On Monday, March 3rd, the National Resilience Wales Roadshow began at Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service’s Earlswood Training Centre.
Travelling across all three Welsh Fire and Rescue Services - MAWWFRS, North Wales Fire and Rescue Service (NWFRS) and South Wales Fire and Rescue Service (SWFRS) – the aim of the roadshow was to increase the awareness among Service staff of the National Resilience capabilities available within Wales. Delivered through a mixture of theory and practical sessions, the roadshow is delivering information on the resources and skills available across Wales to assist in emergency incidents.
Service staff who attended the roadshow’s events were given the opportunity to watch a search and rescue demonstration of Cooper, the USAR dog, and saw the latest technological developments that are available to assist when attending incidents involving hazardous materials. Sessions also included a demonstration on the various vehicles and assets that are available, such as High-Volume Pumping (HVP) appliances and search and rescue drones.
The Wales USAR Team are called upon to a variety of incidents, which can include damaged or unsafe structures, missing persons, rescuing casualties from height and more.
Co-ordinating the roadshow was the Wales USAR Team’s Capability Lead, Station Manager Gareth Lewis, who said:
“This has been a fantastic opportunity to engage with colleagues from across the three Welsh Fire and Rescue Services, and to highlight the variety of skills, resources and assets the Wales USAR Team has available to assist them at incidents.
With the USAR Team working closely with the Fire and Rescue Services’ crews, we can ensure the safety of the communities of Wales.”
Between Monday, March 3rd and Thursday, March 6th, the National Resilience Roadshow visited Earlswood Training Centre in Swansea, the USAR Centre at Whitchurch Fire Station, Newtown Fire Station and Rhyl Fire Station.
The Wales USAR Team is on-call 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year to respond to incidents, accidents or disasters anywhere in the world, to provide a search and rescue capability and to support humanitarian efforts.
