National Resilience Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) training exercise

Tyne and Wear hosts national Urban Search and Rescue exercise
The North East was proud to recently stage a National Resilience Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) training exercise hosted at the Service Headquarters of Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service.
Over a two day period nearly one-hundred and fifty operational crews and USAR specialists, along with representatives from other regional and national organisations gathered at Barmston Mere Training Centre in Washington, Tyne and Wear.
National Resilience Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) conducted a series of incident simulations aimed at comparing differing types of specialist response to a range of challenging scenarios, relevant to USAR operations. This event was held to support a Home Office project exploring how Urban Search and Rescue can develop for the future.
The organisations who took part included:
Attending Fire Services: Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service; County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service; Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service; Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service; and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Other partnership organisations included: Northumbria Police; North East Ambulance Service HART (Hazardous Area Response Team); Military Observer; Salvation Army; and Sunderland University (paramedic Science students).
The different ‘real life’ scenarios that were tackled during the recent USAR exercise used cutting edge rescue techniques and specialist equipment. The intention was for the various teams to work together to resolve the situations and learn from how they approached the incidents.
The scenarios included two collapsed structures (car park and a block of flats); transport - rescuing people trapped in a train after an explosion and a separate incident with a coach vehicle; at height incident - a situation with a pylon; and investigating confined space - short and long travel distance.
Video Credit: TWFRS / National Resilience