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New Urban Search and Rescue Centre unveiled

by Katie Lamborn

A £1.4million centre for Kent's specialist firefighters, some of whom went to earthquake-hit Haiti to help in the international rescue effort, has opened in Maidstone.

Kent's Urban Search and Rescue team (USAR) is one of 20 teams set up across the UK to respond to major incidents on a national and local scale.

Five large 'modules', which carry a range of specialist equipment, are based at the new site in Loose Road. It took two years to build.

Specialist items include listening devices and cameras, heavy cutting and breaking tools to cut through concrete and equipment used to stabilise buildings that have collapsed.

Chief Fire Officer Charlie Hendry was one of those who opened the new facility.

He said: "The tragic events witnessed abroad in Haiti and Indonesia recently and the devastation caused by the flooding in parts of the Cumbria, together with terrorist attacks in New York and London have provided learning opportunities for the fire and rescue services across the globe."

Jim Chaston, who recently returned from Haiti, is crew manager of the new Urban Search and Rescue centre. He said: "It's great to have somewhere to train specifically.

"In the past we have had to rely on salvage and demolition companies to allow us to go into buildings, which are being pulled down, to train."