The city of Portsmouth welcomed firefighters from across the country and beyond, including teams from Australia, Luxembourg and Croatia, to test their life-saving skills, and put on a memorable show for the viewing public.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight’s Chief Fire Officer, Neil Odin, is also the current chair of UKRO.
“It was a real honour to welcome UKRO, and its competitors from across the globe, to Hampshire for a fantastic weekend of competition, with great spirit and incredible skill shown by all who took part.
“I would like to thank all those across Hampshire and Isle of Wight FRS, as well as the UKRO team, for organising a truly special event in an iconic location, and I am so proud of the showcase we provided. Our venues and sponsors also played a role in making this year’s UKRO the huge success it was.
“Well done to all the competitors who will now return home, whether that be here in Hampshire or in New South Wales, Australia, tasked with feeding back the learning and skills they developed this weekend, in order to improve their fire service’s life-saving response.”
Technical rope rescue trained firefighters were faced with seven 90-minute complex rescue challenges on Friday and Saturday. These included scenarios onboard the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard’s HMS Victory and HMS Warrior ships, as well as abseiling down the Spinnaker Tower in Gunwharf Quays.
The HIWFRS team came third in the technical challenge, but claimed second prize in both the medical and officer-in-charge categories.
Officer in Charge of the Rope Rescue team, Crew Manager Alec Bowen said:
“The UKRO organisers and the event team at HIWFRS put in an incredible amount of effort to deliver a truly awesome weekend of challenges, in an iconic location.
“The whole rope team has worked really hard to improve and we’re really pleased to achieve these results, against some brilliant teams from across the country.
“The most important part is the learning we now take back to our operational roles, improving the service we provide, keeping the firefighters and residents of Hampshire and Isle of Wight safe.”
The HIWFRS Technical Rope Rescue Team is based at Eastleigh Fire Station.
Eastleigh Station Manager Paul Lawler said:
“I am really proud of this group and it shows the dedication of the individuals within the team, along with those that didn’t compete but are integral to the team. It’s fantastic to see our rope rescue team achieve such incredible results again. I personally see the hard work and passion of the team and this is reflected in the results”
“Our team demonstrated to all the spectators throughout the weekend that rope rescue is a mature and comprehensive technical rescue discipline, reinforcing the varied modern role which firefighters undertake.
“The experiences of the team and the learning acquired through techniques learnt at UKRO will now be embedded into our rope rescue skillset, continuing to develop and improve our frontline response to incidents across Hampshire and Isle of Wight.”
The HIWFRS Fire Cadet team of Isla, Josh and Sophie were crowned the best of the 10 teams in the Cadet Casualty Care Challenge which took place on Saturday.
The scenario involved a window cleaner who had fallen, followed by a second casualty who had tripped holding hot liquid, causing burns.
Clair Hayward, Fire Cadet Manager said:
“We are all very proud of Isla, Josh and Sophie who represented the HIWFRS cadets brilliantly, and did so well in finishing first in a challenge with such a high-standard of competition.
“All the teams showed incredible determination, dedication and first-aid expertise, showcasing the value of the fire cadets programmes across the UK, developing important skills in young people.
“A massive thank you to the Casualties Union who supported the challenge and Street Doctors who provided a fantastic workshop for the cadets.”
The Trauma Challenge saw HIWFRS representatives Rob Barrow and Steve Morris finish as runners up in a scenario designed to test and showcase their medical skills.
Watch Manager Rob Barrow said:
“It was a remarkable weekend showcasing our skills in an impressive location which everyone enjoyed.
“The main purpose of the Trauma challenge is to develop the initial treatment and medical skills of firefighters.
“The event provides a great opportunity to share ideas and techniques with other teams, so we can go back to our organisations, and improve our response at medical incidents and therefore help to save lives.”
Shoppers were left amazed at the skills on display as they watched the Extrication event at Gunwharf Quays.
The HIWFRS Extrication team came third in the challenge which tasked them with releasing a casualty trapped in a car following a road traffic collision.
HIWFRS Station Manager Stu Vince, Extrication Officer-In-Charge said:
“It’s been great to welcome our fire service colleagues to Portsmouth this weekend, and wonderful to see so many of the public engaging with the teams and finding out about what we’re doing and why we’re here.
“The number of road traffic incidents firefighters are responding to on a daily basis is staggering. Through witnessing new methodology, testing our current techniques and equipment, and showcasing our capabilities through robust peer assessment at events like UKRO, our response to incidents on our road network can only improve.
“The team have been training incredibly hard and have done phenomenally well to place third against an exceptionally high-standard of competition.”
The event was bookended with an opening and closing ceremony, where teams were awarded their prizes following the competitions. There were also workshops and seminars taking place to ensure that firefighters returned home from Portsmouth enriched with the latest skills and procedures for a range of different incidents which they could face.
The weekend would not have been same without the support of the venues at Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard and Gunwharf Quays, as well as the location for the water rescue event, on the banks of the River Itchen in Eastleigh.
Angloco, ATACC and Silverlake Automative Recycling sponsored the challenges and played a pivotal role in the delivery of the fantastic event, along with our other key sponsors who you can find out more about on our website.
