DDS Trip to Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Washington

Hannah Gowling and Angelina Gudzio (23rd November 2017)

In July, the DDS society had the opportunity to visit the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service (TWFRS) Headquarters in Washington. This opportunity provided an insight into how one of our local emergency response services operate to ensure they are efficiently prepared and ready to respond to local emergencies through emergency scenario exercises.

The role of a firefighter

Fire and Rescue Services play an important role in every society. Firefighters are called when a person spots a fire, a traffic collision, chemical spillages, an animal trapped in enclosed space or even a cat stuck up on a tree. Firefighters provide a humanitarian service and have a great input in society’s welfare and well-being. Firefighters’ responsibilities are outlined in the Fire and Rescue Service Act 2004 (The National Archives, 2017). Under this legislation, the core functions of Fire and Rescue Authorities are related to fire safety, fire-fighting, road traffic accidents and emergencies (The National Archives, 2017).
Firefighters are responsible for providing fire safety information to the public and encouraging them to take the steps to prevent fires and death or injury by fire by giving advice about fire prevention, evacuation and how to restrict the spread of fire in buildings and other properties. This can also include: extinguishing fires and protecting lives and property; rescuing people involved in road traffic collisions and protecting people from serious harm; and when necessary, responding to other emergencies needing FRSs assistance (The National Archives, 2017). As it can be seen, firefighters not only fight fires. They respond to many other emergencies as well as are active in prevention work.

Scenario Training Exercise

After being shown around the TWFRS Headquarters and seeing an array of the archives of Fire Fighting memorabilia and equipment, the group sat in on a team briefing before heading onto the training grounds to see the team in action in a training exercise. The briefing covered the plan of actions and the approach the team was going to use to tackle the fire on hand, in addition to discussing how the team would also ensure the safety of the firefighting team during the live fire training scenario.

hen the firefighting team with their fire trucks approached the emergency scene where the fire was occurring and set up an incident command structure and localised breathing apparatus (BA) control area relevant to the situation in addition to preparing the firefighting equipment and firefighters prior to heading into the building on fire for the training exercise. Looking at emergency services tackling an emergency scenario from the periphery through the publics eyes may seem like actions are being made purely by chance. However, each action and choice made by emergency services (for example Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service) is specifically chosen to accurately deal with the incident at hand dependent on each circumstance they face. Fire crews are meticulously trained to respond to different scenarios whether that be to common risks such as building fires or road traffic collisions but also trained to be flexible enough to adapt core skills and knowledge to manage incidents which are less common such as the potential of building collapse, how to rescue multiple casualties, chemical spills, terrorism, suicide attempts, cliff/bridge rescues, water rescues and many more.

Social media

Check out Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service on Facebook and give the page a like to see public notifications about incidents and warnings in your area. Wherever you live search for Facebook pages for emergency services such as the local: Police, Fire Services, Local Authorities and Councils, the Environment Agency and the Met Office to receive relevant informative updates seeking to keep you safe.
 
TWFRS Website: http://www.twfire.org

References

The National Archives. (2017). Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. [online] Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/21/contents [Accessed 12 Jul. 2017].