Emergency Services
From SR
Main Services
The UK Emergency Services is comprised of three main servcies:
Additional Services
- "Green Goddess" fire appliances are provided by the Home Office and are used at various times as cover during dispute involving the fire service and its employees.
- Marine Services Agency - This was previously Her Majesty's Coastguard. Marine Services Agency is part of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Main responsibilities are co-ordination of marine rescues, cliff, beach and mud rescues, shipping, disabled craft and swimmer rescues. There are three divisions; Eastern, Scotland & Northern Ireland and Western. Operations are carried out from 6 Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centres (MRCC’s) and assisted by 13 Marine Rescue Sub Centres (MRSC’s):
- Eastern - Dover, Yarmouth, Humber, London, Portland, Solent, Thames
- Scotland/NI Aberdeen - Clyde, Belfast, Forth, Shetland, Stornoway
- Western - Falmouth, Swansea ,Brixham, Holyhead, Liverpool, Milford, Haven
- There are a further 54 Sector Bases, and 186 Auxiliary Stations and the operational fleet is 334 vehicles, 110 Trailers and 34 boats.
- Lifeboat Services - In the UK and Eire these are provided by The Royal Lifeboat National Institution, a service manned largely by volunteers and funded by public subscription. There is a small vehicle fleet, including specialised tractors for launching/retrieving lifeboats from beaches
- Cave and Mountain Rescue Teams - All mountainous areas of the UK have dedicated volunteers trained to operate as rescue teams. Incidents usually involve injured climbers, lost school parties, etc. They can co-ordinate with local emergency services to remove injured persons, often calling RAF and Royal Navy helicopters if needed. Similar teams operate to cover areas which include large cave and pothole networks.
