Rather than trying to produce detailed plans for responding to every conceivable disaster, the Government is developing a set of core capabilities, which will allow a rapid and flexible approach to a wide range of incidents.
So says a recent joint Government (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) and Fire Service document โProtecting the Public โ New Dimension programmeโ. A disaster may be the Carlisle or Glastonbury 2005 pop festival floods, or the July 7 bombs, the document notes. The New Dimension programme is in the documentโs words to โprovide an organisational capability and structure to enable the delivery of a co-ordinated national response to a range of catastrophic incidentsโ. This takes in decontamination after chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) incidents; and rescue of trapped survivors (who may be contaminated). Trial units of CBRN detection, identification, and monitoring units have been distributed and were used in the London bombings to ensure that there was no contamination present, the document reveals.
