Trainee Firefighters Experience USAR
Washington Hall has many years of experience in developing trainee fire-fighters to meet the ever changing demands of the modern world on its emergency services.The current recruit course representing a variety of UK and Ireland Emergency Services spent a day with the Urban Search and Rescue team (USAR) to familiarise them with the techniques and equipment used by the team. This team is one of twenty located throughout England and Wales. The recruits were shown how the team would search for, locate and then rescue a casualty from a building collapse and how they could assist the team in performing these duties. Various scenarios were used to allow recruits to participate in the four main disciplines of USAR these were:-
Building assessment and stability; the recruits were tasked with putting shores in place to stabilise the confined space gallery. This simulates shoring a partially collapsed building to allow teams to safely penetrate further into the structure to carry out search and rescue activity.
Technical search; the recruits had to locate a casualty with seismic equipment and then Identify the live casualty and the risks (a secondary device) using search camera systems.
Access by breaking and breaching; the recruits had to make an entry point through a reinforced concrete structure (a sewer pipe) which could be used to safely access and rescue a casualty. This simulated the type of activity needed to tunnel through walls and floors to rescue casualties.
Lifting and moving; the recruits had to assess the weight of various object and lift them with air bags or set up pulley systems to move the out of the way. This exercise simulated the actions carried out to remove debris to access or release a casualty.
Course enquiries with reference to recuit training courses can be made by contacting Simon Fryer simonfryer@lancsfirerescue.org.uk or 01257 266611
Fire Investigation Dog and Handler Team Tests for 2008
Washington Hall is pleased to anounce that it will be facilitating FI Dog and Handler testing courses in 2008. The centre has secured the services of Mr Mike Swindells as an Independent Assessor and Mr Dave Peplow as (Honorary) Technical Advisor and Administrator. Mike Swindells has an international reputation for his work with Cadaver Recovery and Forensic Search Dogs. He has also been actively involved as an assessor for SCS International working with FI and USAR Dogs. In addition he has recently worked as an instructor for the Malaysia Fire Service. Dave Peplow is a well known and respected pioneer of the use of dogs within the UK Fire Service. He has trained many FI Dog and Handler Teams from all over the world. The cost of the test is £170 per delegate. Dates can be obtained by contacting Washington Hall
For further information on the above news items please contact:
Mick McDonough
Training Manager
Lancashire Fire & Rescue Service
Washington Hall UK International Training and Development Centre
Tel: 0044(0)1257 266611
Fax: 0044(0)1257 261767
(last updated 19/12/07)
