Posted: Friday 19 October 2018, 13:57
Derbyshire’s extrication and trauma team have qualified for the World Rescue Challenge (WRC), being held from 20to 26 October 2018 at the Athlone Stadium, Cape Town, South Africa.
A team of eight Derbyshire Firefighters will be making the journey to South Africa this weekend to compete in their first World Rescue Challenge, having been invited by the World Rescue Organisation at last year’s UK Rescue Organisation (UKRO) National Finals. They will be competing against teams from South Africa, the UK, Europe, Australasia, and Central, North and South America.
The WRC sees world class rescue and trauma teams compete annually in an event designed to challenge emergency service personnel by developing and enhancing their existing skills and to help raise awareness of the global problem of road death and injury. Derbyshire’s team will compete in three different challenges, over four days of competition, including casualty extrication following a road traffic collision and trauma care.
Speaking ahead of the event, Watch Manager Simon Booth said: “This is an amazing opportunity for our team to compete on a world stage and showcase the skills and expertise that we have here in Derbyshire. It’s also an opportunity for us to improve our skills, techniques and casualty care, through observation of other teams and exposure to realistic and complex scenarios.
“When someone is involved in a road traffic collision, the extrication of that person from the vehicle can have an impact on the recovery and or injury a person sustains. Competitions such as the UK rescue challenge and globally through the world rescue challenge, help fire and rescue services to share best practice and improve the outcomes for people involved in road traffic collisions in the future.
“We’re all extremely excited and are looking forward to representing Derbyshire and bringing knowledge and learning back from this world stage.”
Derbyshire’s Chief Fire Officer, Terry McDermott said: “The whole Service is proud of the team’s achievement and are looking forward to seeing how they get on competing on a world stage.
“Being invited to compete is no mean feat. The team are incredibly professional and dedicated and this has paid off. They will be exposed to a great wealth of learning whilst in South Africa, sharing best practice and techniques with fire and rescue colleagues from across the globe. After any competition, the team reflect on that learning and feed this back into the programme of learning and development that we deliver to our firefighters across Derbyshire. That learning then goes on to be shared with other UK fire and rescue services to ensure best practice gives all road traffic collision casualties the best possible chance of survival and recovery.
“I know the team have been busy practising their techniques and honing their skills and we look forward to seeing how our rescue practices compare with those around the globe.”
As well as sharing best practice and learning new techniques, the World Challenge will showcase some of the latest equipment available to firefighters, as well as developments in technology that may have an impact on the future of car production and in car safety systems.
This year, Derbyshire’s Extrication and Trauma team have been sponsored by Solvay which has bought additional funding into the organisation to further the aspirations and achievements of the team. The backing of a corporate sponsor enables such activity to take place and has enabled the team to livery their kit with sponsorship logos, giving a certain kudos to their participation.
The progress of the team at the World Challenge will be followed on our social media channels.
Derbyshire’s Extrication and Trauma Team: L-R Watch Manager Jamie MacLean, Watch Manager Simon Booth, Crew Manager Kevan Townson, Watch Manager Louise Shelton, Firefighter Sharon James, Watch Manager Ian Snodgrass, Firefighter Neil Adams, Watch Manager Steve Green