Essex fire service promotes water safety ahead of bank holiday
The 'Be Water Aware' campaign runs through this week
Essex Fire and Rescue Service has teamed up with other groups across the UK to promote water safety ahead of what's expected to be a sunny and warm bank holiday weekend.
It's all part of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC)'s 'Be Water Aware' campaign which will run from Monday (April 25th) to Sunday (May 1st).
Leanne Little is the Water Safety Lead at Essex County Fire and Rescue. With news that just under half of people who drowned in 2020 had no intention of getting into bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers and the sea, she has this advice if you find yourself in the water accidentally: "The message is float to live. Don't panic, don't try and fight the water - you'll tire quite quickly.
"Instead, lean back in the water, extend your arms and legs and gently move your arms to help yourself float.
"Then, once that cold water shock has passed, you should be able to control your breathing a lot better and then you can call for help or swim to safety, or continue floating until help arrives."
Leanne says they respond to more of these incidents in hotter weather: "We do see an increase in these instances during summer, as obviously residents and visitors to Essex come down to our coastline, our beautiful rivers and waterside locations.
"We just ask that when you're by the water, you keep yourself and your loved ones safe, because it prevents us having to be called out amongst all the other types of incidents that we also attend to."
The main objective of the campaign is to warn people of the risk of accidentally drowning when enjoying time in and near water.
READ MORE: Have you got what it takes to help save a life in the water?
Speaking at the launch of the initiative, the NFCC’s lead for drowning prevention, Dawn Whittaker said that many of the deaths in 2020 were preventable.
“Most people would be shocked to hear that in 2020, 254 lives were lost simply because people were spending time in and around water. These deaths are preventable, so we ask everyone to be water aware," she said.
“NFCC work closely with fire services and partners to encourage people to be safe around water and to highlight the risk of accidental drowning. As the weather improves fire services across the country, along with our colleagues in the Coastguard and RNLI, can be faced with huge numbers of calls to help people in trouble in water."
She added: "By raising awareness now, we hope to keep people safe and reduce the number of injuries and fatalities in water as summer approaches.”
Get Water Wise
The Fire Services campaign reflects the "Get Water Wise" initiative by Greatest Hits Radio, running throughout Summer 2021 which also promoted the danger of open water and the need to be aware of your surroundings when near water.
WATCH: Senior Correspondent Mick Coyle introduce our 2021 Get Water Wise campaign