A TEAM of firefighters and volunteers from Salisbury are heading to Cumbria to help with the clean-up operation following devastating floods at the weekend.

The group from Serve On will be involved with house clearances, removing debris from roads and pumping out flooded homes.

Operations director Dan Cooke, who is also station officer for Salisbury Fire Station, said: "We are sending between 17 to 20 people to swell the numbers at the weekend and then depending on the situation and the number of spontaneous volunteers, we will look at whether we maintain our presence into next week.

"We'll be working with our partners, Team Rubicon, an American group so in total there will be 40 to 50 people.

"Wiltshire Fire and Rescue is also releasing some staff to provide expertise.

"It's disastrous for a lot of people up there who have lost their homes and it's distressing before Christmas as well."

Mr Cooke said the Community Resilience Team - all volunteers - will be setting off tomorrow and would also be looking to learn lessons in case similar events happen in the south of England or in Salisbury.

Storm Desmond Serve On, which is based at Salisbury Fire Station, was set up last year to help support the Environment Agency and other organisations with emergency response when there is large-scale flooding.

It also includes an international team providing a search and rescue team to disaster zones such as the Nepal earthquake in April.

Serve On is about all people being able to Serve On in their community and is not exclusively ex-forces.

The charity was formed after a meeting at Tedworth house.