LIFEJACKETS are to be given to firecrews, three months after a Rossendale officer drowned during a rescue attempt.

Brave Paul Metcalf died in September as he tried to pull teenager Reyaz Ali from a disused mill pond at Simon's Lodge, Redisher Wood, Holcombe Brook.

The part-time sub officer, 40, of Whalley Road, Shuttleworth, had taken to the water with a rope tied round his waist as he tried to search for the boy. But as he swam out into the lake the line became snagged on an underwater obstruction, which pulled him down.

Mr Metcalf, who was single, had served as a part-time firefighter in Ramsbottom for 10 years. He worked as a carpentry and joinery technician at Accrington and Rossendale College's Eagle Street centre in Accrington.

Reyaz, 16, a star pupil at the nearby Darul Uloom Islamic College, also died in the incident. The Health and Safety Executive are currently investigating Paul's death and the brigade was issued with an improvement notice regarding training following the accident.

Now nearly 150 lifejackets are to be supplied to Greater Manchester fire crews to help them during waterborne rescues, at a cost of several thousand pounds.

It is understood two buoyancy aids will be supplied to each of the 67 pumps in the brigade. Jackets will also be provided for crews on emergency salvage tenders.

But fire service bosses are refusing to directly link the issue of life jackets with the drowning. Assistant County Fire Officer Tony Proctor said: "This is part of a wider range of improvement measures which will be announced governing action at water related incidents." Fire Brigade Union spokesman Bob Pounder said: "Obviously we welcome this. We're glad that they finally listened to us and have done something about it. If our members are expected to carry out water rescues they've got to have the right equipment to keep them safe."

The FBU is also pressing for a safety audit to identify firefighters who cannot swim and then offer them lessons.

Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman John Taylor said their policy was not to enter the water - that was done by the police's underwater teams - but to use a "reach, throw and tow" technique, involving reaching for or throwing a rope to the person in the water.

He said life jackets were issued for operations near water and all coastal-based and some inland fire stations had them in their kit.

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