What is an emergency
An emergency is: "an event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the UK, the environment of a place in the UK, or war or terrorism which threatens serious damage to the security of the UK."
Every day the emergency services are called to deal with circumstances which require the use of their knowledge and skills to safeguard life and property. Occasionally an incident occurs that, by its nature and size, will need the additional specialist services of other agencies including the County and District Councils, the Health Authorities and voluntary organisations, to tackle and resolve the incident.
Emergencies leading to a major incident can occur in a number of ways, such as:
- severe weather
- natural disaster
- industrial accidents
- transport accidents
- terrorism.