Hampshire Fire And Rescue Celebrate Win!

Two teams from Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service travelled up to London to participate in a tough two day United Kingdom Rescue Organisation (UKRO) Challenge.

It took place between the 24-25th September, with top teams representing the forty fire and rescue services from across the United Kingdom taking part in the national event.

The Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service Trauma Team won the United Kingdom Rescue Organisation (UKRO) 2011 Trauma Challenge. Kerry Charlton and Jim Hutchen, who are both based at Winchester Fire Station, put in an excellent display of trauma care during two tough scenarios in front of experienced judges from the medical profession to win the challenge.

A newly formed Extrication Team consisting of Lee Havey and Brian Saunders from Havant Fire Station, Martin Gribb and Trevor Griffin from Winchester Fire Station and Mark Woods who is a Training Instructor based at Service Headquarters in Eastleigh was positioned an impressive 8th place out of the forty fire services who took part in the UKRO Extrication Challenge, an excellent achievement with this being the first national competition that the team has taken part in.

Speaking after the event Ian Wadmore, Station Manager from Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service who is the Team Manager said:

 "Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service has a strong team, one that the county can be really proud of. Members of the team regularly have to train on top of their normal daily duties in order to develop their procedures and improve their skills to reach this high standard. We are delighted to win this title and hope Kerry and Jim can repeat this success in the World Extrication and Trauma Challenge next year in London after the Olympics. It was an incredibly close fought challenge with strong efforts from all teams and it is fantastic that their effort and hard work has been recognised.

These past two days have been all about learning and sharing best practice and I believe that "London 2011" achieved this goal with every participant going home having shared experiences and learnt something new which will ultimately assist in continuing to save lives in the long run."

He added:

 "The Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service Extrication and Trauma Team operates through generous corporate sponsorship, this year the following companies are proud to support the team's efforts: Makita (UK) Ltd, Packexe of Exeter UK, Vimpex Limited of Great Waking Essex UK, Clan Lukas Rescue Tools and Silverlake Autoparts of Shedfield. I would like to take the opportunity to thank them for their continued support."