VIDEO REPORT: 999 partnership starts today
Devon's firefighters are to help their colleagues in the health service by driving ambulances during the covid-19 pandemic.
Ambulance training for firefighters started on Easter Sunday. The first fire service drivers took to the road on Bank Holiday Monday. They're fast learners, these fire crews. Initially, twenty firefighters from Devon and Somerset will be crewing five ambulances, based at Torquay, Exeter, Bideford, Taunton and Shepton Mallet.
The ambulances will be crewed by both wholetime and on-call firefighters who are trained in blue light driving, accompanied by the ambulance service's own medics. The vehicles will operate 24 hours per day, seven days a week, for an initial period of six weeks.
Lee Howell, Chief Fire Officer at Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said: “Given the likely increase in demand on the NHS as a result of covid-19, we will working even more closely with our ambulance service colleagues to do all we can to help best protect the communities we serve”.
Watch a report from our BBC Spotlight friends here.
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