Firefighters water rescue success

9:31am Thursday 8th May 2008

EVESHAM water rescue crews celebrated the arrival of a new boat recently as county firefighters were recognised for their water rescue operations with a major international award.

Hereford & Worcestershire's chief fire officer Paul Hayden, along with Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service, have been awarded The Higgins and Langley Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in Swiftwater Rescue.

The service and My Hayden were nominated by the Chief Fire Officers Association for developing swiftwater and flood rescue techniques as part of a major flood event research project.

They will receive the award at the annual conference of the National Association for Search and Rescue, in Colorado Springs, USA, later this month.

Meanwhile, Evesham's own swiftwater boat rescue team are now teaching colleagues from across the county in the same techniques that helped to save lives in last summer's floods.

A new rescue boat purchased recently will not just assist both Green and White Watch rescue teams based at Evesham, but also people from across the country - as proven when Evesham crews were deployed to Cornwall at the start of April.

The boat will add to the training local firefighters have already received from the team of experts in Carolina in 2006.

Adrian Mayhew, a swiftwater rescue instructor from Evesham Station, said: "Having the boat and a higher level of training is going to make a huge difference because we will be able to recognise and understand the dangers, and help us to deal with those dangers more effectively.

"It will make the community a safer place."