Councillor praises first responders for their incredible bravery dealing with horrendous fires.

Beam Park Labour Councillor Matthew Stanton has praised our heroic emergency service workers for their bravery during the recent heatwave.

Councillor Stanton tells the Havering Daily.

I would like to take this opportunity to give my heartfelt thanks to the men and women of the Fire Brigade, Metropolitan Police and London Ambulance Service who gave their all on Tuesday 19^th July to stop a bad situation from getting far worse.
As a councillor for the local authority, I alongside my colleagues tried to play our small part in making sure that displaced people had shelter and comfort, as well as doing our best to keep our first responders hydrated. 
Local people as always showed their kindness and generosity. They did the same for Grenfell and Ukraine and will no doubt do the same again next time they are called upon.
It is unfortunately inevitable that there will be a next time. And when that time comes it is important that we learned what lessons we could from these events.
The local authority appoints a Liaison Officer – known as a LALO – in these incidents to co-ordinate with emergency services and ensure that the local authority resources are not duplicated or wasted.
Two LALO’s were deployed yesterday and both did a marvellous job. Owing to the nature of the area concerned in Wennington, some people had to leave in one direction – ending up at the Willow Farm hotel where Jackie McArdle and Sarah Edwards were assisting them – and others ended up at Harris Academy which was opened up by the always-redoubtable Sue Ospreay.
However, the ward councillors were not given the contact information for the LALO’s, so there was a delay in getting an officer to Harris Academy. Better communication between councillors and LALO’s should be put in place immediately.
There were many items that people donated that you might not straightaway think of – cots, pet carriers, childrens toys – but one of the things people needed straight away was a phone charger. Some of the most common ones should be kept on hand for the LALO’s to take with them to wherever is set up to receive people.
My experience with dealing with people displaced from a fire in Lower Mardyke Avenue recently led me to ask the LALO’s to take the details of every person affected, whether or not they required overnight accommodation. People who go to stay with friends or family, or who book a hotel for the night, may still need the local authority’s help in the short, medium, or long term. 
The second eye-opening fact for me was that one of the residents told me that they had helped the fire brigade dig out hydrants by hand after spoil from work in the nearby fields had obstructed them. Havering in conjunction with the Fire Brigade must immediately begin a program of checking not only the functionality but also the accessibility and the signage, of all hydrants in the borough.
Once again I would like to extend my thanks to the first responders, and extend my sympathies to all those affected by these tragic events.