As part of an ongoing partnership, international safety and medical manufacturer, Dräger, has once again supported the National Breathing Apparatus (BA) Challenge.
Held at the Fire Service College Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, on 10th October 2015, the event saw 16 teams of firefighters from across the UK, compete for the prestigious title of best BA Team 2015.
After a tough competition over a number of testing scenarios, the grand prize awarded by a group of specialist national assessors, ultimately went to South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Central White Watch. 2nd place went to Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service, Worcester Station Retained, 3rd went to West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service from three stations from Bradford district, Bradford, Shipley and Fairweather Green Watch.
Dräger has been the main sponsor of the BA Challenge event for the past eight years and during the event, runs its own charity challenge, which was a fun pub quiz.
Martyn Lamb, Dräger’s marketing manager for the Fire Service segment, said: “Dräger have been proud sponsors of the National BA Challenge event since it first started out 8 years ago and we’re delighted to have been involved again this year.
“The event seems to gather more and more momentum each year and it has some great plans for the future – potentially even expanding internationally.
“The challenge is designed to be a celebration of the hard work and dedication of firefighters across the country and it’s great to see everyone rise to the occasion over what is always a particularly testing day.
“It’s a fantastic event for us to be a part of and once again, we were so impressed with the enthusiasm shown by each competing team as they faced a range of extremely tough fire scenerios within large buildings.
“We’re now looking forward to supporting the event once again next year.”
Lee Sketchley, from West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service, is part of the group of event organisers. He said: “I’d like to pass on my congratulations to everyone who participated in the event. It was a great day full of tenacity, dedication and teamwork.
“The BA Challenge is all about promoting best practice and firefighter safety across a range of areas, including fire behaviour techniques, breathing apparatus wearing and incident command – essentially all the scenarios firefighters encounter in their day-to-day working lives.
“So much goes into organising such a huge event and we couldn’t do it without the help and support of Dräger and the Fire Service College who we have worked in partnership with for many years. We’d like to thank all the teams who took part and everyone involved in organising another successful BA Challenge!”
Lee Sketchley and the team are now looking forward to the 2016 BA Challenge. To find out more and get involved, contact lee.sketchley@wmfs.net
To find out more about Dräger, visit www.draeger.com
