Are you prepared? Essex Fire & Rescue are!
Posted 29. 06. 2018
Client: Essex Fire & Rescue Service
Contract Value: £23,085.00
Location: South England
Damage Prevented: £xxxxxxx
Essex County Fire and Rescue Service has secured 20 portable Water-Gate barriers to help protect homes across the County from flooding. The flood defence barriers reduce flood risk by diverting water safely into nearby drainage systems, rivers and ditches.
Funded by Essex County Council, the barriers will be dispatched from four fire stations across the County. The Water Gates are highly portable and each fit into a small holdall, weighing less than 20kg each. The barriers can also be connected, creating a barrier totalling 180m.
Station Officer Duncan Lewis, Technical Fire Safety, said: “Our water barriers will provide an additional defence to properties at risk of flooding while building confidence in communities. “They are easy to assemble and to pack away, they are light and they are effective against surface water floods, burst hydrants and even tidal surges. “Flooding can devastate homes and ruin lives. By further collaborating with Essex County Council, we are helping make the County a safer place to live.”
The new barriers extend this work and give the Service better resources to save homes and buildings from the misery of flooding.
Tanya Wainwright of Flood Protection Solutions stated: “The Water-Gate Barriers will enhance Fire and Rescue Service operations by providing Fire Firefighters with innovative equipment that enables them to respond efficiently in a flooding emergency”. “They can also be used to reduce both the flow and height of flood water to enable rescue operations to be carried out more efficiently and effectively”.