Eastbourne Emergency Services Display
July 5th and 6th 2008
Western Lawns, King Edwards Parade, Eastbourne


The Largest Display Of Emergency Services In The UK

Presenting Your Emergency Services

Your Emergency services are organisations that that ensure public safety by addressing different emergencies. Some agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies whilst others deal with ad hoc emergencies as part of their normal responsibilities. Many of your agencies will engage in community awareness and prevention programs to help the public avoid, detect, and report emergencies effectively - that is one of the aims of the Emergency Services Display.

There are three services which are almost universally acknowledged as being core to the provision of emergency care to the populous. They can always be summoned on the dedicated emergency telephone number - 999 or as we say "the 9's", which is reserved for critical emergency calls. In some areas (and on mobile phones) you can also use 112.

  Fun Fact - The emergency number 999 was used even though on the old rotary dial telephones 111 was quicker to dial. This was because it was feared that wet branches touching the telephone lines would be able to 'dial' 111 causing confusion to the operators and leading to congested lines in bad weather.

These services are:

• Police - Providing community safety and acting to reduce crime against persons and property .
• Fire & Rescue service - Providing firefighters to deal with fire and rescue operations, and also deal with some secondary emergency service duties .
• Emergency Medical Service - Providing ambulances and staff to deal with medical emergencies.

Other Emergency Services

These services can be provided by one of the core services or by a separate government or private body, in most cases they can also be summoned using the "999" telephone number. In Eastbourne and surrounds we have a strong reliance on the Eastbourne Lifeboats and HM Coastguard due to our closeness to the sea.

• RNLI Lifeboats - Volunteers who man lifeboats to respond to emergencies 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
• HM Coastguard - To provide search and rescue co-ordination for emergencies at sea and on the coast.
• Mountain rescue - To provide search and rescue in mountainous areas, and sometimes in other wilderness environments.
• Cave Rescue - To rescue people injured, trapped or lost during caving explorations.
• Mine rescue - Specially trained and equipped to rescue miners trapped by fires, explosions, cave-ins, toxic gas, flooding, etc.
• Technical rescue - Other types of technical or heavy rescue, but usually specific to a discipline (such as swift water).
• Search and rescue - Can be discipline-specific, such as urban, wildland, maritime, etc.
• Bomb disposal - To render safe hazardous explosive ordnance, such as terrorist devices or unexploded wartime bombs.
• Blood/organ transplant supply - To provide organs or blood on an emergency basis, such as the National Blood Service of the United Kingdom.

Learn More