How the LRF responds

Emergency assistance centre plan

What is an Emergency Assistance Centre?
An Emergency Assistance Centre is a facility where persons affected by an emergency can receive help, information, essential welfare services, basic refreshments and shelter for short periods of time.

An Emergency Assistance Centre is a one-stop shop for shelter, information and help (including 24-hour emergency accommodation). It is a physical point of focus for people affected by an emergency, to meet their needs.

There are a whole range of services we will be able to offer you at an Emergency Assistance Centre depending on the situation and the amount of time it is required for. Services may include:

Immediately (always to be provided at every centre)

• Registration and information collection
• Shelter and warmth
• Food and drink
• Information and advice
• First Aid
• Access to basic health services
• Changing, washing and toilet facilities
• Ability for people to report potentially vulnerable people affected

Immediately (optional, dependent on the situation)

• Emergency sleeping arrangements
• Pet welfare
• Collecting details of people reported as missing
• Somewhere to sit and be quiet
• Security
• To provide a focal point for the deployment of resources to assist the vulnerable in affected areas
• Entertainment such as books, magazines, newspapers etc
• Media liaison
• Communication facilities
• Security
• Practical and emotional support
• Emergency transport provision
• Children’s facilities and entertainment
• Prayer areas

In the first 24 to 48 hours (in addition to the above)

• Emergency temporary accommodation
• Reuniting survivors with families and friends
• Emergency resource (eg clothing, bottled water, blankets etc)
• Practical financial support
• Support to non-British nationals such as holiday makers, refugees involved etc
• Specialist support services for children and vulnerable adults

48 hours + (in addition to the above)

• Legal support (short, medium and longer-term legal support, such as in court cases, criminal investigations, inquests and inquiries)
• Funeral support
• Bereavement and trauma support services (for children and adults)
• Assistance with forming support groups
• Department for Work and Pensions (jobs and benefits advice)
• Religious advice and support
• Longer term accommodation
• Financial support (in terms of access to emergency funds, insurance advice and claims, benefit packages, compensation etc)
• Work and livelihood support
• Commemorations: books of condolence, memorials and disaster appeals
• Mental health care, assessment and advice
• Police family liaison services
• Citizens Advice Bureau
• Childcare and education

Please have a look at our Emergency Assistance Centre leaflet – a visitor’s guide to facilities.

Our response is scalable, so we can open up anything from a small centre, with the limited services and resources required for small incidents, to a large scale centre for hundreds or thousands of people.

Why might we set up an Emergency Assistance Centre?
An Emergency Assistance Centre may be set up for a variety of reasons, from supporting communities during utility failures to ensuring there is a place to go if people have been evacuated from their homes due to flooding or fire involving dangerous materials.

An Emergency Assistance Centre will also be set up if people start to arrive at the scene of an emergency worried about their family members or friends. The centre will be somewhere they can go to gain more information in a safe environment, and report any missing persons.

We may also establish a centre for the responding staff at an incident site to look after their welfare. An example of this was the Buncefield fire and explosion in Hertfordshire. Emergency service and local authority staff were working around the clock to tackle the fire and its consequences. Centres were established for these responders to go to.

Some recent examples when we have opened centres in Bedfordshire are:

• 19 February 2010 – suspicious device found in Dunstable, evacuation of surrounding area to The First and Last public house. A full centre was set up at Central Bedfordshire Council’s main Dunstable offices (though it was not used as the device was disabled)
• 9 January 2010 – support to a Luton community due to power outage: Farley Hill Community Centre was used
• 4 January 2010 –acetylene cylinder fire, evacuation to Farley Hill Community Centre, Luton
• 19 December to 5 January 2010 – Caddington gas and electricity failure
• 18 December 2009 – Haynes electricity outage
• 17 December 2009 – fire in Pulloxhill, local church opened as centre, no evacuees
• 25 November 2009 – suspicious package found in Bedford (evacuation of surrounding area to Bedford International Athletic Stadium)
• 2008 – Hockwell Ring, utility failure to block of flats – use of Chaul End Community Centre
• 2008 – floods – centre established at Turvey Lower School due to potential flooding in the village
• Boxing Day 2007 – acetylene cylinder fire and evacuation to Ampthill Leisure Centre, with accommodation at the Holiday Inn
• 2001 – London bombings (evacuation of vicinity around Luton railway station after explosives were found in one of the bombers’ cars).

Who staffs an Emergency Assistance Centre?
Central Bedfordshire Council, Luton Borough Council and Bedford Borough Council are jointly responsible for the call-out of all staff and the overall management of any Emergency Assistance Centre required within Bedfordshire. If you are affected by an emergency, BLLRF is committed to providing you with the best possible support and assistance available.

In addition, local authorities have general powers to provide temporary shelter in the form of emergency assistance centres for people who have been temporarily evacuated from their homes because of an emergency (The Local Government Act 1972, section 138). It is the responsibility of the local authorities to manage and co-ordinate the activation, set-up and running of the centre with the support of the necessary voluntary agencies.

The Bedfordshire and Luton Emergency Volunteers Executive Committee (BLEVEC) provides the staff at an Emergency Assistance Centre. We also take on members of the public to volunteer and help in emergencies. If you are interested, find out more.

• The local authority will manage the centre with a trained emergency assistance centre manager and a deputy
• The local authority will provide customer services, including transport provision, access to support services, accommodation and specialist support to children who have been affected
• First aid at an emergency assistance centre will be provided by St John Ambulance. Other support for health needs, including mental health and prescription medication, can be provided on site through NHS Bedfordshire or NHS Luton
• Emergency food and refreshments are provided by the WRVS
• Contingency communications are provided by RAYNET
• Animal/pet welfare is provided by the RSPCA
• Transport support, and organisation of facilities and parking, is provided by the Beds, Herts and Cambs 4x4 Response Team
• The British Red Cross will look after welfare at the centre, including staff
• In some circumstances the Police may provide a documentation team at a centre to carry out the role of identifying people who may be missing.

How long does it take us to set up an Emergency Assistance Centre?
Once one of the local authorities is informed of an emergency requiring an Emergency Assistance Centre, we will be able to have at least one centre open and functioning within two hours anywhere in Bedfordshire.

When might you end up in an Emergency Assistance Centre?
If you are evacuated from your home, are a direct survivor of an emergency or are worried about someone who might have been caught up in an emergency, you may find yourself in an Emergency Assistance Centre. Remember, we have set the centre up to help you in the best way we can.

Where might an Emergency Assistance Centre be located?
The premises usually used for emergency assistance centres are: village halls, community centres, sports centres and, as a last resort, schools. Hotels may also be used in some circumstances. A comprehensive list of emergency assistance centres and their contact details is maintained by each local authority for its area.

Your care and treatment at an Emergency Assistance Centre
The care of those involved in an emergency, and the way they are treated, lies at the heart of our response. In particular, the sudden impact may cause physical injury, affect people’s mental state or their material welfare. Welfare considerations embrace anyone who may be affected by an incident, which usually include various key groups of people:

• Those who have been injured
• Those directly caught up in an incident, but who are not physically hurt
• Those who have been mentally affected by an incident
• Families and friends of the injured, missing or deceased
• Rescuers and response workers
• Wider sections of the community whose lives are affected or disrupted
• Witnesses and spectators

Those who have survived a major incident with no physical injuries (or with only minor injuries) may nevertheless be traumatised and suffering from shock, intense anxiety and grief. They will, therefore, need to be treated with great sensitivity. As a survivor, you may be concerned for information about your own relatives, friends and colleagues. You may require information about the incident, the number and location of other survivors, and what will happen to you next and when. Research has shown that the initial needs of survivors are likely to include:

• Shelter and warmth (including heating and lighting)
• Information and assistance with communication
• Support in distress
• Food and drink
• First aid to treat minor injuries
• Changing, washing and toilet facilities
• Spare clothing
• Prescribed medication
• Psycho-social support
• Telephone access

A survivor may also need social support beyond these immediate requirements, for example, help in contacting family and friends, transport back home, finding temporary accommodation, and financial advice and assistance.

What resources do we have available for use at an Emergency Assistance Centre?
We have a wide variety of resources that we have stored for an initial response at an Emergency Assistance Centre. These resources include:

• Grab bags for key staff at the centre
• An emergency registration system
• Entertainment resources, such as children’s toys
• Overnight resources, such as toothbrushes, clothes, mattresses and blankets
• Pet resources, such as kennels
• Lots of stationery and signage

We also have agreements in place for the fast provision of emergency supplies with Tesco, Sainsbury and the Home Retail Group (Homebase and Argos).

If you wish to find out more about emergency assistance centres please Contact Us.

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