A PRIVATE company will continue to support Surrey Fire and Rescue Service after councillors agreed to extend a pilot programme.
A £680,000-a-year scheme was approved by councillors in October 2012, with Dorking-based Specialist Group International (SGI) the first company to be employed to provide the service.
The partnership allows firefighters in Surrey access to a helicopter, a specialist dive team, a fleet of inflatable boats, a remote control submarine and 4x4 vehicles.
After successfully extending the pilot scheme with SGI until March 2015, councillors confirmed the arrangement would be offered on a permanent basis.
Since the supplementary service was introduced, the SGI team – made up of mainly ex-military personnel – rescued 119 people during the winter flooding and has attended 115 water rescues between April 2013 and March this year. Their staff were also brought in to cover 12 fire station walkouts during the pension dispute.
Councillor Kay Hammond, associate cabinet member for fire service and policing, said the contract would be reviewed in a consultation to establish the future needs of the fire service.
She said: "We really do need to evaluate the project that has already gone before to assess what our requirements will be in the future. There will be a consultation going forward about that.
"Because it's not a pilot project, the proposal will be a five-year contract.
"We need to be doing a proper procurement process to enable that to happen, we will be extending the provision of what is already offered and we'll be going out to tender to see which companies can actually provide the cover we need going into the future."
