Dutch firefighters swap floods lessons

04-July-2008

Firefighters from Holland are visiting the region to share their experiences of flooding.

Earlier this year, residents from the East Riding travelled to the Dutch village of Wilnis in a fact-finding mission to help prevent further floods.

Now, four members of the village's fire service have made the journey across the North Sea to share details on flooding.

Marcel Dokter, station manager at Wilnis, said: “In 2003, our village was heavily flooded leaving virtually all of it devastated.

“We know large parts of this region suffered the same fate and we are here to share our experiences on how we dealt with that emergency.

“The scale of flooding here was much bigger than ours, but we are worried something as huge may affect us.

“We are very interested in finding out how the residents coped and how this fire service managed the crisis.”

The firefighters are spending two days in the region and will visit Fort Paull, Preston fire station and Hessle fire control and see the workings of Humber Rescue at Hessle foreshore.

Simon Donnachie, watch manager for the Fire Service in the East Riding, said: “This is a very valuable exercise and one we can both learn from.

“We were able to talk about the problems we had to deal with and what can be improved.

“It was a fantastic opportunity to share experiences and hopefully it will help us learn more about how to deal with flooding.”

The visit was organised by the Holderness Flood Defence Group, who represent villagers from Hedon, Burstwick, Burton Pidsea, Thorngumbald and Preston.