CROWDS of people turned out on Saturday in Wychbold to watch as fire crews from across the country took on a series of exciting rescue challenges.

The crews were demonstrating their lifesaving skills in a bid to win a place in the national United Kingdom Rescue Organisation (UKRO) Challenge 2016.

12 teams from across the UK met up at Webbs Garden Centre in Wychbold to test their skills against the Road Traffic Collision Challenge, while another nine teams competed against one another in the Trauma Challenge.

The Trauma Challenge involved a series of different trauma-based scenarios involving volunteer ‘victims’, which the fire crews had to assess and then tackle, quickly identifying and treating the injuries they found.

The Road Traffic Collision Challenge saw an elaborate road traffic collision scenario set up, with challenging trapped casualties, which fire crews had to safely extricate from their vehicles while working to within a 20 minute time frame.

Experienced UKRO officials were on site to independently assess the different teams taking part in the challenges, and a mixed team from Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service won the Trauma Challenge, and will now go through to compete in the national UKRO Challenge 2016 in Hampshire this September, alongside a team from Ross-on-Wye, who won the Road Traffic Collision Challenge.

Assistant chief fire officer John Hodges presented the winners with their awards. He said: “I’d like to congratulate the winners and wish them every success in the national competition. I’d also like to say thank you to all of the other crews that competed in the challenges.

“These competitions allow us to share best practice with other services and ensure that we are able to make a difference where it counts, by improving patient care and ultimately saving lives.”