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Planning for Environmental Protection
19 November 2009
The Fire and Rescue Service has worked closely with the
Environment Agency since 1994 following concerns on the Agency’s
part that Fire Services needed to place greater priority in
considering the potential environmental impact in dealing with
incidents.
This relationship has strengthened in the intervening period to
the extent that the Agency has funded the placing of specialist
Environmental Protection Units at most local Fire and Rescue
Services (FRS), and has provided “Grab Packs” to Fire and Rescue
Authorities (FRAs) which contain chemical spill mats, putty, drain
mats, a boom, and a contaminated equipment bag. Both are used at
incidents where a chemical leak has occurred, or there might be
chemicals on the scene.
This strong collaborative partnership has led to measurable
benefits being provided to the environment. For example, the
Environment Agency estimates that it attends an estimated 39% fewer
incidents as a consequence of FRS attendance. This leaves the
Agency free to expend time and resources on other issues. In
addition, it has been able to prove that the attendance of the fire
services often leads to a reduction in the category of severity
attributed to an incident.
It is therefore surprising that it took until October of this
year for a manual within the Fire Services Operations series to be
dedicated to Environmental Protection. The “Fire and Rescue
Manual – Volume 2: Fire Services Operations – Environmental
Protection” was published in October 2008 and a copy was sent to
all local FRAs. The Manual contains information and guidance
designed to support fire fighters, service managers and trainers in
their work at operational incidents and during their day to day
activities. It contains guidance on preventing and dealing
with incidents with the potential to pollute. It also requires that
the protection of the environment is built into planning
documents.
The most significant planning document for FRS is the Integrated
Risk Management Plan (IRMP). In August 2008 the Department
for Communities and Local Government published IRMP Policy Guidance
on Environmental Protection which made it clear that environmental
protection issues should be built into IRMPs. FRAs are recommended
to take various steps to deliver environmental protection and
planning as part of the production and updating of IRMPs.
Some of the steps recommended represent significant work
streams.
This includes undertaking a review of local working arrangements
between the FRA and the Environment Agency. As both
organisations operate on a regional basis it is clear that the
relationship will be stronger in some areas than in others.
As an example of good practice, the Policy Guidance details the
relationship between the Environment Agency, the Highways Agency
and the FRA in Cumbria, which has led to the formation of the
Cumbria Emergency Environmental Group. The clear implication
is that all FRAs should have similarly good working relationships
with their local Environment Agency and Highways Agency
contacts.
Good working relationships will also enable FRAs to more easily
establish planning arrangements for incidents that may have an
adverse effect on the environment (which is also a recommendation
contained in the Policy Guidance). It is recommended that
such arrangements should include plans which detail the specific
measures required for sites that constitute a significant risk to
the environment in the form of incident response plans.
The Policy Guidance also states that personnel should have
access to information about the environmental conditions of sites
within their station area including potential pollution sources,
the sensitivity and vulnerability of the area, the pathways any
pollutant will follow before it enters the environment and areas at
a site where containment can be undertaken. The Environment
Agency is likely to be able to provide much of the information
required, and it is likely that the easiest way for this
information to be communicated to personnel will be through
incident response plans, although it would be wise for some more
general information to be passed on to fire fighters in
training. Precedent incident response forms are annexed to
the Policy Guidance.
Whilst the issue of the Policy Guidance, and the new Operational
Guidance, does not represent a sea change in the approach to
environmental protection by the Fire Services, they do represent a
requirement to formalise that approach in response planning and
more generally. Undoubtedly, most FRAs will be required to
undertake additional work to enable planning to the level of detail
required to be undertaken, but this work will almost definitely
lead to stronger working relationships with other agencies involved
in this area, which will make compliance into the future
significantly easier.
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