Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) has been placed 3rd in the world for its rescue skills at road traffic collisions at the 2008 World Rescue Competition held in Cardiff.  NIFRS also gained a 1^st place in the most difficult and complex scenario.

 

The team of 7 local Firefighters from Crescent Link Fire Station in Londonderry, who are also current UK Rescue Champions, competed with Firefighters from around the globe demonstrating their rescue skills at removing casualties as quickly and safely as possible at road traffic collisions - as this improves the chances of casualties’ survival.

 

Competing against 32 representative teams from around the world, including teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Africa, USA, Canada and most European countries, the NIFRS team scooped 3^rd place at the hotly-contested event.

 

The World Rescue Competition is run by the World Rescue Organization (WRO), an international body that incorporates rescue organisations from UK, North America, Canada, Europe, Australasia and Africa. 

 

Team Captain, Watch Commander Sam Donnell, Crescent Link Fire Station, Londonderry said –

 

“We are delighted to be placed 3^rd in the world for our rescue work at road traffic collisions and in particular to be placed 1^st for the most difficult and complex scenario.  Out of a possible 18 trophies available at the competition the team brought 16 of those back to Northern Ireland.  The team has gone from strength to strength having come 4^th in the world for the past 2 years. 

 

“It is a fantastic result which is testament to all our hard work and training however most importantly the World Rescue Competition helps raise awareness of the seriousness and impact of road traffic collisions and helps reduce deaths and injuries by promoting road safety.  For Firefighters it provides an opportunity to share best practice with other fire and rescue services internationally and further develops our extrication skills, related medical rescue techniques, as well as wider technical rescue skills and techniques – which ultimately help save more lives.”

 

Louis Jones, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service added –

 

“NIFRS is extremely proud of the team and their 3rd place finish on the world stage.  NIFRS Firefighters are truly amongst the best in the world at rescuing and extricating casualties from road traffic collisions and the public can be confident that NIFRS Firefighters work to the highest standard of professionalism and best practice through ongoing investment in training and equipment for road traffic collisions. 

 

“Every day across Northern Ireland our Firefighters are called to attend road traffic collisions, rescuing and freeing people trapped in vehicles so they can receive urgent medical attention.  We witness first hand the devastation that road traffic collisions cause to people’s lives and by taking part in such competitions, which simulate real life collisions, we can help protect our community in Northern Ireland by continually improving in this important aspect of our work by developing our skills and working with other Fire & Rescue Services from across the world to raise the standard of response at road traffic collisions.”

 

During the intensive individual competitions at the World Rescue event on technical rescue, medical and casualty care as well as the command and control of the incident - the NIFRS team was placed 2^nd in the world for both its technical rescue and medical and casualty care and 3^rd place for its command and control.  That placed NIFRS overall 3rd in the World for rescuing casualties from road traffic collisions.

 

At a separate Trauma Challenge in Cardiff two members of the team were placed in 2^nd position in this world challenge. This is a new Challenge which tested the skills of our personnel who have recently completed the services” First Person On Scene” Trauma course.