Agenda and minutes

The Chairman, CC Holgate introduced Group Manager Mark Hutton, Community Protection Manager (Northern Area) who presented Members with an overview of the LFRS contribution to the Response and Recovery efforts due to the North Lancashire Floods that occurred on the evening of 22 November 2017.

GM Hutton explained that the Service had received comparatively little warning from the Flood Advisory Service as, although heavy rain had been forecast, and Flood Alerts issued the static nature of the weather system had not been foreseen which from the onset of the event in the late afternoon rapidly resulted in the escalation to flood warnings. This event was different from fluvial flooding seen during events such as Storm Desmond as this was an incredibly intense period of rainfall within a very defined geographical area which remained static over North Lancashire.  It was reported that the monitoring equipment at Lancashire University recorded the highest rainfall ever recorded in such a short period of time.  The impacts were mostly felt in Lancaster, Wyre and Blackpool and the Service received calls from across these Districts i.e. not just localised around rivers, with some communities being completely unaffected whilst others nearby had been very severely impacted.

The total number of flooding calls which North West Fire Control (NWFC) received and LFRS responded to was tabled.  This illustrated how the Service had responded by moving large numbers of fire appliances into the North of the County to ensure appliances were available for rescues.

NWFC handled 395 calls during the event; every call was prioritised based on life risk to balance speed and allocation of resources. Although response activity initially focused on ‘pumping out’ and property protection, as the weather event and associated impacts escalated the focus increasingly became protection of life and responding to persons trapped in vehicles and properties. Incident records will show that the Service rescued 76 people and 20 horses, with no injuries being reported throughout the response which involved 39 Fire Appliances.

In addition a High Volume pump was deployed in Lancaster, protecting utility supplies to over 100 flats which prevented residents from being rehoused. A Tactical co-ordinating group was established at Lancaster Hall enacting pre-prepared plans. Also present alongside Local Authority and Police staff were the Coastguard who had taken part in rescue operations and also assessed river levels. Close liaison was maintained with the Environment Agency and the Fire and Rescue Service National Co-Ordinating Centre and National Resilience Advisory Team throughout to constantly assess likely further developments and prepare potential future resource requirements. The LFRS Corporate Communications Team were based in the Command Support room at Service Headquarters.

A recovery group was established by Lancaster City Council for those residents most severely affected and for other districts, although recovery was an important issue it was not required to be managed in the same way, in those Districts LFRS Officers worked with Council Officers on specific recovery issues.  LFRS attended in Galgate for four days after the flooding, every household affected by the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19/17