There will be a significant emergency presence at the River Dee in Chester today (Thursday, July 25).

But there is no need to panic, as it is all pre-planned, with Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service leading the way on World Drowning Prevention Day.

Firefighters and partners from the RNLI, Cheshire West and Chester community wardens, Cheshire Police, patrol boat officers, plus more, along with local businesses will all be working together as part of the day to launch a pilot Water Responder Scheme in The Groves area of Chester.

Several businesses have already signed up to the scheme, which sees firefighters providing staff with free training on how to use a throw line, a water rescue buoyancy aid.

Once the training is completed, the RNLI will give each business its own free buoyancy aid to keep in case of an emergency.

Partner agencies are meeting outside Hickory’s Smokehouse from 11am, and there will be the fire and rescue boat and crew demonstrating rescues from the water to spectators.

Crews will also show how to safely rescue yourself or someone else from a water-related situation.

Firefighters will be demonstrating how to use a defibrillator to save a life and giving CPR demonstrations.

The initiative is necessary as figures show 236 people accidentally drowned in the UK in 2023. Of those, half did not intend to enter the water.

Figures also show that June, July and August are historically the most common months for accidental drownings.

In Cheshire, in the past five years, emergency teams attended 186 incidents that required a rescue from water. Sadly, there have been 18 deaths in that time, and 11 seriously injured. Men accounted for 94 per cent of water-related deaths.

For World Drowning Prevention Day, key landmarks across the world are being lit up blue.

Locally, Chester Town Hall, the Eastgate Clock and Newgate Arch Bridge will be lit up blue, while the Mersey Gateway bridge is another local landmark which will be illuminated.