The Essex International Search and Rescue Team have been given the greenlight to fly out to help rescue efforts in Christchurch, New Zealand, following the devastating earthquake which hit the city last night.
The team of six are expected to fly out New Zealand 5am tomorrow morning.
They will join a 60 strong team as part of the UK ISAR –a team of specialists drawn from 13 fire services who are on call 24 hours a day 365 days a year ready to respond to disasters anywhere in the world.
The specialist team was initially formed in 1992 and ECFRS has been involved since its inception.
The ECFRS team’s primary role is one of Search and Rescue in collapsed structures; however, the Essex team has also invested a great deal in training and development in both water rescue and working at height.
They are the same team who went to Indonesia last October to help with rescue efforts following the earthquakes which happened there.
Four of the six going from Essex were part of the rescue effort in Sumatra.
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