New Dimension programme

The New Dimension programme, sometimes referred to as the New Dimension or New Dimensions, was started by the Department for Communities and Local Government in the UK, for fire and rescue services in England and Wales, following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. It has provided equipment, training and standardised procedures to deal with terrorist attacks and major environmental disasters.[1][2]

New Dimension vehicles of Avon Fire and Rescue Service

The New Dimension programme operates at a national, regional and local level, and while it does not apply specifically to Scotland, a Fire and Rescue Service circular, published in 2007 noted that: "Officials in the Welsh Assembly Government and the Scottish Executive agree in principle that the general terms of the Mutual Aid Protocol should apply 'cross-border' between Scotland, England (and Wales)."[3] In 2004, the provision of the New Dimensions Programme in Wales was devolved to the Welsh Assembly. Despite devolution, the Welsh New Dimensions policies, equipment and vehicles are near identical to its English and Scottish counterparts, training regularly with the two.[4]

By July 2004, the New Dimension programme had provided £56 million to various projects; a further £132 million was promised for the period up to 2007.[1] New Dimension provides a co-ordinated approach across the emergency services, and local authority emergency planners and the scheme has been supported and promoted by the Chief Fire Officers Association.

Programme scope
A New Dimension Incident Response Unit operated by Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service
Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service firefighters training with a New Dimension High Volume Pump module

The purpose of New Dimension is to provide information and guidance for fire and rescue services on emergency response to the following specific types of incident:

  • Terrorist chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats
  • Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents
  • Industrial and domestic accidents
  • Chemical spills and collapsed buildings
  • Natural disasters
  • Floods and earthquakes

The onus is on fire services to provide "New Dimension capability", and legislation for England, passed in April 2007, recognised a fire and rescue service's responsibilities for dealing with the above types of incident. The Fire and Rescue Services (Emergencies) (England) Order 2007 is a statutory instrument which requires that fire services make provision for dealing with CBRN incidents and structural collapse.[5]

The New Dimension programme was part of Department for Communities and Local Government's fire resilience programme, which also included the FireLink and FiReControl projects. Funding from the New Dimension scheme has been used (as one example) to provide fire services with new specialist Urban Search and Rescue appliances and equipment. Previously, fire services were not specifically equipped to deal with largescale USAR incidents.

318 New Dimension appliances, 238 of these being prime movers with removeable 'pods' and the remaining 80 being Incident Response Units equipped for decontamination, were supplied by Marshall Specialist Vehicles on MAN TGA chassis.[6] These were equipped with FireLink digital radios on delivery, creating a single wide area communications system across England, Wales and Scotland.[7] By March 2006, a majority of New Dimensions prime movers had been distributed to fire and rescue services in England and Wales as part of the scheme, however some that were deemed surplus to requirements were also sold to the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service and the fire services that today constitute the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.[4] The vehicles are maintained on a contractual basis by Babcock International.[8]

Vehicles part of New Dimension until scrapped in 2016:

  • Incident Response Unit
  • Detection, Identification, Monitoring
  • Prime Mover to carry pods
  • Urban Search and Rescue pod
  • High Volume Pump pod

Operational use

New Dimension appliances have been used in a number of roles since the scheme's creation. Notable uses include various floods such as the 2007 United Kingdom floods,[4] the Buncefield fire,[9][10] the Stockline Plastics factory explosion in Glasgow[11] and the 7 July 2005 London bombings.[12]

Future

22 Incident Response Units, representing a third of the vehicles allocated to the New Dimension programme, were withdrawn from fire and rescue services across England on 31 December 2015, following a review by the Government which stated that a total 43 IRUs would be sufficient for England and Wales.[13] The review had also concluded that power respirator protective suits stored in the 22 IRUs were nearing their expiry dates, suggesting a need for the immediate withdrawal of the IRUs.[14]

Babcock International's maintenance contract for the New Dimensions vehicles, awarded in 2008, is set to expire in 2024, by which it had been deemed by the Home Office that some New Dimensions equipment was nearing the end of their operational lives. Planning for the New Dimensions 2 programme commenced in 2019 with reviews of fire and rescue services' usage of New Dimension equipment nationwide since their introduction in 2004, including a fire and rescue service's use of CBRN equipment as well as their Urban Search and Rescue capabilities. The New Dimension 2 reviews intend to identify a need for the replacement of existing New Dimensions equipment and vehicles in 2024.[15]

References
  1. "Introduction to the New Dimension project". Department for Communities and Local Government. Archived from the original on 19 May 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2007.
  2. Carden, George (11 September 2021). "East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service specialist equipment after 9/11". The Argus. Brighton. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  3. "Long Term Management of the New Dimension Capability". Department for Communities and Local Government. 14 May 2007. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2007.
  4. "New Dimension – enhancing the Fire and Rescue Services' capacity to respond to terrorist and other large-scale incidents" (PDF). National Audit Office. 31 October 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  5. "The Fire and Rescue Services (Emergencies) (England) Order 2007". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  6. Wilcox, David (27 May 2004). "Ready for anything". Commercial Motor. Temple Press. pp. 64–65. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  7. "2nd Consultation Response to Fire Service Circular 16/2009 on the New Dimension Transfer of Ownership Agreement" (PDF). mfra.merseysidefire.gov.uk. Merseyside Fire Authority. 18 September 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  8. "Babcock awarded fleet management contract". FleetNews. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2023. This successful approach has consistently delivered within the emergency services sector to customers that include the Metropolitan Police Service's operational fleet and the Government's New Dimension fleet, where Babcock has helped increase resilience, reduced costs, introduced innovation and helped customers maintain critical frontline focus.
  9. Matthews, Anthony (11 December 2021). "Timeline of Buncefield oil depot explosion in Hertfordshire". Watford Observer. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  10. "HVP theory in practice". Fire. Vol. 98, no. 1208. Teddington: Pavilion. March 2006. Retrieved 22 October 2022 – via General OneFile.
  11. Tague, Trevor (15 May 2004). "Prepared for a tragic task". Evening Chronicle. Newcastle upon Tyne. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  12. "The terrorist attacks of 7 July 2005" (PDF). FRS12. Central Office of Information. August 2005. p. 3. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  13. Miles, Rebecca (25 January 2016). "Decontamination unit withdrawn from Hereford Fire Station". Hereford Times. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  14. "Withdrawal of decontamination emergency vehicles 'risks security'". BBC News. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
  15. Searle, Nick; Hitchen, Paul (25 April 2019). "New Dimensions 2 report" (PDF). National Fire Chiefs Council. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
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