Ice Ice Baby - Newest Specialist Response Unit Launched

Nottinghamshire’s fire service is proud to unveil a brand new, sector leading, specialist rescue team. 

The ICE Response Team (ICERET), which is made up of firefighters from Stapleford Fire Station, is now ‘on-the-run’ and ready to respond to incidents on frozen water right across the county.

Prior to today’s ‘go live’ date, the team has been training with members of the Nottingham Panthers Ice Hockey squad as part of a gruelling development programme. 

This unique collaboration, between Nottinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service and The Nottingham Panthers, is a first for the UK fire sector.

The team will be led by Watch Manager Kevin Tedds, who works out of Stapleford and supports On-Call fire crews across Nottinghamshire. 

Commenting on the new unit, he said: “When I was first approached about leading this team, I was a bit frosty, but our purpose is to create safer communities and it’s important that we can respond to a wide range of emergencies as efficiently and effectively as possible. 

“The training programme has been extremely tough, and our Panthers friends certainly put us through our paces, but we can now offer substantial assurance that members of our ICERET are now ready, willing, and able to ‘get their skates on’ whenever needed.

“A huge thank you to Nottingham’s ice hockey legends for their support during our training sessions and for hosting them at Nottingham’s Ice Arena – hopefully this partnership is the first of many!”