2nd National Breathing Apparatus Competition
Ceri Darrell | Thursday, October 01, 2009
The Fire Service College will once again be hosting the National
Breathing Apparatus Competition on the 2-3 October 2009. This will
be the second year of the competition and it is expected to be an
even bigger success than last year.
The 2008 event was won by Humberside FRS but the competition was
close, with only 10 marks separating first to fourth place.
The competition is run with the intention of all teams having
an enjoyable experience but there is also a more serious element to
the whole event - it will assist in raising the standard of FRS
personnel in relation to their vital core skills and will therefore
benefit the members of the communities that we all serve.
The event is organised by Dean Baker from the West Midlands Fire
Service and David Cookson from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue
Service. The assessors are from various fire and rescue services
throughout the UK. They are all sector competent in the areas they
will be assessing, for example Incident Command, BA and general
fire ground procedures, and there are also independent assessors at
each venue.
Without the assistance of the two main sponsors, Draeger and the
Fire Service College, the competition would not take place. This
year Draeger have recognised the importance of the competition and
are once again sponsoring the event. The College is the
perfect venue due to its unique facilities where the scenarios the
teams respond to are made as realistic as possible.
The Firefighters Charity are again this year generously donating
all the trophies which are presented to the first, second and third
placed teams with individual trophies for the winners. There
is also a trophy that will bear the winner's name and this is kept
at the Fire Service College for all to see.
Competing teams will be mobilised to an incident with little
information and knowing that back-up may be some time away. When
the teams arrive at the incident they are then given 30 minutes to
resolve the incident.
The teams that took part last year were very professional and
approached the event with the positive attitude required. If the
same is demonstrated this year then the outcome of the competition
will once again be very close.
The event closes with a formal dinner and presentation where the
teams and other invited guests attend an impressive meal provided
by the College prior to the main prize-giving ceremony.
Principal Guest will be Andy Fry, Chief Fire Officer of Suffolk
Fire and Rescue Service and Chair of the Compartment Firefighting
Training Group. Mr Fry was involved last year and was pleased to be
asked back by the organisers as he is keen for this event to
succeed and grow, due to the importance of what the competition is
trying to achieve.
For anybody wishing to watch the event on Saturday
3rd October, commencing at 0900hrs, please contact:
Dean Baker
West MidlandsFire
Service
Tel: 0121 380 6664
email: dean.baker@wmfs.net