Four-and-a-half million pounds is being spent on new equipment for Kent Fire and Rescue Service. It includes all-terrain vehicles able to access remote and rugged areas, which traditional fire engines struggle to reach. Tom Savvides reports from Southfleet near Dartford.
Innovative firefighting equipment is to be rolled out across Kent - from all terrain vehicles to specialist technology which can cut through concrete and rapidly reduce the temperature of building fires.
This is the next phase of a major project to ensure that Kent Fire and Rescue Service is ready to meet the future needs of the county.
The new kit means there is more flexibility, certain incidents can be reached faster and tackled more quickly, and savings can be made by not always having to use a traditional fire engine for every job.
Essex firefighters have called off a strike that was due to take place today. The Fire Brigades Union says significant progress was make in talks yesterday. The strike was originally planned as part of a dispute involving changes in working practices.
Firefighters have staged the latest in a series of strikes today in a long-running row over cuts.
Members of the Fire Brigades' Union in Essex walked out of fire stations across the county for 24 hours at 9am following two earlier stoppages, with the threat of further action next month.
The union said current plans for cuts would see the loss of one in five frontline crews in Essex since 2008, claiming that the public was already waiting longer for fire crews to turn up.
Firefighters in Essex are walking out tomorrow in a row over proposed cuts to the service.
The 24 hour strike starts at 9am.
The Fire Brigades Union says current plans for cuts would see the loss of 1 in 5 frontline crews in the county since 2008.
Images of the aftermath of the flat fire in Southampton that claimed the lives of firefighters Alan Bannon and Jim Shears have been released for the first time during their inquest.
The fire tore through flat 72 on the ninth floor of Shirley Towers on April 6, 2010.
The public is being warned a contingency plan is in place to protect them as up to 900 firefighters go on strike.
The walkout in Essex is over proposed cuts, staffing levels and working conditions.
The county's fire and rescue service says more than one hundred firefighters are still working.
The first of five planned strikes by Essex firefighters will take place today in a row over cuts to services.
Read the full storyThe first in a series of five strikes involving firefighters is taking place today.
The Fire Brigades Union in Essex claims the county will have lost one in five frontline staff since 2008 if cuts go ahead.
But service managers insist jobs are safe and say one hundred firefighters and retained crews will step in during the industrial action.
Firefighters in Essex will today hold the first of five planned strikes in a dispute over cuts.
The Fire Brigades Union said its members plan to take industrial action today and on July 7 and 18, August 18 and October 18. Today's strike is due to start at 10am and end at 6pm.
