A Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service ‘Extrication’ team have recently returned home from Luxembourg after clinching second place in the international firefighting World Rescue Challenge 2022 there.
Drawn from several HWFRS fire stations, the team were competing against teams from around the world in this premier event, having worked their way up the fire service ‘competition ladder’ in national competitions over many years, putting in countless hours of work to reach this elite level and achieving massive success in events along the way.
The team comprised Firefighter Dan Gray (Ross Fire Station), Firefighter Adam Holder (Fownhope), Watch Commander Jayne Collins (Redditch), Watch Commander Shaun Moser (Droitwich), Firefighter Pat Murphy (Ross) and Ade Phillips (Training Centre).
Having won the ‘Extrication’ contest at the British national championships in 2019, the team qualified for the World Championships in Miami the following year.
But Covid-19 prevented those Championships from going ahead and the team’s place at the 2022 Luxembourg World Championships this month was confirmed just two weeks before the start, giving them little time to bring their training up to peak level and make travel plans.
However, they had maintained their hard work and focus and were able to deliver a fantastic result in spite of the short notice.
The ‘Extrication’ event contest saw them faced with three different and challenging scenarios, including ‘Rapid’, ‘Standard’ and ‘Complex’ extrication exercises over 10, 20 and 30 minutes.
Bringing all their training to bear, they dealt expertly with physical and medical entrapments of numerous ‘live casualties’, successfully managing their initial life threatening and ongoing trauma needs.
In the judges’ opinion they had performed to the highest standards in all disciplines, while team leader Ade Phillips, from the HWFRS training centre was graded the Best Officer In Charge and therefore ‘best in the world’ in this category.
Chief Fire Officer Jon Pryce was delighted with the outcome and said: ‘I cannot congratulate the crew enough – to be recognised on a national level is very special, however to achieve this result on a world stage is amazing and I am immensely proud of the whole team.
‘I know that this is a result of years of hard work and dedication. They are a credit to our Service and I am looking forward to personally congratulating the team on their achievement.’
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