Fire service to scale back support resources as river levels continue to drop

In total, the service had been receiving support from 28 other fire and rescue services from across England and Wales, including Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Merseyside, to assist with flood relief duties.
However from tomorrow (Friday) they will return to their own areas, all except those crewing the High Volume Pumps (HVPs) and officers from the National Resilience Assurance Team.
Two HVPs are still operating on a farm in West Ilsley, pumping floodwater from stables and farm grounds.

Standard fire pumps are also still present in Purley (pictured, top, Thames Valley Police) and in Northcroft Lane, Newbury (pictured, bottom).
The RBFRS has said that it will keep additional resources such as additional fire appliances in place in key areas for the time being as a precautionary measure.
Group Manager Steve Smith said: “People may notice that there are significantly fewer fire crews around after today than they have been used to seeing over the last couple of weeks.
“However, I would like to reassure people that we are still working very hard to pump out water in the worst affected areas and that we are constantly monitoring and reviewing our operations.
“If the situation should change, we will once again move staff and equipment around accordingly and put extra resources in place if required.”
Between 6.30am yesterday (Wednesday) and this morning, the River Lambourn at Eastbury had risen one centimetre to 1.52m, and in Lambourn from 1.23m to 1.25m, and the River Pang in Bucklebury had remained the same at 0.78m.
But in Theale the River Kennet had it had dropped from 1.46m to 1.38m and the River Pang at Pangbourne from 0.77m to 0.70m, while many others had also reduced.
However, the Environment Agency is urging people to remain vigilant against flooding despite the decreasing levels, with more rain forecast for much of Sunday and Monday.
Red flood warnings are in place for the River Pang at Frilsham, Stanford Dingley, Bradfield and Bucklebury; the River Lambourn from Donnington to Newbury and from Upper Lambourn to Great Shefford; the River Kennet from Theale to Reading and Denford to Marsh Benham and the River Thames at Purley.
Yesterday (Wednesday), 4 Rifles Troops which were stationed at the Newbury Weekly News offices were told to stand down from their flood relief duties and head back to Bulford.
Newbury MP Richard Benyon today wrote to the battalion to thank them for their help with flood relief work.
He wrote: “I write on behalf of the whole community in West Berkshire to send our sincerest thanks to you and all 4 Rifles for the hard work everyone put in to help us during the floods.
The Battalion won many friends in communities large and small and you made one Rifleman, me, very proud to have you in my constituency.”
Have you been affected by flooding where you live?
Let reporter Ellis Barker know by emailing ellis.barker@newburynews.co.uk