A group of firefighters from Bath’s Fire Station have been ranked second in the country during a national competition to test their search and rescue skills.
Alistair Hill, Dan Fry, Daniel Blake, Sam Cook and Patrick McCafferty represented Avon Fire & Rescue Service at the national Breathing Apparatus Challenge at the weekend.
The team are all part time or Retained Duty System (RDS) firefighters who respond to incidents via a pager system.
The competition involves teams of five taking part in a 30 minute scenario designed to test the competitors skills when using breathing apparatus. Breathing apparatus sets are used by firefighters in emergencies to ensure they can breathe properly in a smoke-filled building.
Judges assess the crews on how well they work together and communicate when dealing with a fire.
Speaking about the challenge, Firefighter Alistair Hill, said: “We are delighted to have finished so highly during this challenge. Our scenario involved a fire where people were thought to be inside a large industrial building.
“It was up to us to use our procedures and communication skills to search the premises, relay information and rescue those involved.
“We have been working really hard on training the team, meeting in our own time in the evenings and at weekends, but that training has really paid off.”
There were 19 teams from fire and rescue services across the country taking part in the challenge at the Fire Service College in Moreton-in-Marsh.
Dan Fry was also ranked the second best Officer in Charge in the competition.
Both RDS and Wholetime firefighters respond to incidents from Bath Fire Station.
