The five firefighters, who hail from Stations right across the South Wales area, committed to an intense training schedule in preparation for the annual Challenge at Morton in the Marsh, Fire Service College.
This weekend they were awarded with a superb 8th (for BA) position out of 24 competing teams and Bronze Award for overall team.
With the Challenge focusing on the rescue of multiple casualties from burning buildings using special Breathing Apparatus kit, the team endured a complex scenario with multiple seats of fire and smoke as part of an extinguish and search and rescue situation.
Crew Manager Clare Amor said:
“I am really impressed by what the team have achieved. This is the first competition we have entered as an all-female team, and we all came together to successfully complete the challenges representing SW Fire and Rescue to a very high standard.“
Area Manager Alison Kibblewhite, Head of Operations, said:
“I am really proud of the team that entered the Breathing Apparatus competition and the time and dedication they put in to training for the event. The team all work at various Stations and are a mixture of wholetime and On Call staff. It was ground-breaking for the competition to have an all-female team entered and they did SWFRS proud. Congratulations to them all and hopefully they have inspired more female firefighters to take part in these competitions in the future.”
The team – Crew Manager Eleanor Hathaway, Crew Manager Lauren Jones, FF Sonia Hunt, FF Victoria Brailsford and Crew Manager Clare Amor – are now busy preparing for next year’s BA Challenge and are inviting other applicants from across the Service to join them.
