AN assistant fire chief is pleased that the crew has been granted funds to buy an 'important asset to help save lives'.

Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) have been given the approval to purchase a pre-used aerial ladder platform (ALP) for the Fire and Rescue Service at a cost of £50,000.

The money will come from Northumberland County Council's risk critical equipment budget.

The request was seen as an 'essential' after a recent serious fire in Haltwhistle, which was the largest building fire in Northumberland for a considerable time.

NFRS has never previously procured such a vehicle and had always having relied upon the availability of such resources from neighbouring fire and rescue services.

However, they said that neighbouring FRSs were charging for the use of such vehicles.

They also found it was becoming increasingly difficult to acquire the aid in 'a timely manner'.

Assistant chief fire officer Jim McNeil said: "The recent major fire in Haltwhistle again highlighted the need for us to have an aerial asset as part of our emergency response provision.

"The ALP will provide an enhanced firefighting and rescue capability that we deploy across the county.

"We're grateful to the council for agreeing the funding and will look to be taking ownership of the equipment in the coming weeks."