Six firefighters from Cape Town are set to participate in the World Rescue Challenge, which will be held in October in Spain.
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Morné Haskell, Goodwood Fire Station commander and incident commander of the Cape Town Destroyers, says it is an honour and a privilege to represent the City. He and his colleagues will compete against top international specialist extrication teams in a series of extrication and trauma contests in Lanzarote, Spain, News24 reports.
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The Goodwood Fire Station staged a motor vehicle accident to prepare for the competition. This was done by recreating a scene commonly encountered by Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Services – a car that rested on top of another.
The team demonstrated how they would rescue crash victims while ensuring that injuries were handled with care. According to Haskell, reducing harm requires more than great equipment. ‘Experience, dedication and training’ are crucial to the effort.
‘Everything revolves around safety, and it’s a patient-driven exercise. We want to remove the vehicle from around the patient to get the patient out safely and get the patient to the hospital where they will receive further medical treatment.’
The Cape Town Destroyers travelled to Luxembourg last year to compete against 70 teams for the title of extrication and trauma champions. Although the group didn’t take gold, they placed tenth in the standard 20-minute extrication scenario.
This year, they are the only African team. ‘It is very beneficial to us, as a team, to go there and also attend all their workshops,’ says Arlene Wehr, the City’s Fire and Rescue head of operations in District West. ‘We could learn quite a bit and bring it back to our staff so they can deliver better services to our communities.’
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