Following two days of friendly competition, fire services learning from each other’s skills and thousands of spectators seeing what puts the ‘rescue’ into Fire and Rescue Services, the United Kingdom Rescue Organisation (UKRO) Festival of Rescue closed tonight, with West Midlands Fire Service victorious in the Fire Cadets Casualty Care Challenge, Firefighter Fitness Challenge (age categories 31-40, 51-55 and 55+), best Incident Commander in the Rope Rescue challenge, and won the HGV Challenge (paired up with a team from Hampshire). We also took third place best overall team in the Trauma, Rope Rescue, and Urban Search and Rescue challenges. Eleven teams from WMFS competed across the five traditional challenges of extrication, trauma, water, rope rescue and Urban Search and Rescue, with more staff participating in our Firefighter Fitness Challenges, and West Bromwich Fire Cadets entering a casualty care challenge. Staff embraced the festival feel, putting on a show both during their challenges and around the festival site, creating a vibrant atmosphere at Smithfield in Birmingham city centre. More than 400 firefighters competed during the weekend, representing nearly 40 fire and rescue services from across the UK, as well as a guest team from Ukraine.
Phil Loach, West Midlands Fire Service’s Chief Fire Officer, said: “It has been a pleasure and a privilege to host the festival and to showcase the best of Birmingham and the West Midlands. To finish the event on a high, with wins and top three placements in several challenges, is a real testament to our staff’s hard work and continuing commitment to ensuring their skills are the best they can be for our communities. Many congratulations to all of tonight’s winners, and my heartfelt thanks to our own teams and staff who have been magnificent ambassadors for WMFS and the West Midlands.” “While the festival is a competition, it’s also a rare and valuable opportunity for colleagues to learn from each other in such an environment and to be able to watch and ask questions and make valuable connections. It enhances the services we all provide to our communities. “A lot of our staff have put in countless hours to make this a fantastic, family-friendly, free event. This summer’s Commonwealth Games were a tough act to follow, but everyone involved in the UKRO Festival of Rescue 2022 - our staff, our partners, our sponsors – should be proud of the part they’ve played in rounding off an excellent summer of events.” The full list of winners can be found on the Official UKRO Results page.
