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Flood Rescue Concept of Operations
Issued by Defra
In Spring 2006, Defra undertook a detailed capability assessment of flood emergency planning and preparedness in England and Wales, based on the outputs of the National Capability Survey 2006. The analysis clearly showed a shortfall in capability to rescue people when compared against the planning assumptions for a severe east coast flood. Since this time, the capability has improved with the purchasing of additional rescue craft by a number of organisations, in particular Fire and Rescue Services. At the same time, organisations adopting a collaborative approach to training their staff in flood/water rescue.
The floods in Summer 2007 aggressively tested flood rescue capability across England. Sir Michael Pitt's review praised the role of many organisations carrying out flood rescue, including the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS), the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the Armed Forces. Evidence submitted to his Review also highlighted the valuable role of other voluntary search and rescue organisations such as Rapid UK, Severn Area Rescue Association and Avon and Somerset Search and Rescue.
Despite recent improvements in capability, evidence also showed that in the event of another wide-area flooding emergency, those responding would still not necessarily have the right resources or training to respond safely.