The Service
Specialist competition teams
Hampshire’s award winning vehicle extrication and trauma care team, which scooped the World Championships at the World Rescue Challenge held in Barcelona last October, has once again proven itself by clinching the most prestigious title at the 2008 World Extrication Challenge (World Rescue Wales).
In the twenty year history of the World Extrication Challenge event, no team has ever successfully retained the title in consecutive years - until now! Hosted in Cardiff by the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service from 10-12 July 2008, the event saw Hampshire’s specialist team named in top spot after a succession of excellent performances.
Competing against 32 representative teams from all around the World, including teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Africa, USA, Canada and most European Countries, Hampshire Fire and Rescue scored highly across all disciplines to take the title of World Champions. Runners up were Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, with Northern Ireland taking third place.
As well as scooping the overall winners’ title of World Champions, Hampshire claimed victory in the field of Rapid Scenario and third place in the Unlimited Scenario. Hampshire firefighters Ian Wadmore, Trevor Griffin, Andy McNamara, and Martin Gritt are now regarded as the Best Technical Team in World, with Jim Hutchen also being awarded the Best Medic in World accolade. Veteran competitor and Team Manager Steve Barrow took the top spot in the Officer In Charge competition. These results stand testimony to the professionalism, dedication and commitment of all those involved.
Commenting on the hotly-contested event, Watch Manager Steve Barrow of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, said:
Winning the World Challenge for a second time is a fantastic achievement for all of the team. We are now developing a new team to widen the skills base of Hampshire’s personnel and existing team members. Our focus over coming months will be to coach and mentor the new people to achieve success at the forthcoming rescue events in Stirling, Scotland (UK Nationals) in August, the European Challenge in Munich, Germany, and next year’s World Challenge in Chicago.”
Chief Officer John Bonney of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service added:
"This is a fantastic result for the team and very well deserved. World Rescue Wales has showcased the work of firefighters from around the world and has served as a valuable forum for rescue best practice.
Unfortunately, our firefighters attend road traffic collisions every day. This result demonstrates to the people of Hampshire the professional standards we practice so that, if the worst did happen, they can be assured that they would receive the best service available.
Congratulations are due to all those responsible for this excellent performance, showing that the Hampshire team really are a cut above the rest!"
Following their success at last year’s World Vehicle Extrication and Trauma Championship in Barcelona, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service’s vehicle extrication team has been crowned champions at the European championships held in Osnabrueck, Germany on April 26th - 27th 2008.
Several new team members have been recently introduced but the Hampshire team showed no signs of ‘first night nerves’, they made a winning clean sweep in every category and were duly awarded the accolade of European Champions. The Hampshire team were representing the UK at the championships and had to overcome some very credible opposition, including the Swedish and Luxemburg national champions and sixteen regional winners from all over Germany.
Firefighter Jim Hutchen, the team medic, scooped first place, as did the Hampshire technical team - Firefighters Trevor Griffin and Martin Gritt and Watch Managers Lee Havey and Mark Woods. Veteran competitor and team captain, Watch Manager Steve Barrow was named top Incident Commander, responsible for the command and control aspects of the scenarios including team and casualty safety. When the final marks were awarded, Steve scored an unprecedented 115 point margin from his next nearest rival.
Speaking after the very well organised event, Watch Manager Barrow said
“I am delighted with the results and especially pleased with the performances of our new team members.”
The team comprises of interested personnel from both the wholetime and the retained (part-time) duty systems and the competitions provide an excellent learning environment for acquiring new skills, knowledge and the opportunity to view new equipment. All of the Hampshire team are either vehicle rescue or first aid and trauma care instructors; so all aspects can be cascaded down to all operational firefighters in Hampshire.
In addition to the roadside rescue aspect of their duties, the team is heavily involved in community road safety initiatives and educational programmes, targeting a number of ‘at risk’ groups in the county, in line with the Fire and Rescue Service Plan 2008 – 20011.
The team operates through generous corporate sponsorship and this year, Makita (UK) Ltd, Weber Hydraulic (UK) Ltd, Vimpex Rescue Systems of Essex and Haix Boots/ Schuhe Produktions of Europe are proud to be associated with the team.
The team scooped its biggest and most prestigious title to date: World Champions at the World Rescue Challenge held in Barcelona, Spain, on 15-20 October 2007. Hampshire’s specialist team was named in top spot after excellent performances competing against 36 representative teams from all around the World, including teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, USA, Canada and most European Countries.
The hotly-contested competition saw Hampshire Fire and Rescue score highly across all disciplines to take the title of World Champions. Runners up were Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, with Bridgend, South Wales Fire and Rescue Service taking third place.
As well as scooping the overall winners’ title of World Champions, Hampshire claimed victory in the fields of Rapid Scenario and Unlimited Scenario. Hampshire firefighters Ian Wadmore, Trevor Griffin, Andy McNamara and Martin Gritt are now regarded as the Best Technical Team in World, with Jim Hutchen also being awarded the Best Medic in World accolade. Steve Barrow took 5th place in the Officer In Charge competition, with the whole team clinching another 5th place in the Complex Scenario round.
The World Challenge is run under the auspices of the World Rescue Organisation (WRO), an international body that incorporates regional rescue organisations from the UK, North America, Australasia and Africa.
The team represented the UK at the TERC USA International Challenge held in Clearwater, Florida from 14-18 May 2007. Pitted against some distinguished USA teams, the team recorded some very credible results:
The team gained 4th place overall in the competition.
The team competed at the TERC Canada World Extrication Challenge held at Burlington Ontario Canada between 18 and 23 September 2006. Up against 32 other teams from Europe, the USA and Canada, the team achieved the following excellent results:
The team were also very pleased to receive an award “ World Ambassadors to the Fire and Rescue Services”. An award voted for by the organising committee and other teams taking part in the Challenge.
Watch Manager Lee Havey (Training Centre) lead an international barbarian team to victory in the world challenge icebreaker event.
rope rescue team
vehicle extrication
