This summer a new, local, voluntary group, has been set up in Purton by Councillor Kevin Law, to help out in emergencies, in Purton Parish.

The new Community Emergency Volunteers (CEV) group will respond to emergencies including floods, fire, accidents, severe weather and fallen trees blocking roads.

Funded by Grants from the local government and donations for equipment, training, and insurance CEV Purton, will be run as a not-for-profit organisation.

They will be working with, and under the direction of, emergency services (Category 1 responders) and services such as utilities (Category 2) and are officially recognised by them.

The group’s role will be to assist people who are indirectly affected, for example with alternate routes following an accident, for them to get to their destination quickly.

For example, in the case of a fallen tree, they may form an outer cordon, can inform other members of the public that there is an incident ahead and redirect them. This then frees up the emergency services to deal with the incident.

This volunteer community action is all made possible by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and the Home Office’s Civil Contingencies Act Enhancement Programme for Emergency Preparedness, which aims to respond to emergencies that threaten human welfare, the environment or UK security.

For anyone wishing to support Purton’s community in the event of an emergency, the Purton CEV group is now seeking new members. If you are interested please contact Kevin Law: Emergency@KevinLaw.co.uk

We encourage people to sign up to the “Purton’s Incident Reporting Page (CEV)” on Facebook using the Chat / Messenger feature to report: Accident, Flood, Fire or Fallen Tree in real time. This will let the CEV team know and will also inform everyone else in the group of the issue so they can avoid the area.

Or you can Contact Purton Parish Council 01793 771066, but please report to the emergency services first.

Further information is also available at: http://www.cev.org.uk/

Please remember this is a voluntary group, most of its members have day jobs and families so may not always be available.

The CEV’s are not there to replace the emergency services but to assist them where we can

Making the village / parish as resilient as possible.

Cllr Kevin Law said:

“The Community Emergency Volunteers (Purton) are happy to be called upon by Category 1 and Category 2 responders to assist with local incidents.

Members of the public should note that the emergency services should always be contacted first before us.

More volunteers would be welcomed to support our important work and we urge them to get in contact.”

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