“I absolutely love it. Even at the ripe old age of 65, wild horses wouldn’t drag me away.''

Our regular #LRFPeople feature looks at people around the county who are key to keeping our communities as safe as possible.

This time the focus is on Nick Isherwood, Emergency Planning Manager with Blackburn with Darwen Council who is currently also acting as Service Lead for Safety, Planning and Resilience.

At the age of 65,Nick’s career has equipped him with a wealth of experience that enables him to wear multiple hats in the world of emergency planning. Alongside the daily work involved in that area, he is excited to be assisting in the local government reorganisation for Lancashire.

He has also just completed a dissertation for a Master’s Degree in Emergency Management and Resilience.

Of his three years as an Emergency Planning Manager and what draws him to the role, Nick said: “I absolutely love it. Even at the ripe old age of 65, wild horses wouldn’t drag me away. I am interested in the roles that people play and what can be done out there. I think it’s because I’m nosy and I like helping people.”

Nick’s career has always been focused on helping. He retired from the fire service in 2010, having joined as a firefighter at 18 in Blackburn. However, he still spent his spare time assisting the emergency services, and helped set up a helicopter rescue charity. He also supported the LRF in a number of voluntary roles, including for Mountain Rescue and RAYNET-UK - the UK’s national voluntary communications service provided for the community by licensed radio amateurs.

This led to him coming out of retirement to work for the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS), carrying out fire risk assessments, then working for a housing association as a Fire Safety Manager. It was through carrying out joint fire safety inspections in the Ribble Valley in the 1980s and meeting LRF group member Chris Shuttleworth that Nick was subsequently able to assist with the LRF Emergency Radio Area Link (ERAL) network. This specialist radio kit can be deployed to community hubs during emergencies such as flooding or power outages to provide them with direct contact to emergency responders.

Then Nick began working with Blackburn with Darwen Council as a co-ordinator of community and emergency response volunteers. He said: “Little did I realise where I would be a few years later. I began working for the council as an Emergency Planning Consultant, then moved to my current role as Emergency Planning Manager, now alongside the interim role.”

Nick is the first to admit that his position in relation to the LRF is a complicated, somewhat niche, one. “You do sometimes struggle explaining to people what the LRF does. When I was working at the sharp end of the emergency services I didn’t realise how much went on behind the scenes in terms of planning. As a firefighter at an operational level, you just go out and do the job. When I moved to HQ in 2007, I was doing the same job operationally but functionally it was different, and that was a whole new world to me.

“The biggest impact came when I was in a meeting and asked a LRF volunteer what their contribution was. She said: 'I can have however many volunteers there in less than an hour, they can provide refreshments, make brews, talk to people, support them…'. I was absolutely blown away by what the voluntary sector could bring to an emergency response. It was a big eye opener for me.

“That’s the concept behind community emergency response volunteers and the knowledge and resources they can provide. Who’s got a tractor, or a chainsaw? Where can we all meet away from severe weather or a power cut? What business can donate food and drink? Where can we go and get hot drinks?”

As an Emergency Planning Manager, Nick covers a vast variety of tasks and plans and says: “On a day-to-day basis I am constantly reviewing plans and testing if they’re still fit for purpose. We do exercises around plans, and I also act as the lead for Business Continuity. My role involves dealing with colleagues from across all of the councils in Lancashire and Lancashire County Council, and working collaboratively on, for example, LRF pipelines.”

As someone who has worn several hats in the word of emergency services, Nick is well accustomed to the enormous impact multi agency work can have. He cites a project he was charge of in Pendle focused on Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) as an example. stating: “At the time, it was very much an emerging technology, and colleagues in the fire service thought it was nothing to do with us until we introduced it to Pendle. Through using ANPR data and working with around 10 partners, including the fire service, police, DVLA and traffic wardens, we reduced deliberate vehicle fires by 37% in the first year, and over 70% in the second. There was a benefit for every single partner.

“This illustrated the value of having an open mind and helping a partner with their particular problem. It’s amazing what lateral problems other partners can help you with. The whole is bigger than the sum of the parts - it’s incredible how big and effective it can actually be.”

During his work for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS), Nick travelled all over the country attending serious and tragic incidents, and was involved in a pioneering project for the Urban Search and Rescue Team.

Nick said: “We would send firefighters out to Turkey to help dig people out of earthquakes but until 9/11 we never thought about how we could use that experience to rescue people from collapsed buildings. I helped the service to build up that capability by constantly talking to blue lights partners, including the police and ambulance service, and also partners in general.

“In emergency planning, it is those sort of incidents we need to respond to, just as much as those sending people to the scene. It’s about what you can bring to this capability and what can this capability do for you.”

Nick’s passion and dedication to his work is clear, and his work makes a difference. He received a Chief Superintendent’s Commendation for his contribution to a project that helped reduce infant deaths in Pendle, and he aims to ensure his current role continues to result in a positive impact for Lancashire’s communities.

It doesn’t sound like he plans to retire again anytime soon.

Nick agreed: “I will probably see my time out here, especially with this interim role. People are fearful of local government reorganisation, but for me it’s an opportunity to reshape the future of local government for future generations and that really excites me. Urban Search and Rescue was a completely new concept in the North West; the opportunity to shape that was phenomenal and this is similar.

“Maybe after that I’ll have a think about whether I should be lounging on a Caribbean beach somewhere!”