FIREFIGHTERS and charity volunteers in Tewkesbury have set up the first combined water rescue centre in the UK.

Gloucestershire Water Rescue Centre is based at Tewkesbury Fire Station and was officially launched during an open day on Saturday.

It houses crews from the county's fire service and the Severn Area Rescue Association (Sara) and forms Gloucestershire's centre of operations for water rescue.

Both organisations share eight powered lifeboats, 10 un-powered life rafts, two hovercraft and more than 300 trained first responders who can be deployed from the central command centre at the fire service's headquarters in Waterwells, Quedgeley, within minutes to carry out rescues and support communities.

The centre will prove invaluable should the county experience flooding like that of 2007.

Gloucestershire's chief fire officer Jon Hall said: "I would like to thank station manager Phil Ryan and his staff for the way they have welcomed and worked with our colleagues from Sara to create this unique water resource centre.

"It will provide an extensive and resilient rescue capability for Gloucestershire and beyond, using a range of responders not previously available to any one organisation."

Councillor Will Windsor-Clive, the county council's cabinet member for communities, said: "I am really pleased that Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service is working so closely with Sara and I am delighted that we now house the first UK water rescue centre.

"This new arrangement is a good example of the collaborative way that the county council is now looking to provide its services.

"I'm sure the centre will prove to be a valuable resource. Sharing SARA's equipment and vast experience of dealing with water incidents will certainly help if we are ever faced with a similar experience as the floods of 2007."

Paul Watkins, Sara's deputy executive chairman, said: "This partnership will see both organisations working within each other's strengths to develop what currently is a unique service.

"By harnessing the skills available to both organisations, the people of Gloucestershire and beyond now have, on-call, an unrivalled provision for marine and land search incidents, building on the excellent relationships enjoyed by the fire service and Sara from their existing Sharpness and Beachley stations."