With the wet weather showing no signs of abating and flooding still affecting many areas of the country, London Fire Brigade has sent help and resources to assist other UK fire and rescue services.
The Brigade has sent three fire engines, three fire rescue units and a Command Unit to Berkshire where it is helping to carry out water rescues in flood stricken areas.
It has also sent specialist senior officers to assist Oxfordshire and Surrey fire and rescues services who are advising on flood rescues and moving water.
Meanwhile firefighters are still attending the water treatment works in Kenley, Croydon which is under threat of flooding; they have been at the site since 9.30pm on Thursday, 6 February and are currently pumping 24,000 litres of water a minute away from the affected waterworks. The facility supplies water to 47,000 properties in the area.
Twelve fire engines and over 80 firefighters are at the scene, along with three high volume pumps, as part of an inter-agency response, working round the clock to protect the waterworks from flood water. A high volume pump is capable of pumping 480,000 litres of water an hour.
London Fire Commissioner Ron Dobson said:
“Firefighters have been working round the clock throughout the last few days to pump water away from the facility and protect it from flooding. The waterworks supplies tens of thousands of homes in the area so our crews are working extremely hard to bring this incident to a quick and safe conclusion.”
The Mayor, Boris Johnson, visited the waterworks with Ron Dobson, London Fire Commissioner on Tuesday afternoon.
Notes to editors
London Fire Brigade has six high volume pumps.
Government advice on flooding can be found here.