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Firefighter heads to Haiti
A Wigan firefighter has jetted off to Haiti to help search for survivors following a devastating earthquake.
Selfless rescue technician Simon Cording is one of a team of UK firefighters who volunteered to fly out to the disaster-hit Caribbean country from Gatwick overnight.
The 35-year-old, from Platt Bridge, was one of a 61-strong UK rescue team due to deploy to Haiti as soon as the airport reopened following heavy snow.
Simon, who has been a fireman for 12 years and is currently stationed at Sale Fire Station, will help with the massive rescue operation after a series of quakes hit the poverty-stricken country on Tuesday night.
The epicentre of the quake was reportedly about 10 miles south-west of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.
It is feared that the devastating tremors – the worst measured around 7.3 on the Richter Scale – could have killed thousands of people.
As many as 13 aftershocks have taken place and rescue teams are thought to have only a short opportunity to reach survivors buried under the rubble.
The promptly-arranged UK Fire Service International Search and Rescue Team, which includes eight members of the Greater Manchester Fire Rescue Service, will use two search dogs and 12 tonnes of equipment.
On their arrival at the quake-hit country, which together with the Dominican Republic occupies Hispaniola Island, the UK contingent is set to form two teams to search for survivors around the clock at separate sites.
They will be using heavy breaking equipment, specialist cameras and listening devices in a bid to clear rubble and identify survivors.
Before jetting off, operations commander Pete Stevenson, who is leading the UK team, said: "I have no doubt this will be an extremely challenging situation but we will do our utmost to use our equipment and training to help the people of Haiti.
"Some of the team members have previous experience of dealing with the aftermath of earthquakes in India, Turkey, Algeria and Pakistan and
will utilise everything they have learned previously."
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Weather for Wigan
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
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