Oldcastle crew on fire at Ashbourne international rescue challenge

Meath County Fire and Rescue Service, in association with Rescue Organisation Ireland, hosted a major emergency services rescue challenge at Ashbourne Fire Station last weekend. This was the first time the ROI National Road Traffic Collision and Trauma Challenge was held in Meath and was the biggest event since the competition began four years ago. The event was attended by emergency services personnel from across Ireland, as well as fire crews from London, Hampshire, Lincolnshire and Catalunya in Spain. It was also open to members of the public and over 1,000 people came to watch throughout the weekend. With fire and rescue services attending road traffic collisions on an all too regular basis and witnessing the carnage caused first-hand, emergency service voluntary organisations have come about to further enhance training skills, provide a forum for discussion amongst emergency service personal and provide a platform for international best practice in dealing with these and other trauma incidents. Rescue Organisation Ireland is one such volunteer-based charity and is a member of the World Rescue Organisation. The National Road Traffic Collision and Trauma Challenge event held in Ashbourne was centred around two challenge events. The first was an extrication challenge where a five-person team of firefighters had to safely extricate a trapped live casualty from crashed cars in a simulated Road Traffic Collision (RTC) in a specified timeframe. The trauma challenge involved a two-person team of firefighters/medics treating a live casualty involved in a traumatic accident in a specified timeframe. A total of 24 teams competed on each of the two days at Ashbourne Fire Station and their performance was marked by a team of assessors. The winning teams will represent Ireland at the World Rescue Challenge in London in October. A team from Oldcastle finished in first place in the extrication challange, and also came third in the trauma challenge. The results from the weekend were as follows: Extrication: 1, Oldcastle; 2, Carlow; 3, Longford; Trauma: 1, Laois; 2, Cork County; 3, Oldcastle. International categories: Extrication: 1, Terassa, Spain; Trauma: 1, London.