FIRE BOMB - New Zealand Fire Service

‘Bad drivers’ provide
Heathcote Valley training
You could be forgiven for thinking that the Heathcote Valley in eastern Christchurch
had suffered an epidemic of bad driving with multiple car accidents and responding
emergency services during recent training exercises.
By SSO Dave Stackhouse,
MVA Trainer, CHCH Metro
The realistic exercises were part of
this year’s week-long Black Watch
MVA course at Woolston training
centre. The course is made up of
a mixture of firefighters from
Christchurch and Timaru with a
variety of service personnel who
either need further consolidation
from recruit training or are newly
transferred into PRT stations.
The course participants work through
theory in systematic rescue to learning
how the various PRT rescue tools
work, and field problem solving to
straight vehicle extrication techniques.
Fellow instructor SSO Dave Mitton
reckons the most valuable training
philosophy is the shift to impact
damaged vehicle entrapment training.
“The real learning comes when the
course moves to impact damaged
vehicles, some with manikins trapped
within them,” he says. “Once this
area is mastered they start to learn
and appreciate the critical tool angles
and technique variation required to
effect a quick, safe extrication.”
The course builds in momentum
every day. As soon as participants
have gained confidence in the yard
exercises they move on to road
exercises, which injects realism and
ultimately provides the challenge
and motivation to maximise the
learning experience.
The success of the course depends on
a process of logistics to ensure all
exercises are prepared and staged to
attain each objective or multiple
The New Zealand Fire Service Magazine
objectives set. The third instructor,
SO Shane Cole has built up quite a
skill in this field, ensuring course
participants have little down time
moving from each scenario while
working through a methodical plan
of set-up, safety assessment and
removal of all scenario vehicles
and props.
SFF Rob Illingworth delivers a valuable
session on patient care, packaging
and pathways from an Ambulance and
Fire Service perspective. Rob teaches
from a unique position of being a
FF Abel Esera
prepares the
scoop stretcher
to incline down
to the crash site.
Demonstration
former St John Ambulance paramedic
and is now an operational firefighter.
The ability to relate technical subject
matter into an easy-to-understand
common sense approach is something
that was appreciated by the course
participants and would be a good
model for future training.
The final exercise tests the skills
acquired over the previous week and
allows the lucky OIC ’volunteers’ to
test themselves in the command roles
of a stressful extrication.
SO Steve Butler
co-ordinates the
extrication, with SFFs
Ralph Christophers,
Mathew Sinton and
Joe Naughton after
inclining themselves
and all equipment
down to the crash site.
August 2009
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