EXTRA help is to be made available to South Craven people in emergency situations.

Ready for Anything will see volunteers provide practical support and assistance.

The initiative is being set-up countywide by the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum.

A launch event was attended by more than 30 people, including emergency services representatives, newly-recruited volunteers and members of the public affected by the 2015 Boxing Day floods.

Tom Knox, head of resilience and emergencies at North Yorkshire County Council, said: “A number of incidents have highlighted the need for additional support for emergency responders.

“We want to harness the public desire to help neighbours and communities.

“Ready for Anything is a huge opportunity for volunteers across the whole of the county to engage with and support the collective response to any emergency.

“We’d love to hear from people and businesses interested in joining us.”

Ready for Anything volunteers do not need to make a regular commitment, but they will be notified when there’s an emergency and can confirm by text message if they’re able to attend.

North Yorkshire Police Deputy Chief Constable, Phil Cain, said: “During the Boxing Day floods of 2015 we were faced with a number of challenges which had a considerable impact on our communities. We did not have a clear process for embracing the many offers of help we received from volunteers.

“Collectively we have learned lessons from our experiences in 2015 and Ready for Anything now allows us to embed volunteers in our core response to any significant incident in North Yorkshire.”

Anyone interested in volunteering can get further information, and register, at emergencynorthyorks.gov.uk/readyforanything.