Staffordshire prepared for disasters?

Well, the title’s a little dramatic possibly, but as well as things like plane crashes and major accidents Staffordshire’s Civil Contingencies Unit is there to help the authorities in our county deal with any major incident, be it flood or pandemic, or anything which puts people or our area at significant widespread risk.

Now, you probably thought it was the police or the fire service or local authorities, or even the military in some circumstances, which would deal with emergencies. And you’d be right. But they all have their own ways of doing things. They all have different skills, different resources and, in normal circumstances, different responsibilities. All these things are desperately needed, however, should there be a major incident in the county.

It’s about bringing all that expertise together in a logical way and making sure those different resources, which are likely to be very stretched, are used in the most effective way at a time of stress and worry and whilst lives, property and livlihoods may be at risk. The CCU is made up of specialists who know exactly how to do that. They don’t ‘run the show’ on the ground but they are there to advise the different agencies that are on the front line should the worst happen.

I’m not writing this to send people into panic… I’m writing this to say how well prepared Staffordshire is if something really serious does happen. Flooding across very large areas for instance… like in 2007 when it wasn’t just localised but was across great swathes of Staffordshire. The CCU were on hand to advise on coordinating the approach of numerous organisations… emergency services, many County Council services, local councils the Environment Agency, Health Service, military and even the public utility companies like electricity, gas and water.

I was invited to visit the CCU in Stafford to see more about how it all works. And it was impressive. The couple of hours I spent at their HQ talking with the CCU director and hearing first hand about the very big training exercises they are planning to replicate, in as real and pressured way as possible, major incidents which will stretch Staffordshire’s public sector to the limit.

You can find out more about how Staffordshire would cope should the worst happen here.

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