Fire Event at Gunwharf / Historic Dockyard
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NewsTranscript
00:00So I'm Neil Odean, I'm the Chief Fire Officer for Hamish and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue
00:15Service and today here in Portsmouth we're having the Festival of Rescue which is really
00:20focused on the rescue part of fire and rescue. So no fires here today, we're just doing the
00:24rescue part of it with several disciplines. So talk us through, what will the public see
00:31when they come in to the dockyard, or will have seen as they walk about the area?
00:35So across Gunmorph and the historic dockyard we'll see several disciplines including rope
00:41rescue, so rescue from height or down below using rope extrication techniques. We'll also
00:45see trauma where our firefighters do medical response to things. We'll also see extrication
00:51from crashed vehicles in Gunmorph. We'll also see water rescue. We'll also see a dog
00:57demonstration for search and rescue dogs and also we've got cadets performing on Saturdays
01:01so young people doing some of these disciplines themselves. So it's a real mix of rescue techniques
01:05all coming together across the UK to learn from each other.
01:09And so how important is it to bring this information to the public with this event?
01:15So it's twofold really because we've got more than 30 teams from across the UK and worldwide
01:20coming today and tomorrow and so we're there to learn from each other. So we'll be looking
01:25really closely at what we do. We learn from mistakes, we learn from good things, but also
01:29importantly the public get to see what we do because often people don't realise we do
01:32rescue as well and so it's fire and rescue we are known as nowadays. So it's really important
01:37that the public understand that. We've also got some education here to help people understand
01:41how to keep themselves safe from these things including fire safety advice of course.
01:47And tell us about, it's not the only event that's happening around as well, is it a remote
01:51series as well? Some robotics as well?
01:54So across the whole site we've got kit displayed from the latest technology including robotics.
01:59So we've got a robotic dog, we've got a robotic kind of manoeuvring vehicle that goes into
02:04burning buildings and pulls hose in. We've got advanced imaging systems, we've got real
02:10technical advancements here today which the manufacturers are displaying mainly for the
02:15use for firefighters but equally for the public to come and look at and understand.
02:18So equally we've got some high platforms in this beautiful historic dockyard as well.
02:23So this really is a display that is worth seeing. So I'm privileged not only being the
02:28Chief Fire Officer here and hosting this for the UK but when our teams who are excellent
02:31come together they learn from each other and we have expert assessors assessing each team
02:36and so we're really looking to identify good practice, equally learn in these conditions
02:41rather than a real thing to make sure that we get better and better. So the idea of bringing
02:44this together as a whole sector and sharing it globally so that the whole world can benefit
02:50from events like this. So Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service is one of the
02:54fire and rescue services in the UK. It belongs to the United Kingdom Rescue Organisation and
02:58that in turn belongs to the World Rescue Organisation. So it's a kind of world movement of
03:02making sure that we use techniques to rescue people safely and effectively. So car crashes,
03:08we've got an Australian team here, we've got a Luxembourg team here and a Croatian team
03:12actually and so we're all learning from each other. Really exciting to have the Australians
03:16here particularly but they're a fantastic team but we're really learning from each other and
03:19it's really celebrating sort of global benefit of different techniques.