LONDON FIRE Brigade (LFB) has announced that firefighters who have ‘been on the frontline’ in support of other services during the COVID-19 pandemic will be commended and recognised.
LFB stated in a press release that firefighters ‘who have been on the frontline of the fight’ during the COVID-19 pandemic during ‘the longest sustained operation [LFB] has seen since the Blitz’ will be recognised for their work. Operation Braidwood saw firefighters driving ambulances to assist London Ambulance Service, and responding to deaths in the community from the virus, with LFB adding that it was ‘the most significant collaboration project London has ever seen’.
The operation involved the ‘largest deployment of firefighters’ outside LFB and is ‘the longest sustained’ since the Second World War, with 500 staff who have taken part to be presented with specially commissioned commemorative coins and certificates. LFB added that its has ‘adapted to new ways of working’ while still ‘continuing to provide’ an emergency service ‘to one of the largest cities in the world’, including helping deliver 20m pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Firefighters drove ambulances to over 110,000 incidents and delivered food and medicine to vulnerable people, with commissioner Andy Roe to recognise staff ‘who have gone above and beyond’ throughout the pandemic. Among the 450 calls attended by firefighters driving ambulances were 9,851 cardiac arrests, 944 pregnancy related incidents, over 56,000 patients driven to hospital, over 9,000 COVID-19 specific calls and over 6,300 patients with breathing problems.
In turn, over 100 firefighters were part of the pandemic multiagency response teams set up to confirm deaths and identify Londoners who had passed away, as well as preparing their bodies to be collected by an undertaker, having ‘sadly responded to 751 deaths in the community’ in the first wave last year. Staff have also made over 1,000 welfare support phone calls to colleagues in Operation Braidwood, after volunteering to be ‘buddies’ and offer one to one support.
The coins were the suggestion of deputy assistant commissioner Dave O’Neill, who was awarded an MBE for his work as head of Operation Braidwood, while the certificates are signed by Mr Roe and Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick or London Ambulance Service chief executive Garrett Emmerson.
Mr Roe said: ‘As we look to mark a year since the start of the pandemic, it’s important to reflect and remember the people who have died and who have been bereaved - my thoughts go out to all of them. The dedication, professionalism and courage shown by all our staff over the last 12 difficult months has been immense and I couldn’t be prouder. I wanted to personally thank those staff who truly have been on the frontline of Coronavirus.
‘Many of them were faced with situations which even firefighters don’t see on a regular basis and they have all carried out an incredibly difficult job with dignity and respect. Away from the frontline, Brigade staff have been quick to adapt to the challenges of the pandemic and many took on extra responsibilities.
‘Community safety staff called hundreds of vulnerable residents who had taken part in fire, safe and well visits to check on them during lockdown and our community safety work has been tailored to stay relevant during the pandemic. I know all Brigade staff will continue to work as hard as they have been for the last year and I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of them for their efforts.”
Dr Fiona Twycross, deputy mayor for fire and resilience, added: ‘London’s firefighters have been on the frontline of the response to COVID-19, continuing to respond swiftly to incidents across the capital, as well delivering food to vulnerable Londoners, volunteering to drive ambulances with the London Ambulance Service and distributing PPE.
‘On behalf of all Londoners, I want to thank our firefighters and [LFB] staff for their extraordinary dedication and hard work during the pandemic. Sadly the number of COVID-19 cases in our city remains high, and I want to encourage Londoners to show their thanks to our brilliant emergency service workers by continuing to follow the rules and taking the vaccine when offered the chance to do so.’
Earlier this month, FRS staff were made part of the COVID-19 rapid testing programme, as ‘part of a drive to keep staff, their colleagues, families and the communities they serve, safe’. In the early stages of lockdown, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and the national employer confirmed activities to assist key services had been agreed, including mask face fitting, delivering PPE, administering tests, and driving as well as training on driving ambulances.
Last April, a further agreement saw 300 LFB firefighters drive ambulances and assist paramedics in London’s pandemic response, after news that firefighters would aim to protect the vulnerable in society by avoiding hospitals and care homes, as part of an agreed ‘critical risk-based service’. Prior to this, FRS staff had been confirmed to be undertaking antigen testing, driving non blue light ambulance transport and non COVID patients, and training others to drive ambulances.
Also in April, it was revealed that over 4,000 FRS staff had volunteered to assist, while a further 10,000 were ‘on standby to assist as and when required’. In May, the three bodies agreed firefighters could build protective face shields for frontline NHS staff and care staff, and transfer patients from and to Nightingale hospitals, alongside packaging and repackaging food supplies.
Later that month, the NFCC confirmed FRSs would ‘work with local partners to support care homes’, and then confirmed that the agreements were ‘extended’. The agreement was extended again in late July, and towards the end of last year extended again, with FRSs preparing for the ‘second wave’.
FRSs had been asked to risk assess all activities, ‘including those that haven’t been requested by Local Resilience Forums’, with risk assessments for nationally agreed activities implanted locally, and the agreement able to be extended further. Last December, the NFCC and Fire Minister Lord Greenhalgh discussed their ‘pride’ in the FRS response, before it was revealed FRSs were ‘ready to help’ with delivering vaccines and assisting the test and trace programme, as part of a new agreement.
At the time, the FBU said this would see firefighters check that ‘potential higher risk premises are COVID-secure’, inspecting workplaces ‘where relevant authorities have raised concerns’ about COVID security. The previous agreements had become ‘much longer term than originally envisaged’, so the new tasks and 14 continuing responsibilities were to ‘come under’ the jurisdiction of the National Joint Council.
That new agreement was in place until January, but ‘with a view to extension beyond that’. However, in January the FBU announced that the national employer and the NFCC had ‘unilaterally scrapped’ the agreement, stating that negotiations over health and safety measures for firefighters ‘delivering high risk’ COVID-19 duties ‘were ongoing’ when the national employer ‘issued a communication ending the agreement’.
A report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Service (HMICFRS) claimed the FBU ‘stopped firefighters helping’ with COVID-19 support actions - this was contested by the FBU, which called the report ‘a political and biased attack on firefighters’. More recently, the NFCC commented on the assistance being given by a number of FRSs across the country to help with vaccinations, testing and other support activities.
Most recently last month, the NFCC praised FRS staff’s work in helping to administer vaccinations against COVID-19, with over 27,000 administered so far.