Congratulations to National BA Competition Winners 2011

Ceri Darrell | Friday, October 21, 2011

On Saturday 15^th October 2011 the 4^th National Breathing Apparatus Competition, sponsored by Draeger Safety UK and the Fire Fighters Charity, took place at the Fire Service College.  This year's event attracted teams from across the UK, competing throughout the day in realistic hot scenarios and assessed by national fire behaviour and incident command assessors.

The skills demonstrated by all teams were a credit to their respective fire and rescue services as crews of 5 personnel were assessed in fireground, entry control, incident command and breathing apparatus wearing.  

Congratulations to all of the teams for putting themselves in the front line of scrutiny, which takes a lot of courage and belief.  It was a closely contested competition which was won by the narrowest of margins.  The winners received their awards at a presentation dinner at the College and the competition results are shown below:

1^st - South Yorkshire Central

2^nd - West Midlands Northfield

3^rd - Hereford & Worcester Mixed team

Best Officer in Charge - West Midlands Northfield

Best 2 BA wearers - South Yorkshire Central

Best Fireground Pump Operator - South Yorkshire Central

Best Entry Control Officer - Hereford & Worcester

This year's organisers, including Lee Sketchley, Dez Omar, Dean Baker and Jason Campbell worked tirelessly to co-ordinate the logistics and organisation to make sure that the Competition ran as smoothly as possible.  They have expressed their thanks to the firefighters who participated, Draeger Safety UK, the Fire Fighters Charity and the Fire Service College for their part in ensuring the success of the competition.

Looking ahead to next year's event the organisers hope to attract even more competitors than this year.   If you are interested in taking part and think that your team has the skills and would like to take up the challenge please contact Lee Sketchley, Watch Manager, West Midlands Fire Service on lee.sketchley@wmfs.net for details.

To view some photographs of the Competition please click here

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