from flooded carpets.
VIST volunteer Emma Connor explained: “VIST has been set up to try to help make a difference to the most vulnerable people in our community. If they experience a fire in their home, we’re on hand to go
Outreach and Volunteer Manager,
Roy Aldwin, added: “Moving to temporary accommodation can be very unsettling, particularly for people with mental health conditions who can become very anxious if moved away from the safety and security of their home environment.
“This service is about providing support to those at risk who have experienced trauma and enabling them to stay in familiar surroundings while they come to terms with the disruption they have suffered. We have a team of very dedicated and experienced
The VIST scheme also has use of
4x4 Skoda Yeti vehicles, which carry specialised equipment that the volunteers can use on a call out, such as Vax pumps and basic toolkits.
The scheme will go live in February.
The anticipated call out time is between three and five hours and the service is available to any incident commander who feels that the scheme will be of benefit to an individual.
For more information please contact Roy Aldwin on 01707
292639.

Not least of some of the challenges we have faced is industrial action, nonetheless it is really pleasing to see that the New Year saw a new round of talks between the FBU, Government and employers. I hope this sees a settlement to a dispute that does no one any good. The other striking thing about the end of 2013 and beginning of 2014 is the almost constant wet weather that has seen flooding in the county and many parts of the country. I am pleased to say we were able to provide support to Norfolk Fire and Rescue through national mutual and sending both our Command Support Unit and boat team. We of course also provided support through Control with our innovative buddy scheme.
The professionalism and quality of our service continues to be recognised in many ways. Most recently Bob
Williams has been shortlisted for Firefighter of the Year Award at the Firefighters’ Charity Spirit of Fire Awards.
In addition both Peter Unthank from Much Hadham and Roy Aldwin, our Volunteer Manager, were accepted as nominations to Royal Garden Parties at Buckingham Palace. I wish all three of them and you the very best for
2014.
Following the recent heavy rain,
Hemel crews were called to a new development at Kings
Copse, Leverstock Green after a holding lake for flood water burst its banks.
With a number of properties already affected, crews worked hard to protect the remaining homes as well as a nearby electrical sub-station. Using sand bags, pumps and on site machinery the flow of flood water was diverted, allowing the crews to assist the residents in removing water from their homes.
Residents had nothing but praise for the crews that assisted them. One compliment left via the Dacorum Borough
Council website said “Thank you for all the efforts on behalf of flooded residents… please tell your team they are amazing".
Ff Blackburn - Red Watch,
Hemel Hempstead

After a three hour journey, we arrived at the SHA (Strategic Holding Area) and began to set up ELS so that we could receive other national assets from around the country. This was undoubtedly a challenging event for our colleagues from Norfolk to deal with. Along the coast there were three SHAs established, as well as a MASHA
(Multi Agency Strategic Holding Area) established at the Norfolk County Show
Ground.
Approximately 20,000 people had been displaced from their homes, as a precaution as part of the emergency plans put in place by our Norfolk colleagues. Thankfully the defences that had been invested in for the area, in the most part, managed to prevent a major disaster; having said that, around
1400 homes and businesses were affected.
Hertfordshire sent 23 personnel as part of the response teams for the three
National assets deployed. These personnel were from Welwyn Garden City,
Hertford, Hatfield, Fire Control and the Training Centre. Hertfordshire personnel provided support and assistance in a professional and competent manner and easily mixed with colleagues from around the country. Over the two day period our ELS team processed over 24 vehicles and crews, at one point we had 150 personnel on site. I would like to offer my thanks and praise to all the Hertfordshire personnel for their efforts over the course of the two days. It’s great to see HFRS once again leading the way.
Peter Hatherley
Station Commander - Training & Development
Letters of thank s were received and Suffolk Fire
and Rescue ire Officers...
“sincere thanks fo reassurance to o r rendering ce and ur communities
.” “we could not ha ve managed crews made that
vital difference
“our approach to
these floods has our interoperabil ity.”
Well done to all t hose involved.

Noteworthy incidents
At 2.35am, on 5 December, LFCOp
Mark Andrews at Fire Control received a 999 call from a man trapped in his burning house in
Coleridge Close, Hitchin.
By specific questioning, Mark established that there were four people trapped in property, the caller, his mother and sister trapped by smoke in the next bedroom, and his father who could be heard screaming downstairs before falling silent.
Appliances from Hitchin, Baldock and Stevenage were mobilised to the address and in the meantime
Mark stayed on the phone to the caller, giving advice such as putting blankets at the bottom of the door and staying by an open window. He also encouraged the caller to repeat the advice to his mother and sister in the next room.
Mark kept repeating questions to maintain a clear picture of what was happening and was giving encouragement throughout the call.
By repeating answers out loud,
Mark was both clarifying facts with the caller and alerting his colleagues to the situation, who in turn carried out necessary tasks such as informing the police, requesting an ambulance and mobilising an officer to the scene.
Hitchin were the first pump on the scene, arriving at 2:45. On arrival, the crew were confronted with three people, at two different windows, calling for assistance and a serious fire visible through the ground floor window.
As there was only an initial crew of four, a BA team comprising of
Firefighters Kev Smith and Adam
Jennings was sent in through the front door with a jet to fight the fire and search for the caller’s father on the ground floor. Simultaneously,
WC Graeme Cheshire pitched the triple extension ladder to the larger window where the two women were trapped. Ff John McGrinder provided water to the jet and the
‘Enforcer’ tool for forced entry through the front door.
The Baldock crew led by WC
Bloxham arrived close behind and three people were quickly rescued from the first floor windows using ladders.
Mark stayed on the call until the crews arrived and had been able to establish the layout of the house and which rooms people were trapped in. Both watch commanders commented on how valuable this information was, allowing them to save vital minutes and set straight to locating the trapped persons.
The BA crew located the caller’s father, unconscious and not breathing on the ground floor and brought him out through the front door. By this time a paramedic had arrived and quickly started CPR.
After approximately two minutes the casualty’s breathing restarted and he slowly regained consciousness.
All four people were taken to the
Lister Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation, with one remaining in hospital in a serious condition for two days.
Thanks to the joint efforts of Fire
Control and the operational crews, and in the finest traditions of the fire and rescue service, four people trapped in a serious life-threatening situation were rescued with no long term serious injuries.
The fire was caused by a scented candle igniting the side of an armchair or a blanket on it.

Noteworthy incidents
At 12:41 on 4 January, both Royston appliances were called to an RTC on the A10 between Royston and
Reed. The first crew arrived on the scene at 12:44 with the second crew five minutes behind. On arrival we were faced with two vehicles in collision, one of which had left the carriageway and descended a 25-foot steep embankment coming to rest on two wooden fence poles at an angle of 45 degrees.
It was quickly established that the driver of the vehicle on the roadway was out of the vehicle and that two young children in the other vehicle had been rescued by passers-by and brought back up to road level, however the driver and front passenger remained trapped in the vehicle.
driver and the new e-Lukas kit came into its own allowing very rapid space creation whilst the second set of Lukas was being established at the base of the ladders. This allowed for a full roof removal and the extrication of the female passenger using a spine board. The crews worked extremely effectively to form a human chain on the two ladders to quickly raise the casualty to road level.
We worked in close harmony with the air and land ambulance paramedics to stabilise the driver. We then had to nibble away much of the offside of the vehicle – very intricate work made harder by the amount of impingement onto the casualty from both the door and the engine compartment.
The rope rescue team from Bishop’s Stortford and the
ALP from Stevenage were requested and this allowed us to set up the casualty’s escape route prior to full extrication. They set up a relay system from the wheels of our appliance that allowed for a controlled ascent when required. This proved invaluable because of the need to move the casualty with great care because of the extent of his injuries.
Access to the bottom of the embankment was initially gained using a 13.5m ladder, later supplemented by the
9m ladder alongside it. Stabilisation, although difficult because of the thick mud at the bottom of the descent, allowed us to gain access to the driver using the triple extension, and glass management gave us quick, limited access to the passenger. The new cling film was really useful because of the proximity of the passenger to the door.
The ALP and its support pump were kept on standby in case the rescue became time critical once he was released from the crushing effect of his entrapment.
The crew from Stevenage worked hard to ensure that equipment from the road was available when required and assisted with the controlled recovery of the casualty.
At this point the air ambulance team arrived and made a full assessment of the more seriously injured casualty in the driver’s seat.
An early call for the RSU from Baldock greatly improved the access to the
This was an extremely challenging extrication made possible by the hard work, dedication and great teamwork of the personnel involved and this was emphasised during the hot debrief at the end of the incident.
Although the stop was sent two hours after the initial call (a long time in RTC terms) the professionalism of all the personnel involved ensured that the casualties were fully supported and cared for in some of the most difficult circumstances to face an RTC in.
Well done to all those involved
Peter Chapman
Watch Commander -
Royston Fire Station

Noteworthy incidents
On 19 December St Albans Red Watch were called to an RTC persons trapped at Waitrose, Mayne Avenue, St
Albans. Upon arrival the crew found a car had driven down a steep bank and hit the supermarket wall, trapping the elderly male driver. Once the scene was made safe for access and egress using ladders and lines, the crew worked alongside paramedics to remove the side of the car to free the casualty. The crews worked well as a team to safely remove the casualty and hand him over to the ambulance service.
the nature of his injuries, further compounded by the fact he had Spina Bifida. After consultation with the ambulance service a plan was established to fold the roof and extricate the casualty from the rear of the vehicle using a spinal board.
Cheshunt crews were assisted by crews from Potters
Bar (whose pump was used to shield the incident from traffic on the opposite carriageway) and the St Albans
RSU enabling simultaneous activity. A roof fold was made using the Lukas hydraulic cutting equipment
(whilst having to modify the cuts due to the large number of airbags), enabling a speedy extrication of the casualty who was then conveyed to hospital by the ambulance service.
On 8 December both Hitchin pumps attended an ‘RTC persons trapped’ in Ickleford. En-route to the incident we received a message from the ambulance service saying “they could not gain access to the vehicle, two people were trapped and query fatal”.
Ff Dan Russell
At 3pm on Boxing Day, Red Watch Cheshunt were called to an RTC on the A10 involving a car and a LGV.
On arrival we were faced with a BMW wrapped tightly round a tree and two people trapped inside.
We quickly removed the driver’s door so that the paramedics could gain access to the two occupants to assess their injuries, but sadly neither occupant showed any signs of life. The occupants were left insitu in the vehicle while the police accident investigation team did their work. The balloon light carried on our appliance did a superb job, lighting the entire scene.
Once the police had finished their work, we removed the B post and extricated the driver. We had to use the
Yaletrac winch to move the car away from the tree, as no access could be made to the passenger at all with the vehicle in its original position.
We removed the passenger door A and B posts, made some space around the passenger’s legs and feet and extricated the passenger.
Upon arrival at the incident it was established that a
Sainsbury’s LGV had collided into the rear of a Nissan
Note. Due to the nature and location of the incident the road had to be closed.
Both the Hitchin crews carried out their duties in an exemplary manner in an extremely unpleasant situation and were commended on their professionalism by the police accident investigation team.
There were three occupants in the Nissan, the two passengers were unhurt but the driver was trapped by
WC Broom

Noteworthy incidents
On 11 December the crews from Hitchin were mobilised to a flat fire above the ‘Eat Well’ Chinese
Restaurant in Bancroft, Hitchin.
On arrival it was apparent that the fire was well developed with flames coming out of the rear first floor window. Due to the panic of the occupants and their limited English vocabulary, it was initially believed that there were persons still inside the building. Fortunately this was not the case and the couple’s children were next door with their child minders.
As a result of the crew’s rapid use of a jet through the rear window and the excellent efforts of the first BA crew (CC D Scotchford and Ff N Bull) the fire, which had destroyed one room and had penetrated the Georgian roof timbers, was superbly contained from spreading through the large open roof void and possibly damaging a further four properties.
A great effort and a great ‘stop’.
The cause of the fire was investigated by SC
Brown and it was established that it had been caused by drying clothing being placed too near to a halogen lamp type of heater.
On 29 December the first pump from Hitchin, together with both appliances from Stevenage and one from
Baldock attended The Priory Barn, a licensed wedding and conference venue in Little Wymondley. Upon our arrival, the fire was through the roof of the catering facility barn, so the main priority was to protect the surrounding barns, one of which had a thatched roof.
We were told by the owner that there were eight propane cylinders within the barn. This was immediately very clearly confirmed by the roar of the escaping gas and the 15m high fireball that suddenly rose above the barn roof.
The initial actions of the crews would normally have been hampered by the failure of the nearest hydrant some ten lengths away, but because of some quick thinking and “old school” adaptability, a thousand litres of water was decanted from a tanker into an improvised dam from which the major pump lifted, supplying the first two jets.
Following on from this, a large pond was found and, under the command of the Water Officer, WC Simon
Bloxham, the major pump was set into this open water supply (a rare sight on the fireground indeed). We now had sufficient water to deal with the remainder of the incident.
This was a great team effort in difficult circumstances by all personnel, much to the gratification of the owners who said that they had been certain that the fire was going to spread to the adjacent barns.
The cause of the fire was investigated by GC
Paul Bordoni and SC Dave Gould, and established as an electrical fault within a chest freezer.
WC Graeme Cheshire

Noteworthy incidents
On 9 January both Cheshunt appliances were called to an incident at the traffic lights on the Great Cambridge
Road and Vancouver Road, where a person was left trapped in a car following a collision between two cars.
On arrival the police were already in attendance and there was one female casualty trapped by her injuries.
The crew carried out first aid and scene safety until the ambulance arrived and assessed the casualty. She was suffering with neck and spinal injuries sustained in the accident, but also was recently out of hospital following an operation on her spine.
Towards the end of 2013 a single car was in collision with a lamppost located in the central reservation of the dual carriageway directly outside Rickmansworth
Fire Station.
Needless to say, a crew from Rickmansworth were soon in attendance closely followed by a crew from
Watford White Watch.
On-scene paramedics required removal of the car’s roof which was completed in good time by both crews working simultaneously.
Utilising the Crash Recovery System on the Mobile Data
Terminal, the safety systems of the car were identified and, using Lukas hydraulic cutting equipment, a full roof removal was carried out by both crews.
The casualty was extricated on a spinal board and conveyed to hospital. The crews remained on the scene making the vehicles and road furniture safe.
As the accident happened at 7.07am there was unfortunately heavy traffic congestion throughout the area until midday when police completed their investigation in to the cause of the accident.
One male adult was released from the vehicle.
Sean Good
Watch Commander - Rickmansworth Fire Station
Artwork designed by students at
West Herts College that encourages residents not to drink and drive has recently been unveiled at Watford
Community Fire Station.
The students were asked to produce the artwork along the theme of preventing drink-driving incidents in
Watford and Three Rivers. The designs will add to our winter safety campaign and also count towards the students’ college courses. The artwork was aimed at a target audience of 18 to 25 year old drivers and has been very well received.
On 5 December, firefighters from
Watford Red Watch abseiled down the fire station to unveil large banners of the artwork. Pieces of art were also displayed on a cut-up car installation, highlighting the drinkdriving safety message alongside the important work that firefighters undertake.
Some of the artwork was used in safety packs being sent to offices, hotels and other premises across
Watford to promote getting home safely after a night out in Watford over the festive period. Posters are also being displayed at environmental plants across Hertfordshire.

On the evening of 6 December the Ware crew with some district volunteers attended the Annual
Dickensian Evening event in Ware High Street.
This event involves the closing of the High Street to traffic enabling local organisations and businesses to set up side stalls or attractions to entertain the public and raise funds for local charities.
Attendance was well into the hundreds this year and the crew seized the opportunity to give advice and tips on winter and seasonal fire safety. They also received several requests for home fire safety visits.
As always, the fire appliance proved a hit with the younger audience especially when the crew received a call and departed with blue lights and sirens on.
WC Smith would like to thank Lisa Smith and Brian
Smith, service volunteers for giving up their time to help, and Julian Stanley and Gary Bailey from district for their support.
White Watch Borehamwood attended Woodlands
Primary School to give the children home and winter safety advice.
Ff Dean Wright commented “The 40 children were fantastic and asked many questions on what we do and how we deal with day to day incidents. After 30 minutes of talking it was time for some action with the children given the chance to sit on the fire engine and squirt the hoses. Even on a bitterly cold afternoon you couldn’t hear yourself for screams of joy and laughter.
They all thoroughly enjoyed themselves.”
The Box Cleva scheme in Stevenage was awarded the SoStevenage ‘Work in the community’ award in December in recognition of the work done with young people in the borough. This was thanks to the hard work of Box Cleva organiser Bob
Williams and trainers Julian Stanley and Ff Paul
Day at Baldock.
Meanwhile, Box Cleva has been handing out awards of its own, to young people in
Borehamwood, at an awards ceremony hosted by
Commonwealth gold medalist Sean Murphy and attended by world light-heavyweight boxing champion John Conteh.
Ten children received bronze awards, three received silver, and three received gold awards for their efforts on the course, which teaches children the importance of living a healthy lifestyle as well as helping them control their aggression.
White Watch paid a visit to The Royal British Legion
Club in Borehamwood to hand out winter safety leaflets, sign up people for free home fire safety visits and engage with the community. Manager
Dave Lowther commented on what a 'wonderful gesture' it was from the crew to visit the club and offer their help and advice on safety in general.

On 19 December crews from Hemel Hempstead Red
Watch went to Asda in the town centre to give advice on winter safety to Christmas shoppers.
While the crew handed out safety leaflets and talked to the public on how to be safe over the cold period, Ff
Dawson advised the public about home fire safety and smoke detectors.
The advice went down really well with the public and generated a number of home fire safety visits.
Ff Turner
Red Watch, Hemel Hempstead
On Monday 23 December, firefighters from Blue Watch at Stevenage Fire Station visited the patients, parents and staff of the children’s ward at Lister Hospital.
This is the fourth year that firefighters have visited the children’s ward and Blue Watch hope to make this a festive tradition.
The children were delighted to receive their gifts of
DVDs, books and new toys that the hospital is in desperate need for. Play Specialist Marilyn said, “The gifts cheered up the children no end at a time when being in hospital can be very upsetting for patients and parents alike. A cheery visit from the firefighters really brightened up everyone’s day. The gifts are invaluable to us and really help.”
Blue Watch’s finest were also able to lend a hand adding some more decorations and putting up the
Christmas tree to provide even more festive cheer.
Blue Watch wish to thank Tesco, Sainsbury’s and
Mothercare for their very generous donations and assistance with the visit.
Ff Adam Swan
Blue Watch, Stevenage
Over the last two months Roy Aldwin and Station
Commander Frank Gollogly have organised some volunteer activities in the Borehamwood and Bushey areas. Hertsmere and Welwyn Hatfield’s new volunteer team leader, Ian Sparks, has been very proactive in organising his volunteer team and is doing a great job. The activities have included arson patrols, business safes and generating some home fire safety visits.
Frank Gollogly said “Our engagement with the volunteer team has proved very useful as the
Borehamwood area has not traditionally benefited from volunteer assistance, primarily due to few volunteers living in the immediate area. Roy, Ian and the rest of the team have helped identify some local safety issues as well as locating refuse sites that could become targets for deliberate fire setting. The crews at
Borehamwood and Bushey welcome the volunteer’s efforts and look forward to further assistance in the future”.
Crews from Red Watch St Albans recently attended a
Faith Awareness and Community Information day, held by St Albans Faith and Culture Enterprise (FACE). The event, held on 24 November at Verulam Boys School, saw members of different faiths come together under one roof along with a number of community support agencies.
The purpose of the event was to share life experiences, understanding of one another’s different religious beliefs and to promote support services available to all within the community.
The fire service was allocated a display stand where watch members engaged with other groups, distributed community safety literature, gave on the spot fire safety advice and promoted the free home fire safety visit service.

Hemel Hempstead Red Watch have been supporting this year’s Stay Warm at Winter Campaign for the residents of Hemel Hempstead. The scheme involves partnerships with the NHS, other parts of the county council and the ten district councils and involves helping vulnerable people stay warm through the winter. Red Watch has been leaflet dropping and actively targeting the residents of Hemel at local surgeries and in the town centre.
Ff Dave Childs - Red Watch, Hemel
The access road and new apartment blocks on the old Watford Fire Station site in Whippendell Road have been named in memory of local firefighters.
The roads were named after the Herts Fire Brigade Museum curators made representations to Watford Borough
Council and the Royal Mail that names should reflect the history of the site and its use as a fire station between
1961 and 2009.
The access road has been named Raven Close in memory of Firefighter John Raven, who died when a wall collapsed on to the hydraulic platform he was operating at a warehouse fire in 1975.
Three of the apartment blocks have been named Pratchett Court, Wise Court and Fountain Court, after
Superintendent Henry Pratchett, Firefighter Daniel Fountain and Firefighter Richard Wise, who were awarded the Order of the British Empire for ‘conspicuous courage and devotion to duty’ while responding to a fire and explosion at a Watford munitions factory in February 1917.
The final apartment block has been named Wynne Court after Eric ‘Lofty’ Wynne, who joined the Watford
Volunteer Fire Brigade in 1926. He became full time in 1932 and trained over 200 auxiliary firefighter during the
Second World War. He continued to serve as a firefighter, then hydrant inspector, before finally retiring in 1968.
In December, Red Watch Watford visited Woodhall Primary
School to give a talk on fire safety and the importance of having a fire plan. The talk was led by Ff Doug Piercy, who has been promoting ‘Fire Plan Friday’ on Twitter for the last year.
During the visit, the crew set the children the task of producing their own fire plan, and they returned a week later to give out prizes for the best plan.
The feedback from the school was very positive, and Red Watch are now hoping to roll out this approach to the other schools in their area.

This started with CC Danny Murton delivering a presentation to the students about the hazards and risks of not concentrating when driving. The main subjects covered were the dangers of using a mobile phone when driving, not wearing a seat belt, speeding and being safe when riding a moped. This was supported by videos and statistics of incidents nationally.
An extrication demonstration had been setup outside but unknown to the students, two of them would be playing the role of the trapped occupants.
This proved to be an eye opener for the observing students and also for the volunteers inside the vehicle as the Hoddesdon crew worked their way through extrication. CC Murton was commentating through out the exercise explaining to them what methods the crew were using and how the crews would determine what priorities were taken.
Once the volunteers had been released, CCs Murton and Payne along with SC Macdonald returned to the hall with all the students to get their thoughts and feelings on what they had just witnessed. The students inside the vehicle spoke about their feelings, and so did the rest of the observers. The general feeling was that it had been an eye opener as to what could happen, and made the students think about the dangers of driving irresponsibly.
When questioned by CC Murton the students were all agreed that the presentation had been a good thing to get across to their age group, and although some of the videos were a little graphic, the shock tactics seemed to work. Since then the crew have had tremendous feedback from Sheredes School and they are keen for the crew to return and see their Year 11 students as well. The school would also like the crew to deliver fire safety demonstrations. Hoddeson are now in negotiation with the school to get this added to the school curriculum so that they can deliver this presentation on a yearly basis.
Royston firefighters have recently received training on handling, safety (personal and animal) and transportation of horses.
Ff Hampton led the training at her parents’ property where they have a number of horses and ponies.
Upon arrival she introduced the crew to a small pony and informed them the correct method to approach the animal so as not to scare it. The danger zones were also brought to the attention of the crew, such as where not to stand around the horse with special regards to kicking. She also demonstrated the way to fit a head collar and also how to construct one using a personal line.
Ff Hampton also taught the crew the safest way to lead a horse out of its stable and various techniques to gain some control over the animal. Positioning of straps for possible lifting was also addressed.
Having the ability to work with a live animal in a safe environment was extremely valuable in this training exercise.
The crew also got the chance to look around horse boxes and large transportation vehicles. Ff
Hampton explained the procedures to load and unload the vehicles and the possible problems that could happen if they become involved in an accident.

Dacorum and St Albans, along with Watford and Three Rivers, held four multi-agency exercises through November and
December themed around criminal hazmat incidents.
Using two different locations in
Hemel Hempstead crews were presented with four challenging scenarios.
• The first was metal thieves stripping a building and opening an unknown metal container and releasing Bromine (UN 1744).
• The second and third were three teenage girls carrying out a group suicide by mixing household chemicals to produce
Hydrogen Sulphide (UN 1053).
• The fourth incident was an attack on a nightclub by a rival gang using Hydrofluoric Acid (UN
1790).
The exercises were also designed to test Hemel’s back up station for decontamination
(which is St Albans) and allow them to run full decontamination for LLGTS wearers and set up using the latest recommendations from the new
Hazmat manual 2012.
It also allowed for the use of the new Dosatron, which allows for better and more controlled decontamination.
As part of the attendance at the exercise we were joined by the
CBRN Initial Response Team from the police and the
Hazardous Area Response Team
(HART) from the East of England
Ambulance Service.
The addition of both the police and ambulance service also allowed for Bronze and Silver
Commanders to practice command and control in a multi agency environment alongside our own NILO and HMLO officers.
The ability to run the exercises for all four watches has also been of great benefit allowing for the cooperation and understanding between the three services to improve throughout the four scenarios.
In total over 140 service personnel were given the opportunity to train alongside other services.
Some valuable learning points have been raised and these will be addressed in a full debrief in the future.
Finally, a big thank you to all the crews and officers that took part in the four exercises.
WC Paul Redhead
WW Hemel Hempstead
On 11 December, Red Watch Hemel participated in a high-rise exercise at
Eastwick Row. This followed a well prepared lecture on high-rise procedures from Ff Teye-Otum. The purpose of the exercise was to test our procedures for a failed rising main as well as incident command and pump operator skills. The crew worked hard to establish a water supply to the fire floor and getting the required resources to the bridgehead.
Some good practices were observed in addition to learning points identified.
CC Cavaciuti
Red Watch, Hemel

At the end of November, training and development instructors began to deliver their latest and most dynamic water course ‘Vehicle in
Flow’.
In order to run this course, our water instructors attended a Vehicle in Flow Instructor’s Course at
Outreach in Wales. The course is intense and demanding with prolonged periods of time spent in fast flowing water.
This has allowed our instructors to deliver a bespoke Vehicle in Flow training course to our WILO, first responder and National Resilience personnel. The course is being delivered in a controlled environment at the Lee Valley White
Water Centre. We continue to have a good working relationship with Lee
Valley, which forms part of the legacy from the 2012 Olympic
Games. If you are a WILO, first responder or part of the National
Resilience team and have not attended the course yet, you are in for a great, albeit challenging and demanding, training experience.
Last year Hertfordshire attended approximately 20 vehicles in water incidents. This course provides that additional expertise in order to better prepare our people for the challenges they face at operational incidents and raising awareness, whilst maintaining professional competencies as well as a safe working environment.
HFRS Training and Development
Centre are leading the way and are the first FRS in our region to deliver the Vehicle in Flow training.
SC Peter Hatherley
Our response to a health emergency was tested to the full recently when the Resilience Team arranged
Exercise Ace to see how the organisation would deal with a cryptosporidium outbreak at a number of our premises and to test various business continuity plans.
Representatives from all county council departments took part, with services at the Apsley Campus, Kings
Langley fire station, Kings Langley library and a number of schools and care homes all being affected.
As part of the exercise mock Incident
Management Team (IMT) and Site
Incident Management Team (SIMT) meetings were set up and participants were asked to run through how they would respond if the incident were for real.
The overall response from those taking part was positive and feedback shows that the session was worthwhile. Some learning points have also come out of the exercise and these will be implemented by the
Resilience Team.
Crews from
Borehamwood and
Watford have been working with their counterparts from the
London Fire Brigade to familiarise themselves with each other’s procedures and equipment.
On Friday 8 November Red Watch Watford hosted colleagues from
Edmonton, showing them the rope rescue equipment and sharing
Hertfordshire’s ways of working. In turn, Edmonton showed the
Watford crew around their Fire Rescue Unit. Watford were impressed with a lot of the equipment they carry particularly their long duration BA sets which come with telemetry.
Both crews were very enthusiastic and keen to share their knowledge and experiences which made the day very enjoyable. As
Watford now have contact with Edmonton, they will be arranging several joint exercises in the coming months and intend to role this out to other watches and stations in the district.
Meanwhile, Borehamwood spent a morning with the crews from
Mill Hill, comparing equipment and procedures. Seen in the photos attached are the crew of White Watch Mill Hill fire station using our
Lukas cutting equipment.

In September, Watford Fire Station’s long serving cleaner, Barbara, was knocked off her bicycle by an uninsured driver, writing off her bike – her only mode of transport – and causing considerable damage to one of her legs.
Due to the severity of her injuries Barbara has been unable to work since the accident
Andy Beeres on Blue Watch lead a collection for Barbara in an attempt to get her a new bike and get her back on the road when she’s physically willing and able. Watford Fire Station all donated generously and Andy liaised with
Halfords to negotiate a half-price rate for the replacement bike, along with a complimentary voucher. After buying the bike there was some money remaining for Barbara to buy a new helmet and lights to get her safely back on the road.
Blue Watch and Halfords presented the bike to Barbara on Saturday 14 December. Barbara was overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity and would like to thank everyone for their support and help on her road to recovery.
Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue
Service working in partnership with
HertsHelp has launched an exciting new jointly-funded initiative for vulnerable people to help them stay warm and well in the winter months.
As part of the Keep Warm Stay Well scheme, HFRS and HertsHelp have launched a service to deliver free heated overblankets to those in need who are struggling to stay warm in their homes.
The blankets provide safe, economical, localised heat, and are especially beneficial for the over 75s and those returning from hospital.
They will be provided to vulnerable people who are struggling to stay warm in their home.
This scheme is just one part of a budding partnership between HFRS and HertsHelp.
The Community Protection
Volunteer team has offered its support to HertsHelp, with 18 volunteers offering to give up their time to deliver heated overblankets and emergency heaters to those in need this winter. The Home Risk
Assessors are also supporting with this task.
This will be a great help, providing an evening and weekend service to supplement what Groundwork
Hertfordshire is already doing during office hours as part of the
HertsHelp partnership, and also relieving pressure on fire and rescue operational staff.
HFRS has two 4x4 Skoda Yeti vehicles, which are already on hand in the event of severe weather to help ensure that frontline workers can still get out to remote communities to provide essential services.
As part of HertsHelp, the volunteers and operational staff have offered to drive these vehicles so that emergency heaters and heated overblankets can continue to be delivered during severe weather.
It is hoped that Groundwork
Hertfordshire and HFRS will coordinate visits so that in one visit a client can receive a home fire safety check and a home energy efficiency assessment. Joint interventions can be provided and onwards referrals can be made as necessary, for example to Mediquip for falls prevention support.
Community Safety Home Risk
Assessor, Tracey Folds, explained:
“This partnership will make such a difference to vulnerable people in
Hertfordshire.
“I recently visited a single parent living in Watford with two children.
The house was very cold and the client had recently paid out a lot of money to have her boiler repaired, only to be told it was condemned.
“I provided her with two heaters and she thought she had won the pools
– she was so happy she cried! She said that I was the first person she had spoken to that day to do anything for her straight away.
“While I was there I was also able to carry out a home fire safety check, testing two smoke alarms and providing advice about escape routes, so the visit was very beneficial.
“Its so nice to be able to make a difference to a very genuine lady's life.”
The partnership is already having extremely positive results; in
December HFRS carried out 48
Home Fire Safety Checks with clients they would not normally have come into contact with, and referrals to Mediquip for falls advice have increased.

Upon completion of the recent internal Group Commander and
Station Commander interviews the following promotions and transfers have been agreed. These all came into effect on 6
January 2014.
Andy Hopcraft promoted to GC - WTR
Steve Holton promoted to GC - EHB
Tim Dedman promoted to SC HCC Resilience Team
Dick Lawrence promoted to SC - WTR
Bob Jackson promoted to SC - DAS
Justin Jones temporary promoted to SC - WTR
Mark Barber temporary promoted to SC - EHB
Frank Gollogly temporary promoted to SC - SNH
Jonathan Smith continues temporary promotion within JPS
GC Steve Tant permanently transferred to
CFOA Policy Support Officer
SC Rob Day permanently transferred to WHH
SC Sean Comerford permanently transferred to
Research & Development
SC Tony Robinson permanently transferred to
Research & Development
SC Dean Risley permanently transferred to
Research & Development
John McHale has been appointed as the
Prince's Trust Team Leader for the new
Broxbourne Team Programme which has begun this month. John is a Retained Watch
Commander based at Harpenden Fire Station and has been a regular instructor for the
Youth Engagement Team's Work Experience
Programme. John had to beat off some stiff competition and is now beginning a two week
Prince's Trust Team Leader Training Course in Essex.
In addition, Coral Jobson has now been confirmed at the permanent Prince's Trust
Team Leader based at Watford Fire Station.
Coral had been on secondment from Support
Services to run the courses which began in
May and September respectively.
Congratulations to both Coral and John on their appointments and we are looking forward to a hugely rewarding but challenging
2014 for the Prince's Trust Team Programme.
SC Rad Bristow has used a new line of contact –
OWL - to put out a message about home fire safety visits to 7,000 people across the Welwyn
Hatfield district.
OWL is a system used by
Hertfordshire
Constabulary and local coordinators to communicate with thousands of neighbourhood and business watch schemes across the county, providing watch members with the latest messages and crime alerts by email, telephone, SMS or fax.
The Welwyn Hatfield team have already had request for home fire safety visits as a result of the message, and they hope to be able to get regular themed messages out via the OWL system.
For more information on this channel, see www.owl.co.uk/herts/
Newly reformed, the
HCC Disability Network aims to provide information and support on disability-related topics and to promote diversity in the workplace.
For further information, please email disability.network@ hertfordshire.gov.uk
BAAS offer support and encouragement to
Black and Asian employees working for the county council.
For further information on the group please contact Mohamed Fawzi on x84602 (01442
454602) or via email at mohamed.fawzi@ hertfordshire.gov.uk
The HCC Carers Group is a virtual network coordinated by Carers in
Hertfordshire. Being part of the network allows employees to get in contact with other carers and share their experiences of being a carer.
To find out more email carer.support@carersin herts.org.uk with the reference ‘HCC
Employee’ as the email subject.
THE LGBT Network aims to provide information and support to HCC on LGBT topics, and has recently helped to coordinate
Hertfordshire’s first
LGBT Pride.
For more information, please email lgbt@hertfordshire.gov.
uk All correspondence to this email is treated confidentially.

Y u are a star...
This month’s You are a Star winner is Watch
Commander Nigel Harden, the LiFE Course
Manager in the Youth Engagement Team. Nigel successfully planned and organised a reunion event in October for young people who have attended a
LiFE Course in Hertfordshire since 2006. The day was packed full of fun events and displays for the young people to engage with and Nigel worked extremely hard to make it a success.
Nigel has also been undertaking extra work in the form of mentoring. A number of agencies including the police, Children’s Services and Youth Connexions have asked Nigel to mentor young people in order to help them overcome often very difficult circumstances in their lives. Nigel is currently mentoring a young man who has a dad with terminal mentoring work Nigel does in his own time and is completely voluntary.
Do you know someone who goes that extra mile to make a big difference? Please send your nominations for the You are a Star award to protect@hertscc.gov.uk
The service has a responsibility to ensure that employees get an opportunity to be consulted on anything at work which may affect their health and safety. The Health and Safety Co-ordinating Group is a body established to provide a forum for the service to discuss strategic matters relating to health, safety and welfare with staff and staff representatives.
Under normal circumstances employees should initially raise any health and safety concerns directly with their manager, or if they feel they cannot do this, approach their employee safety representative or trades union representative. Local safety committees may also meet on stations or within departments to provide a forum for employees to share health and safety concerns for discussion and hopefully resolution. However, if there are issues which have a strategic or policy implication these should be escalated to HASCOG for discussion.
Membership of HASCOG comprises key managers from Service
Delivery, Service Support,
Corporate Support and Protection
& Prevention. Representative bodies are invited to attend the meetings and this forms a key route of engagement as required under the Safety Reps and Safety
Committees Regulations 1977. The meetings are chaired by ACO Darryl
Keen who is responsible for health and safety management in the service.
opportunity for both uniformed and non-uniformed personnel to attend the meetings on a voluntary basis.
Please email veronica.adlam@ hertfordshire.gov.uk or darryl.keen@hertfordshire.gov.uk if you would be interested in attending any of the forthcoming meetings during 2014, depending upon the number of staff who register an interest there may be a need to manage attendees and all requests will be considered subject to crewing/staffing arrangements.
26 March 2014 10.00
18 June 2014 10.00
24 September 2014 10.00
17 December 2014 10.00
All the meetings are held in the
LCR at Service HQ
The views of all staff are valuable and participation in this group is therefore encouraged. ACO Keen would therefore like to extend the
We look forward to hearing from you.

The results of the annual health and safety audits have now been collated.
The majority of stations and sites completed the HFRS 109s on time and we received them by the end of
October. However, there were still eight outstanding well into December which meant some additional questions were missed. The lateness of some audits is somewhat of a disappointment since the audits are expected to be undertaken at the same time every year.
A number were extremely thorough in their completion but disappointingly some were completed using an old version despite us providing a link to the current form.
The themes which emerged this year related to general housekeeping issues, storage facilities and cleaning, defects and training: manual handling refreshers, food hygiene training, health and safety training.
This year a reminder was given to ensure that the Fire Risk Assessment was reviewed for every site and that the areas occupied by the ambulance staff were included in the assessment.
Currently the SIS HS03 relating to fire precautions on service premises is awaiting review by JPS.
As a follow-up to these audits ACO
Keen and Veronica Adlam will be undertaking Safety Tours of two sites early in 2014 to ascertain the progress made with the audit actions identified.
Managers and Station Commanders are asked to ensure
• they diarise the Health & Safety
Audit for completion every October
• that all old templates (prior to Sept
2013) are deleted from any electronic files
• that all actions identified on the audits are completed within the timescales set
• the outcome of the Fire Risk
Assessment is disseminated to ambulance personnel and their managers
The HFRS Service Leadership
Group continues to encourage staff to lead a healthy lifestyle including participation in regular physical activity. As part of this team sports have been a permitted activity on stations for many years. However this should be seen as a benefit to improve and maintain fitness and support team working but is not a right.
Between April and December
2013 seven injuries have occurred during fitness training.
This includes four which were reportable to the Health & Safety
Executive under the Reporting of
Injuries Diseases and Dangerous
Occurrences Regulations
(RIDDOR). One was a major/specified injury and three resulted in ‘over-7-days absence’ from work (one amounting to 111 days absence). All of these injuries had an impact on service delivery and represented a significant increase over the equivalent period last year from
April 2012 to March 2013 where there were only two fitness related injuries reported.
The Service policy SIS SO41
Physical Fitness outlines the arrangements for providing appropriate facilities, advice and guidance around fitness and wellbeing: Compass>
Community Protection –> Fire and Rescue > SIS policy library
> Service Orders > SO 41
Only appropriate kit should be worn for the activity concerned and the risk assessment undertaken/reviewed prior to commencing any sport should consider whether all of those taking part are suitably attired.
Risk assessments should be carried out for all physical fitness activities undertaken which must also consider the venue/area being used – e.g. sports centre; drill yard etc. In order to reduce the risk of injury all participants must have:
• A current Physical Fitness
Assessment (PFA), completed and passed to their age related level
• A Balance, Agility, Coordination and Speed (BACS) assessment every 6 months
Both should be signed off on
IPDS.
Every employee has responsibilities to:
• Report any shortcomings in the environment to their Watch
Fitness Coordinator prior to commencing any physical activity
• Only use equipment/facilities they have been trained to use
• Observe any safety guidance given in service publications or by their WFC
• Ensure their footwear/clothing is suitable for any activities which may be undertaken
• Ensure their conduct is not hazardous to themselves or anybody else
• Report any injuries that may preclude them from taking part in physical activities
In summary this requires that:
Team sports must be played in line with the rules of that sport and must be of a non-contact nature. Where contact is unavoidable, such as football this needs to be played carefully – for example fully committed tackles should be avoided. Team sports should be supervised by a nonplaying person.
Sports kit is provided by the service but it will only ever be a generic type. The service does not supply specialist footwear.
The Health and Safety
Coordinating Group (HASCOG) chaired by ACO Keen, monitors fitness related injuries and injury data is regularly presented to
SLG. If trends are identified relating to sports injuries then the necessary action may be taken to mitigate risks, this could include a cessation of that particular sport.

The programmed asbestos surveys of premises and sites occupied by the Fire and Rescue Service were completed in October. These were non-intrusive surveys presenting no risk to staff and any urgent works identified have already been commissioned.
By 31 January 2014 all the survey information on each station and site will be available electronically on the county council’s Corporate Property Database and a package of information distributed to all sites. Full access to this database will be provided to each station via a unique user name and password. This includes information on residential properties occupied by service personnel relevant to designated stations (i.e. Royston;
Hatfield; Bishops Stortford and Hitchin).
A general memo will be issued shortly explaining fully what the responsibilities are for the local management of asbestos together with the documents detailed below which will assist in the safe management of asbestos containing materials at each site:
1.
The Asbestos Management Survey for the site/premises which contains the full survey with colour photographs.
2.
The Site Specific Asbestos Management Plan comprising a spreadsheet indicating planned actions to be taken by those designated as responsible on site which includes carrying out an annual inspection, undertaking the Asbestos Awareness course on iLearn and attending the Management of Asbestos Training as required by the HCC policy: (Compass > Policies and
Procedures tab > Browse options > All Policies A-Z >
Asbestos for Non-Schools (v.3) )
3.
A guide to accessing the asbestos survey within the
Hazard Module of the Corporate Property Database including the site’s user name and password.
It is a legal requirement that the site’s Asbestos
Management Survey is brought to the attention of ALL staff – operational, non-operational, support staff and contractors. Managers and Station Commanders must ensure this is achieved by inclusion on staff’s annual
PMDS. It is also important that when contractors are allowed on to sites to undertake work that they are made aware of, and check, the Asbestos Management Survey to ensure that any work being undertaken does not place staff at risk.
Any assistance regarding access to the Corporate
Property Database will be available from the H&S Team
- Veronica Adlam, Peter Marshall or Alison Clinch on
01992 507550,513,551 or the Asbestos Team – Lucy
Goldsmith/Janet Wyatt on 01992 556059 or 257.
Issue
A Service Ford Ranger was towing a trailer which was loaded with a vehicle to be used at a RTC initiative.
Between J8 & J7 on the A1M, the vehicle/trailer combination began to oscillate and the driver was unable to control the movement. The
Ranger turned through 180 degrees and struck the central reservation.
No other vehicles were involved.
Findings
• The trailer had not been correctly • Driver training will be enhanced to loaded. The demonstration vehicle ensure that the towing and loading of had been reversed on to the trailer, trailers is adequately covered.
resulting in greater weight being at • Relevant Service Orders will be the rear which may have contributed to the instability of the vehicle/trailer combination.
• The driver had received only limited training in trailer towing & loading.
An appliance left the station with the charger lead attached.
• The crew did not manually remove the charger plug as required by procedures.
• The auto-eject mechanism failed due to an electronics fault in the vehicle.
Outcome & progress reviewed to ensure that the recommendations following the accident investigation are implemented, including all aspects of trailer procurement, maintenance and training.
• Crews must manually remove the charger plug prior to starting the appliance. The auto-eject system is a back-up mechanism and does not replace existing procedures.
• The appliance electronics fault has been rectified.
Following works by contractors, a high level facia panel had been found in a dangerous condition.
• The panel had been wedged in position using reels of tape and a metal bar against a gas pipe. If the wedge had failed, the metal bar could have struck any person standing below.
• A complaint was sent to HCC Property and the panel has now been correctly fixed.
• Personnel should be aware of the possibility of poor practices used by some contractors, where work is undertaken on sites the site manager or their representative should ensure that the site is left in a safe condition.

The crew at Buntingford held a cycle event during the yearly late night shopping evening on Buntingford High
Street. The crew were aiming to cycle, using static turbo trainers, the 117 mile length of the M25. The aim of the event was to raise funds for the Fire Fighters Charity, while providing winter fire safety advice to shoppers.
Alongside the crew, Station Commander Ian McKenzie, local police and Luke Fone, a local resident, all jumped on the two bikes to pedal a total of 200 miles. A grand total of £245.07 was raised for the Fire Fighters Charity, demonstrating great support by the local community.
CC Wesley Cook - Buntingford Fire Station
While many community protection staff have very active jobs, a lot of us will be reading this sitting in front of a computer – and if you’re like most computer users you’ve probably been in your chair for a while.
And if you sit while you commute to work, sit at a desk for hours and then unwind by sitting in front of the TV then you’re probably inactive for longer than you realise.
Research shows that long periods of physical inactivity raise your risk of developing heart disease, Diabetes, cancer and obesity - so why not take action and get involved in
Workplace Challenge
Hertfordshire?
This eight-week challenge is free for
anyone to get involved with (no matter how active you are) - all you need to do is register for free at www.workplacechalleng
e.org.uk/herts/ and you could win a prize. Just log the amount of exercise and active travel you do, which will then be converted to points and appear in a series of leaderboards.
Why not set up circles of friends or colleagues to help motivate each other?
You can challenge each other to do better, and could get competitive by going head-to-head with other departments, sites or even organisations.
You will be able to view statistics on your level of activity and weight loss and access a range of health information, local events and advice.
You can call the Occupational Health Unit on
01438 847316 or Carewell on 0800 731 0905, seven days-a-week, 24 hours a day.
Information and advice is also available online at http://www.ppconline.info
You will need to enter the username and password to access the site