Can Notts team cut it?
A group of Nottinghamshire firefighters will be hoping they can cut it with some of the best extrication teams in the country when they compete at the United Kingdom Rescue Organisation’s (UKRO) National Rescue Challenge in Lincoln this month.
The competition, which takes place on Friday and Saturday 24 and 25 August, will see 40 teams from across the UK putting their rescue and casualty care skills to the test in scenarios where passengers are trapped inside vehicles.
In the first scenario the teams will have 20 minutes to rescue one casualty and, if successful, they will go through to the second day of the competition where they’ll be presented with a more complex scenario. Here they will have 30 minutes to rescue two casualties. A number of obstacles, such as other vehicles, lampposts and concrete blocks will be incorporated into the scenario to make the extrication even more challenging.
The team has already beaten off competition regionally, coming second to win a place in the national event, and will be looking to better their position of 22nd which they achieved in last year’s National Rescue Challenge in London.
Team Leader, Station Manager Andy Lindley, says he is confident that the team can perform well. “The extrication scenarios are the kind of situations that firefighters are likely to come across in their day-to-day to role, so training for those situations is a regular part of what we do,” he said. “The team is very enthusiastic and we have put in a lot of extra practice to perfect our skills so we can fly the flag for Notts and hopefully come away with a good result.
“Competing at the National Rescue Challenge also gives us a valuable opportunity to learn new skills and techniques and to share best practice with the other teams.”
The UKRO National Rescue Challenge is hosted by Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service and will take place at Lincoln University. Members of the public are welcome to attend, where they can learn about fire safety while observing first-hand the specialised and finely-honed technical skills demonstrated during the challenge.
