Shared buildings, shared facilities!
Last year saw the opening of two combined police/fire stations in Wiltshire. New facilities at Mere and Bradford on Avon were opened. In Mere, the purpose built station in White Road , opposite the ‘old’ police house. In Bradford on Avon , the new station is attached to the rear of the Fire Station in Station Approach.
The Fire Services has benefited with better security at these fire stations and both services are benefiting from working more closely with a better understanding of each other’s needs and work practices. Costs are lower, with shared facilities for refreshments, office space and welfare.
At Stratton Station, Highworth Road , Swindon , the Ambulance Services share facilities and the hard standing! In order to better reach emergency situations promptly, Ambulance have a standby facility at Stratton, which is one of four such facilities in Swindon . At Warminster Police Station, the Ambulance Services have use of one of the Police houses for offices and facilities for the staff, and utilise the shared parking for siting Ambulances, likewise at West Swindon Police Point, part of the Link complex, shared staff and office facilities exist for the Ambulance Services.
High drama in Chippenham’s great escape!
Demonstration photo for illustrative purposes only
Onlookers may have through that the BBC was filming an episode of ‘Casualty’, but back in September Chippenham High Street was actually the base for the swift and effective evacuation of nine staff members who have been affected by fumes in a more down to earth (although no less serious) incident at Boots the Chemist.
At about 11.30am on Wednesday 15 th September, an urgent call for help came from staff at Boots who were experiencing a problem with fumes from caustic soda that had been put into a hand basin in order to clean it. The call initially came in to Fire and Ambulance Control, and via the shared technology in the new Communications Centre, Wiltshire Police were also able to initiate an urgent response to support the work of the other two emergency services and send officers to provide a cordon ad keep members of the public away from the scene.
Ambulance and Fire personnel were on the scene quickly and worked together to escort nine members of staff affected to a waiting ambulance and then to Chippenham Hospital . Wiltshire Fire Brigade wore decontamination suits to dilute the chemical and ventilate the area.
Police Officers based at Chippenham Police Station ensured that the area around the shop was cordoned off and reassured members of the public who were concerned about what was going on.
The main part of the shop was closed for the rest of the day, but staff were able to re-open the dispensary later that day.
The Boots staff were checked over thoroughly and fortunately had not suffered any lasting ill effects. They all returned to work the next day. No shoppers were affected.
Mr Shaun Hill, manager of Boots in Chippenham, commented: “The emergency services arrived within minutes and did a fantastic job to ensure the safety of our staff and customers.”
Safety first in managing exploding lorry!
In May this year, all three emergency services were involved in safely containing a lorry fire in a vehicle that had been laying a new road surface. Fire officers from Melksham Fire station were first at the scene and called for police assistance to help organise the traffic in the area.
The lorry help propane gas cylinders on board, and what originally started as a small fire, had ignited one of the cylinders.
Wiltshire’s Police Helicopter/Air Ambulance was called in to help by using its infra-red camera to look for sources of heat.
From the initial call into the communications centre, to the opening of the road, the incident was safely contained with no casualties, and saw all three services working efficiently and effectively together.
