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Operations Support Department
Equipment Team
Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service Operational Support Department
maintains a specialist Equipment Team with a mission statement
to assist in the reduction of death, injury, loss of property
and damage to the environment by ensuring that operational staff
are equipped with the best means available to support fire fighting
and rescue operations. The team consist of a Divisional Officer
(Equipment Manager), Station Officer (Team Leader), Sub.Officer,
Two Leading Fire Fighters and a department administrator. The
work of the team ranges from the management of equipment maintenance,
the production of technical instructions, research and development
through to the procurement and introduction of new equipment.
The Operational Vehicle Fleet
 The
Service maintains a front line fleet of forty two pumping appliances,
five aerial appliances and eighteen special units known as PODS.
The PODS are conveyed to incidents by eight prime mover vehicles.
Currently the Aerial Appliances are all thirty metre Bronto Skylifts.The
POD units consist of Special Rescue Units, Foam Units, Ships
Fire Fighting Unit, Breathing Apparatus Unit, Hose Laying Units,
General Purpose Unit and Command and Control Unit.
New Equipment
Breathing Apparatus
The team has recently introduced new breathing apparatus sets
throughout the service. The new set is the Sabre Contour. It
has been accompanied by the provision of Marconi REDS (Radio
Emergency Distress System) emergency evacuation system. The
equipment automatically records, via radio telemetry, the time
that breathing apparatus is started up by the wearer removing
the Breathing Apparatus (BA) tally from it's housing. It is possible
for the BA operator to signal an emergency alarm. This alarm
is immediately registered at the control point outside the emergency
area, thus enabling the Breathing Apparatus Entry Control Officer
(BAECO) to dispatch emergency assistance at the first opportunity.
Additionally it is possible for the BAECO to simultaneously cause
the alarm of every BA operator to sound whilst they are inside
the incident thereby causing an evacuation.Additionally Merseyside
Fire & Rescue Service is the first UK fire service to utilise
the Sabre Black Box. The "Black Box" enables the telemetry
capability of the REDS system to be utilised to the full. It
also records the working pneumatics of the set from the moment
the main cylinder valve is turned on and can record up to the
last eight hours usage on a continuous cycle.Once the REDS tally
is removed from its housing the black box communicates with the
REDS base station at the BA Entry Control Point. The BAECO can
monitor each operator and can determine the amount of air remaining
in the operator's cylinder. This can assist in the positioning
of relief BA operators and gives an indication of the exertion
that personnel are under whilst at the emergency scene.
Rope Access Equipment
 Merseyside
Fire & Rescue Service has introduced a new rope access system
that is compatible with neighbouring services in Lancashire and
Cheshire County. The equipment obtained from the National Access
Rescue Centre, consists of full body harness, 50 metre ropes,
lowering devices and additional hardware. The purpose of the
equipment is to enable personnel to gain safe access to confined
spaces, to ensure the safety of personnel when working at heights
and to make safe casualties stranded at high level.Merseyside
Fire & Rescue Service has an agreement to utilise Lancashire
County Fire Service Rope Rescue Team. The provision of similar
equipment to Lancashire County will assist Merseyside personnel
to stabilise situations whilst awaiting the arrival of the more
experienced team from Lancashire if it is considered necessary.
Hydraulic Rescue Equipment
Each of our new appliances will be equipped with Lukas Hydraulic
Rescue Equipment. The equipment benefits from a supersilent hydraulic
power generator and an intelligent valve that enables the equipment
to be used without an operator supervising the power generation
system. This means that an extra person can be at the rescue
site to assist with any release difficulties.
Radiation Monitoring Equipment
Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service has acquired the latest
electronic radiation surveying equipment available from British
Nuclear Fuels. The equipment includes electronic dosimeters,
survey meters and contamination probes. All equipment has audible
alarms that actuate when a pre determined radiation level is
reached.
Scotchtrak Heat Tracers
Scotchtrak heat tracers will shortly be issued to the service
chemical incident unit. The heat tracer is a non-contact thermometer,
which is simply pointed at the target and read. It operates within
the range of -18 degrees centigrade to 870 degrees centigrade.
New Appliances
The Service has just taken delivery of five new Scania pumping
appliances. The vehicles will be fitted with the latest equipment
available and will go on the run at the following stations:Allerton,
Old Swan, Low Hill, Birkenhead and Upton.Additionally Merseyside
has replaced its Command and Control Unit. The new unit will
be situated at Wallasey Fire Station. The Control Unit will be
one of the most advanced vehicles in the country.It will include
facilities such as:
Incident Overhead Mapping. This will
display an overhead view of any site or address in the Merseyside
Area.
Full Radio Communications Installation. This
will enable the vehicle to communicate with the fire service
main control room, personnel within the emergency incident area,
the Coast Guard, full marine radio facilities and Merseyside
Police Force Helicopter.
Fire Ground Television.The Incident
Commander will be able to view pictures of the incident direct
from service personnel under the control of the unit. In addition
if the incident is so serious that the Merseyside Police Helicopter
is in attendance it is possible to down link from the helicopter
and view aerial views from the helicopter cameras. This will
be of tremendous benefit when deploying resources at major incidents
and for tracking pollution and any environmental damage that
is emanating from a site thus enabling early preventative and
mitigating action.
Computer Record Facilities.The unit
will be equipped with the latest computer facilities to ensure
that full records are kept of the emergency incident. This will
provide concise briefing documents to be created for oncoming
personnel.The computers will have the latest available chemical
and decontamination information. Additionally there will be full
office back up with fax and copying machines together with secondary
communications links in the unlikely event of an unexpected failure.
Further Information
If you have any queries or require further information regarding
any of the equipment described please contact the Equipment Team
at Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service.
Mobilising and Communications Centre (MACC)
 MACC
is the Mobilising and Communications Centre for Merseyside Fire & Rescue
Service. It is staffed 24hrs a day and 365 days ayear by some
50 personnel all working a shift system. This Centre answer calls
that are connected by the emergency operator and dispatches appliances
to a variety of incidents including fire calls, road traffic
accidents and chemical spillages.
The details of the fire or incident are taken by the Fire Service
Operator and entered into a computer. This searches to find the
nearest fire engine to send. The address is located in the database
and the engines are dispatched by sending the address to the
fire station via a printer.
It is essential that when passing emergency calls the correct
and relevant details are given to the Fire Service Operator as
they are requested. The more accurate the address given, the
quicker the Fire Service Operator can locate the correct address
and dispatch the engines.
 MACC
received 66,477 emergency calls during the period 01/4/00 to
21/03/01. 1,120 of these were unwanted, malicious calls.The Fire
Service Operator will challenge any call that is suspected to
be malicious. All calls received by the Fire Service are recorded
and there is a procedure in place to use the recording to assist
in tracking down anyone who passes a malicious emergency call.
These calls take operational staff away from other work such
as Home Fire Risk Assessments and Training as well as tying up
a fire engine when it could be used for a real emergency.
The database that is used for the mobilisation of fire engines
to incidents is updated daily ensuring that correct and accurate
information is available to the Fire Service Operator when handling
emergency calls. Such details as new roads, roadworks, water
shortage and so on are added into the system on a daily basis.
Details of every incident and the movement of every emergency
vehicle in the Service are recorded on to the computer to ensure
that the nearest to the incident are dispatched. Each emergency
call is monitored until completion. Fire Service Operators co-ordinate
the requests from the incident for other services and equipment.
The Fire Service Operators are involved in other work when not
answering emergency calls and dealing with them. This work involves
completing databases for other departments, training on new procedures
and other routine work.
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