Clean-up team helps to ease blaze trauma

The clean-up volunteers

HELP is at hand for the victims of fires and other emergencies in the crisis period following an incident, thanks to a group of volunteers who have teamed up with Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.

The innovative scheme aims to help people whose lives have been disrupted by an emergency to get back to normal.

The volunteer post-incident team was launched this week as a pilot in Greater Manchester, and has been used twice already, once following a fatal fire in Radcliffe on its first day, and later after another incident in Bolton.

It leaps into action, offering people support to clean up their homes and to cope with the devastating aftermath.

Councillor David Acton, chairman of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority, said: “This is a huge step for us as we don’t underestimate the distress and disruption a fire or any other emergency can cause anyone in our community when it affects their home. The team will provide practical support by helping victims get their home back to normal as quickly as possible and, hopefully, put them on the road to getting over their ordeal that little bit sooner.”

He added: “It’s not something we have been able to do in the past with the resources we had available and is only possible because of our growing team of volunteers.”

Volunteers in teams of three cover three shifts between 8am and 8pm, and can help to clean the inside of a fire-ravaged property, removing and disposing of damaged property.