Content

Search and Rescue

Hampshire Firefighters deployed to Haiti...

14 Jan 2010

Three Hampshire firefighters are currently on their way to Haiti to assist with an international search and rescue operation after the country was hit by a severe earthquake.

The earthquake struck at around 5pm local time (10pm GMT) on Tuesday, January 12 with the request for mobilisation from the Department For International Development (DFID) coming shortly afterwards.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) is currently not on call for United Kingdom International Search and Rescue (UKISAR) and as a result HFRS is not mobilising a full team. Instead HFRS is responsible for mobilising and coordinating the United Kingdom contingent, which is made up of 64 firefighters, two dogs and 12 tonnes of equipment.

Three Hampshire firefighters are on the plane currently en route to the earthquake zone – Keith Bellamy, Dave Heybourne and John Taylor. All three are Urban Search and Rescue specialists with John also trained as a medic.

up

Joining them on the flight are firefighters from Greater Manchester, West Sussex, Kent, West Midlands, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, as well as Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Services.

Hampshire has had an international Search and Rescue team since 1991, when the Service was one of the original members of UKISAR.  

This team is a group of 13 UK Fire Brigades who each provide specially trained volunteers to respond to overseas disasters on behalf of the UK Government. Hampshire has since provided trained volunteers and equipment whenever required and was most recently deployed to the Indonesian earthquake in 2009.

Hampshire also plays a key role in coordinating UKISAR and has over the years run several national training exercises.

The UKISAR team were the first in the world to re-qualify as a heavy rescue team when they underwent a United Nations assessment at an exercise at Fort Widley in June 2009.

<< news calendar