New Dimension

As climate change increased the number of natural disasters in the UK and following the 'New Dimension' terrorist attacks early this century the Government decided to strengthen the capability of the emergency services to respond to these incidents by launching its New Dimension project. Through the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) they provided national resilience for equipment and training to establish a standardised national response for numerous Fire and Rescue Services in several critical disciplines. Those in Merseyside included CBRN, USAR, and Water/High volume pump response.

Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear (CBRN)

Split into two main areas of Mass Decontamination (MD) and Detection, Identification, and Monitoring (DIM)

Based at Station 10 Kirkdale Community Fire Station the Mass Decontamination Unit (MDU) and the Incident Response Unit (IRU) carry large amounts of equipment e.g. disrobe shelters, showers and clothing, capable of the rapid, safe decontamination of large numbers of members of the public.

Operating from Station 21 Bromborough Community Fire Station one of the UK's 18 DIM vehicles has the capability to attend hazmat incidents, deployed with a DIM officer, and use its technological equipment to identify substances quickly and establish the relevant course of action.

Urban Search And Rescue (USAR)

Attending a wide variety of collapses as well as heavy vehicle incidents, MF&RS's USAR team, comprising of Search and Rescue Team (SRT) personnel, is based at Station 19 Croxteth Community Fire Station. Equipment for breaking and breaching, structural shoring, technical search, lifting and moving is carried on five demountable modules. The Canine Search Team also deploy as part of the USAR team.

Water and High Volume Pump

Based at Station 24 West Kirby Community Fire Station but also staffed by personnel from 22 Heswall are two demountable modules carrying a hydrosub High Volume Pump ( HVP) as well as several kilometres of 150mm hose for use at incidents, which require large amounts of water to be either supplied, or removed.