Last year Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service attended more than 350 road traffic accidents (RTC) in which there were 17 deaths and 121 casualties.
Driving at speed and not slowing down on wet roads coupled with poor car maintenance, tyre blowouts, driving under the influence of drink and drugs and a lack of concentration are the main causes of road crashes.
Prior to cutting people out of crashes the Fire and Rescue Service must consider the following:
- Incident Approach
- Scene/Crew Safety
- Vehicle Stabilisation
- Glass Management
- Extrication Techniques
- Cutting Techniques
- Casualty Care
The Fire and Rescue Service is constantly training to carry out the above. To enable this to be carried out there are strategically placed RTC sites across the County. At these sites cars are stored and made available for both Wholetime and Retained firefighters to train on.
All operational personnel attend the Training Centre at Telford Central to receive additional training and are assessed on their individual performance.
All fire appliances carry RTC equipment and at Wellington there is a specialist Rescue Tender that is called to all RTC’s across the County. This appliance carries greater capacity and more specialised hydraulic cutting and spreading equipment, larger capacity air bags, lighting, winches and a HIAB crane.
