Up to 300 London firefighters are to join London Ambulance Service to aid the emergency medical response to Covid-19, driving ambulances and assisting paramedics.
A “blue-light partnership” was announced between London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance Service after LAS reported record levels of demand, with an unprecedented 11,000 cals a day.
The new plan, announced today, Wednesday April 1, will see firefighters helping in a number of roles across the ambulance service as part of LAS-led teams.
This follows a national agreement last week between the National Employers, National Fire Chiefs Council and the Fire Brigades Union to support local authorities and the NHS, including ambulance services.
Chief executive of London Ambulance Service, Garrett Emmerson said the LAs has a "fantastic ongoing relationship" with the LFB, and regularly collaborate closely from road-traffic-collisions and house fires, to medics training fire crews to administer CPR.
“This new agreement with LFB comes at a time when we and the rest of the NHS are facing the biggest public health challenge in our history.
“We are already dealing with unprecedented levels of demand as a result of Covid-19 – more than 11,000 people are calling 999 for an ambulance every day – and we know the peak of the pandemic is still to come.
"As part of our preparations we must reach out to all our partners to help boost our response so we can continue to treat every patient who needs us during this difficult time.”
Only firefighters with emergency fire appliance driver and immediate emergency care qualifications will be deployed, with the first volunteers starting training tomorrow.
LFB commissioner Andy Roe added: “We are committed to doing all we can to support a joint emergency response in the capital to Covid 19.
"Within hours of us agreeing the detail of how we can support London Ambulance Service and NHS partners, we had hundreds of firefighters step forward to volunteer."
London mayor Sadiq Khan praised the move, saying it was great news that London's firefighters had volunteered to take on additional critical roles during the crisis.
“I’m so proud of the way Londoners are working together to ensure we are well placed to respond to the unprecedented challenges we face in the coming weeks and help save lives.”
LFB added said having hundreds of firefighters working alongside its frontline workers will help ramp up capacity quickly to provide a "massive increase in our ability to respond quickly to Londoners in need."
"As a fellow blue light service, the London Fire Brigade is perfectly poised to support us in getting Londoners the help they need quickly during these unprecedented times."
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