This October, when the rivers were full of Swaledale rain, we held one of our water CPD events.  Swaledale MRT hosted & North of Tyne & Cleveland MRTs brought extra water techs (MOD 3). ​ This gave us a good 25 in water technicians plus team leaders. We’ve recently started looking at a more joined-up approach to our water (and other areas) training. Historically, we used to train each discipline independently, water, rope, medical search etc.  However, we’ve concluded that we

Throughout August Bank Holiday, Scottish Charity, Specialist Search Dogs held their annual Multi agency training event.  This event consisted of working through a range of different training protocols, exercises and lectures, for multiple emergency services, including themselves.   Within their large-scale event, they had guest speakers for theory-based lectures, to support their handling and training, as well as a range of trainers attending for continuous training for their

Question 1 What made your join as a retained firefighter? ​ ​ Answer There are a few reasons for me. I’m very fortunate to have made good progress in my initial career, and I’ve always believed that once you are secure at an individual level, there is a duty to look for ways to contribute to the world beyond yourself. Although my day job is pretty academic, I’m certainly the kind of person who needs a much more physical outlet. I always feel I’m at my best when things are hap

Span Anchors are normally used where a Y-Hang or Multi anchor into a BFK would be too much of an angle if your only anchors were very close to your edge of danger. But your anchors MUST be very unquestionable sound as the forces on them because the angle is over 120 degrees more 160/170 even. Below is a typical Span Anchor set up using two ropes to create four lines across reducing the force on the ropes. ​You need 3 slings on each anchor ideally, you could use 2 but it then

Serve On humanitarian volunteers will this week fly to central Europe to respond to an imagined earthquake in the Balkans as part of a final assessment exercise for would-be search and rescue responders from across the UK. The exercise is the culmination of two years of training for the latest candidates to join the Wiltshire charity’s International Response Team and they have been given the opportunity to show off their skills at the world-class SAR International Training Ce

Serve On is a humanitarian response charity whose highly-skilled volunteers are on stand-by at all times to respond swiftly when natural disasters strike, at home and abroad. Our work constantly transforms lives, including the lives of our volunteers, as we build resilience in people and in communities. Our USAR-trained International Response Team (IRT) members have a proud history - stretching back more than 30 years - of providing emergency help in times of global catastrop

The Technical Rope Rescue world has lots of different Pulleys by lots of different manufactures, some single, double, fixed, swing cheek, swivel etc. A rule of thumb to follow would be if it’s a single pulley then you a single line of course, but I have seen a double pulley used with only a single line, which in the pictures below you can see introduces rope rub on the side plate which could fail the rope or fail the plate of the pulley. Some single pulleys now allow for side

​In this section we will look at edge difficult 90 degree edge transitions with a stretcher in the horizontal & vertical positions. An edge roller will always reduce friction making make haul easier (other manufactures are available) but perhaps on a lower we would require more friction by using an edge matt for example: Horizontal Stretcher raises with an attendant. ​Attendant is attached by the long tails from a DAB or D-Bowline. Casualty on safety line with an ASAP as well

There are many ways to safely recover a casualty from height in a stretcher from tension line lowers to, straight lowers with or without a stretcher attendant. In this addition we are going to look at the Skate Block method. ​ This method with lower the casualty from height but away from the edge of the structure or cliff, there for not always needing an attendant to stop the stretcher moving or catching during the lower. A Skate Block is very easy to set on the ground and th

​So, lets dive into the world of “Single Point of Failure” Or “Backed up” A Single Point of Failure or SPOF is a point in a system (in our case, a rope system), that if it fails, the whole system fails. The idea of Single Points of Failure is the basic concept in understanding the application of backup in rope work. If we were to look at the pictures above of a hauling system on the left, (into a replicated stretcher bridle)  you can see the twin lines enter the pulley and ba

UKRO this year was held by Lincolnshire Fire Brigade in the wondaful City of Lincoln and the Rope Rescue challenges were all held around the Cathedral, what an iconic back drop to the challenges. This is the third year I have been involved as an assessor for the challenges, 12 teams including 2 international teams Romania & Dublin took part. LFB were as ever on top of there game, but some strong performances were put in by HIOW. The challenges are set by the UKRO Rope lead Ni

In this section we will look at a few diagrams of attachment methods for stretcher attendants, this will always be dependant on the task and casualty condition if it needs to be attended or not. Not will always be easier for edge transition if it must be hauled up or an edge but, in the methods, we will look at the attendant can remove themselves from the POC once safe. Double Alpine Butterfly or Bowline DAB with long or short tails to the length required, the stretcher bridl