WMFS Breathing Apparatus Competition Background

The competition is held on an annual basis with teams from watches or stations across the brigade invited to take part. Unfortunately due to organisational changes within the brigade, the competition in its present form has been suspended from 2001 onwards until further notice.

The watches from Sheldon have a proud record for competing in the competition and have won it five times:

1984 (Green Watch), 1985 (Green Watch), 1992 (White Watch), 1999 (Green Watch), 2000 (Green Watch)

The Brigade final involves an incident scenario which is set up to test the skills of a crew of five firefighters using one fire appliance in dealing with a mock incident which requires the use of breathing apparatus.

The five crew members from each team have the following roles:

1. Incident Commander x 1
2. Driver / pump operator / medic x 1
3. Breathing apparatus wearers x 2
4. Entry Control Officer x 1

Each of the crew has specific roles to perform:

1. The Incident Commander is in charge of the crew. He/she will decide on the tactics employed to deal with the incident and will direct the crew accordingly.

2. The driver /pump operator / medic will drive the fire appliance, operate the pump and provide the water supply, and will carry out first aid on any casualties.

3. The breathing apparatus wearers will enter the building and carry out firefighting duties and search and rescue any casualties.

4. The entry control officer is responsible for the safety of the breathing apparatus wearers whilst they are inside the incident. It is his / her job to ensure that the wearers return safely to fresh air before their air supply runs out.

The crew usually has twenty minutes to complete the drill. All crew members are awarded points by the judges for the way in which they carry out their individual roles. An aggregate total score is then awarded to the team.

These are the drill scenarios for the competition finals that were won by Green watch in 1999 and 2000.

1999: A fire inside the police custody suite at the Hawthorns football ground in West Bromwich, West Midlands. The scenario was based on a match day with 15,000 people in the stadium. There were four persons missing in the area involved in fire.

2000: A report of a fire with 5 persons trapped at an end terraced house in West Bromwich, West Midlands.

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