[23 July 2007]

United Kingdom Rescue Organisation (UKRO).

UKRO is committed to improving rescue standards throughout the UK. This years UKRO Extrication Challenge & Conference was hosted by South Wales Fire & Rescue Service. During 12th, 13th and 14th July, at the Cardiff Indoor Arena, near on 200 delegates attended two conferences, 276 firefighters representing 46 different Fire & Rescue Services took part in the extrication challenge and a record 28 teams took part in the trauma challenge.

On Friday 13th, all 46 teams took part in a 20 minute standard scenario of the extrication challenge. At the end of a long day, twenty teams, including East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, were informed that they would go through to the ‘complex’ scenario on Saturday. Our UKRO team included Ted Williams, Keith Morris, John Kirk, Leo Cacciatore, Dave Washington and John Keen. The team took an impressive 5th place in the competition, with Northern Ireland as the overall winners.

East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service also entered a team into the UKRO trauma challenge. This team consisted of Trevor Funnel and Peter Lilley who took 11th place out of 26 teams.

The purpose of the UKRO challenges is to promote and share good practice throughout the United Kingdom. The skills that ESFRS teams learn and develop are then progressed through the RTC training section at the Service Training Centre for wider decimation across the Service. This in turn raises the overall standard of service delivery in relation to RTC’s.

Further information is available on the UKRO website.

[Allison Gilson]