Firefighters and support staff at Nottinghamshire
Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) will be continuing to provide support in the
national fight against the pandemic.
We will be sending volunteers to help the NHS administer the COVID-19 vaccine and to help on
mass testing sites around the county.
Volunteers will be trained
and supervised by NHS staff. They will receive the vaccine and will
be provided with full PPE at the same level as NHS personnel
administering the vaccine.
So far during this
pandemic we have been undertaking additional activities, including delivering
11,817 food and medication parcels to vulnerable people and covering 201 shifts
with EMAS.
We will continue to help
where needed to help fight the pandemic.
Chief Fire Officer John
Buckley said: "I am incredibly proud of the efforts that have been shown
in responding to COVID-19 and I am equally proud of this Service and our role
within communities.
“I know that now is a time
that we are needed, not in our traditional roles, but in a role where we can
make a huge difference to the lives of others by supporting the NHS to deliver
this task. I, personally, will be volunteering to support the work
and I am thankful to the staff that will be joining me.”
National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC)
Chair Roy Wilsher said: “With almost 23,000
wholetime firefighters across England alone, there is a real opportunity for
Fire and Rescue Services to play a key role in helping to deliver and
administer vaccinations across the entire UK. There are an additional 12,498
on-call firefighters ready willing and able to help.
“It is in the DNA of a
firefighter to assist where help is needed the most; I know staff will not sit
behind the red doors of their fire station, when their help is needed in the
communities they so ably serve. They will not wait for the pandemic to pass
them by; they are ready, willing and able to continue to be at the heart of the
response.”