Monday 19 July sees further easing of lockdown restrictions across England. Whilst COVID-19 cases remain higher than the national average, the easing of restrictions will see only slight changes from the step 3 changes in May 2021.
With all of the services that we currently provide, all of our staff will continue to follow COVID-19 safety control measures such as social distancing and wearing of masks.
In addition to the services that we turned back on in May, which are listed below, we will now recommence training partner agencies and charity car washes will now be permitted to take place on fire stations.
In May:
- We restarted our home fire safety visits
- The fire cadet programme resumed at COVID secure off-site locations
- Our firefighters resumed reviews of community and firefighter risks
- We resumed face-to-face business safety advice meetings
- Our business safety advisors restarted unwanted fire signal inspections
- Combined Fire Authority meetings are now held face-to-face although they continue to be streamed live on our YouTube channel
- The reception at our headquarters reopened during office hours
Chief Fire Officer, Justin Johnston says:
“Over the last few weeks, we have continued to review all of the government guidance and regulations to ensure that we continue to work in a COVID secure environment.
“We will, of course, monitor and assess the local and national picture with the new variants that have been identified and we will take action if it is required.
“Over the next few weeks, will be working on the final services that we offer which have still not been switched back on, these include welcoming visitors to our fire stations and carrying out schools visits.
“It is pleasing to see the light at the end of tunnel is getting brighter, however, cases still remain high in Lancashire. It is important, however, that we continue to follow the guidelines, have regular tests and get vaccinated when it is your turn as this is our best chance of beating COVID-19 and lifting all final restrictions.