With four major rivers, there are many places in Worcestershire and Herefordshire where people can get into difficulty in the water - which is why Hereford and Worcester Fire Brigade has developed a highly skilled and experienced water rescue service.

As well as the Severn, Teme, Avon and Wye, there are quarry pools and flooded pits, lakes, ponds and boreholes, not to mention wells, sewers and slurry pits and miles of canals. These risks present a daily hazard for the public that can have tragic consequences.

The service consists of specialist boat rescue teams stationed at Evesham, Worcester and Hereford which are available 24 hours a day, all year round.

The crews are trained in general water awareness, boat handling and rescue techniques. They have special clothing including dry suits and buoyancy aids, rescue ropes and stretchers and throw lines for reaching people from the water's edge.

At Worcester, there is a large inflatable boat capable of carrying out multiple rescues in deep water. We also have a range of smaller boats designed for different needs. Some are capable of carrying out rescues in the swift waters of the Teme or on the weirs of the Wye and Avon. Other boats are light and portable for canals or reaching trapped cattle in flooded fields.

The brigade is capable of dealing with water rescue incidents throughout Worcestershire and Herefordshire.

Between 1999 and 2003, our teams attended 103 calls to rescue people. Since 1996 the brigade has assisted in the recovery of 47 bodies from the water, sadly that trend has continued with two tragic cases in the last few weeks.

Between 1996 and 2000, crews based at the Worcester Fire Station attended 131 water-related animal rescues and throughout the Two Counties trapped animals accounted for about half of all our calls for water rescue.

Incidents of note include the rescue of three youngsters from a car in the River Teme in 1997 and the rescue of several elderly people from a flooded caravan site at Salford Priors during the Easter floods of 1998.

During this incident, crews risked their lives to brave appalling conditions, surviving the partial sinking of the boat as well as the dangers of hypothermia.

The incident was featured on the BBC's rescue programme, 999. During the exceptional floods of 1998 and 2000, the brigade responded to several hundred flood-related incidents.

But it is not just boat rescues that hit the news. In December 1999, Firefighter Steven King was nationally recognised for bravery when he swam out into the flooded River Severn to rescue a woman in the water at Worcester.

More recently, another fire officer, Leading Firefighter Keith Peters, swam out to save the life of a young woman off the North Quay.

The fire service nationally is under the direction of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, who has recently instructed all fire authorities to review all aspects of their service as part of a modernisation agenda. This includes a review of specialist rescue services.

Among the questions to be asked are:

Is water rescue an essential service?

Is it one that the fire brigade should provide?

Are there other ways of ensuring the safety of the public?

The public will be able to have their say on this as the Fire Authority will carry out a full scale consultation on this plan between September and December this year.

Currently there is a volunteer rescue service in the area. The Severn River Rescue Association has a unit based at Upton-upon-Severn. It is limited to the Upton area but it does support the brigades' rescue service there and on other stretches of water.

SARA also has an agreement with West Mercia police for body recovery on the river between Upton and Bewdley and works closely with the brigade on other water-related issues.

Hereford and Worcester Fire Brigade has a proud tradition of responding to emergency calls. We have specialist teams ready to deal with all water related incidents. We will respond to all calls for rescue or assistance, be it for people or animals.