The thing about emergencies is that they are pretty random.

They can happen any time of day or night or any day of the year which means that across Lancashire there will be emergency planning experts on standby to support people in their communities just in case the unexpected happens.

One of these is Mohsin Mulla, a Duty Officer who works as part of the Civil Contingencies team at Blackburn with Darwen Council. 

He said: “I have worked Christmas Day before and I am hoping that there are no major incidents because it means everyone in Blackburn with Darwen is enjoying their day. 

“However, if there is, it is important and reassuring for our residents to know that we, the civil contingencies team, are there every day for the people of Blackburn and Darwen alongside all our partner agencies.’’

Nick Isherwood is the Civil Contingencies Service Manager atBlackburn with Darwen Borough Council and works alongside Mohsin.

He praised other members of the council’s services saying: “Being a small Civil Contingencies Team providing a 24/7 service to our communities here at Blackburn with Darwen, we rely on the support of colleagues from other teams to provide cover on our duty officer rota.

“While there may be an expectation that emergency planners are available over the festive season, we never lose sight of the fact that we have, for example, colleagues from Human Resources who are prepared to miss their Christmas dinner with their families to keep our borough safe.”

Emergency planners from Lancashire County Council are also on call over the Christmas period.

Helen Doyle, a Senior Emergency Planning Officer, said: “I'm a relative newbie when it comes to the duty officer role at Christmas, although I've done my fair share of Christmas working in other roles.

“I'm hoping for a restful day with my family because if that happens then it means everyone in Lancashire is safe but if we do get an incident, we're always there to help our partners with the response.’’

Rachel Hutchinson, who is also a Senior Emergency Planning Officer at Lancashire County Council, said: “I generally work over Christmas Day and actually quite enjoy it and see it is as pretty much an ordinary day on call.

“I know that if anything happens there are great people around who will be working hard to deal with any potential issues and provide the best response possible as always.’’

Lucy Caunce a Flood Incident Advisor for the Environment Agency, said a lot of planning takes place before the Christmas period to ensure everyone is ready for any potential problems.

She said: “There is a full duty team on standby over the Christmas period – ready to act quickly should any flood or environmental risk come to pass.

“On Christmas day the Flood Warning Duty Officer will check the weather forecast and our Incident Management Forecasting system which flags up any risk of flooding across the area. We will keep in touch with our Monitoring and Forecasting Duty Officer who provides detailed forecast information when required and advises when flood warning or operational thresholds are likely to be attained. The Flood Incident Duty Officer will make sure the flood defences and assets in the area are ready to be employed if heavy rain is forecast. They will also be the link to the Operational teams who will deploy to sites where needed if incidents are expected or occur.’’

The above of course is only a small section of people who will be doing all they can to help others on Christmas Day and a huge thank you goes to everyone working over the holiday period.