National Fire & Rescue Challenge

Firefighters from all over the UK enjoyed Cardiff hospitality during the UK Rescue Organisation's National Extrication Challenge.

Firefighters from all over the UK enjoyed Cardiff hospitality on the weekend during the UK Rescue Organisation's National Extrication Challenge.
Around 500 firefighters from the length and breadth of the UK gathered at Cardiff International Arena on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th July to participate in the UK Rescue Organisation Challenges 2007. They battled it out to be the quickest and best at cutting live casualties out of crashed vehicle scenarios.
Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service's team of Firefighters took first place overall, followed by Royal Berkshire FRS and then South Wales (Bridgend) came in at a respectable third place from the 47 teams who took part. However, the South Wales team were crowned as the Best Technical Team in the UK.

During the two day competition, teams were faced with simulated road traffic collisions with trapped casualties inside vehicles. They needed to demonstrate to judges how they work together to extricate the casualty as safely as possible within a time limit of just 20 minutes.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service will be hosting the 2008 World Extrication Challenge, in the CIA and the team were pleased with a strong finish of third place and the title of 'Best Technical Team'.

South Wales' team leader Shaun Moody said, "The competition gets tougher each year and the rivalry between Fire and Rescue Services is very strong. However, as well as taking part we can also learn quite a lot from other Fire Crews in the way they work and we've made some good friends from all over the UK over the years. I know that firefighters from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales all enjoyed their time in Cardiff and now we'll be training hard for next year's World Extrication Challenge. We are really happy with third place, but there is always room for improvement!"

MFC Survival Ltd is sponsoring the South Wales Bridgend team for the World Extrication Challenge in Barcelona in October 2007 and wishes them every success.

<<Back to the News page