Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service named Emergency Service of the Year for their work during pandemic

The service received the prestigious award earlier this month.
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Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) has been named FIRE Magazine’s Emergency Service of the Year for 2020/2021.

The prestigious Emergency Service of the Year accolade, part of the Excellence in Fire and Emergency Awards, was awarded to LFRS for being at the forefront of the country’s fire sector response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Throughout the pandemic, over 220 LFRS staff carried out additional activities on top of their usual work, going above and beyond to keep communities within Lancashire safe, from providing essential equipment to administrating vaccinations.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue staff  collecting the award in London. L-R: Gerry Hellier, Kelly Wood, Justin Johnston, Sarah Holden, Faz Patel and Mark Warwick.Lancashire Fire and Rescue staff  collecting the award in London. L-R: Gerry Hellier, Kelly Wood, Justin Johnston, Sarah Holden, Faz Patel and Mark Warwick.
Lancashire Fire and Rescue staff collecting the award in London. L-R: Gerry Hellier, Kelly Wood, Justin Johnston, Sarah Holden, Faz Patel and Mark Warwick.

Chief Fire Officer Justin Johnson, who collected the trophy along with other members of the LFRS team, said: “I am delighted that the Service won Emergency Service of the Year. It truly is deserved, and every member of the Service has contributed to this fantastic achievement.

“From attending challenging operational incidents to the incredible work of our support staff and fire safety teams, whilst not forgetting our staff who have led and supported the response to coronavirus over the last two years.

“Thank you to all of you for helping Lancashire achieve this award.”

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In April 2020, over 30 LFRS staff provided face fitting for P3 masks to hospital and social care workers, whilst others went out across the region for the first few months of the first lockdown, distributing food parcels to vulnerable people who were shielding.

LFRS were recognised for their additional work throughout the pandemic.LFRS were recognised for their additional work throughout the pandemic.
LFRS were recognised for their additional work throughout the pandemic.

They also distributed essential PPE equipment including, aprons, gloves, eye protection and masks, to those who needed it most, including nursing and care homes.

Some LFRS staff also assisted with the set up of the temporary mortuary at BAE systems whilst many others worked as fire safety regulators within the design, and built a team for the Lancashire Recovery Centre, based at the University of Central Lancashire’s Sports Centre.

Then in December 2020, LFRS was the first Fire & Rescue Service in the UK to roll out Lateral Flow Testing (LFT) to its staff, also assisting other fire services with their swift rollout of LFTs, and they led the way in assisting the NHS with the start of the country’s mass vaccination programme, by providing marshals to keep the older and more vulnerable people safe and warm at vaccination sites.

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This support extended in January 2021 as they became the first Fire & Rescue Service to assist the NHS with their fully trained COVID-19 vaccinators, so that overall a total of 328 LFRS staff supported the delivery of nearly 500,000 vaccines, at 22 sites across Lancashire, through marshalling and vaccinator roles.

All this additional work during the pandemic happened while LFRS continued to provide its usual operational response to local communities, this included attended two major incidents, with the large wildfires in summer 2020, and a tragic gas explosion in Morecambe, in which a young boy sadly died.

During his recent visit to Lancashire, the Minister for Fire Lord Stephen Greenhalgh said: “Firefighters and fire staff across the country have worked incredibly hard to support the coronavirus response, and Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service is an exceptional example.

“The team in Lancashire has led the way, becoming the first fire service in the country to assist the NHS with the distribution of the vaccine and fully train their staff as vaccinators.

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“By doing so, they have shown that those in fire services are ready, willing and able to go above and beyond to keep the British public safe, once again demonstrating they truly are the very best of us.”

The Emergency Service of the Year award, which in 2019 went to Derbyshire FRS, was one of 16 Excellence in Fire and Emergency Awards handed out on Friday December 3 in London, as part of FIRE Magazine’s inaugural annual event.