Ross-on-Wye has some of the best trained and highly skilled fire fighters in the country, ready to spring into action whenever they are called on. Currently there are 21 members of the dedicated team of men and women who serve as retained fire fighters in the town, in addition to carrying out their regular jobs.

All retained firefighters commit to three hours of training every week, but in addition to this, several members of the Ross crew develop their skills to an even higher level as part of the Extrication Team, which takes part in national and international competitions.

The four members of the team who are retained firefighters in Ross, Adrian Phillips, Dan Gray, Matthew Richardson and?Pat Murphy have recently returned from the World Championships in Brazil where they were thrilled to win a award.

However there is no time to rest on their laurels. The team has already qualified to represent the UK at next year’s World Challenge in Romania.

Competitions for firefighters have been running for about 20-30 years and Adrian Phillips, who also works as a full-time firefighter, told the Ross Gazette he had been aware of them for a while.

Adrian realised the benefits the more demanding training would bring to the service they offer to the local community.

He told the Gazette that the fire crew deal with so many road traffic collisions in this area, as they are in close proximity to so many busy roads. He felt that they could build on their experience by taking part in challenge competition training.

Adrian asked for volunteers from Ross and six people came forward. They include Simon Griffiths, who is now based in Hereford, and Shaun Moser, who was retained in Ross at the time, but is now full time.

Adrian told the Ross Gazette; “It is a massive commitment, we all have to do a lot of extra training. However there is also a benefit for the community. Their extra skills level and information they pick up from watching other teams competing is passed on to the rest of the team back at home.”

This means that if anyone is involved in an incident and they rely on help from Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service, they can be assured that the fire crew are able to deal with incidents to the highest standard possible.

The competition involves dealing with road collisions, in a variety of scenarios, but the crews use almost brand new vehicles. This means that the crew needs to know how different models are affected in a collision; even the cutting can be different, depending on the age of the vehicles, or the material they are made from. The position of the vehicle is also an important factor, as well as the severity of the injuries when the crew assess the scene and decide what action to take.

Road users in Herefordshire can rest assured that they are in some of the safest hands in the world. Adrian added;?“All the skills learnt are directly transferred into how we deal with road traffic collisions on our local roads.”

Dan Gray told the Gazette how impressed he was watching other teams from around the world compete in the challenge. He said; “We may approach things differently but everyone there is very professional and takes their work very seriously.”

The team is very grateful for all the support they get from the service and the sponsorship they have had from local company, ABT. However with the increasing amount of training they do they are looking to raise their team’s profile and gain new sponsorship from the local community and local businesses.

If you are interested in supporting the team to ensure they continue to promote Ross-on-Wye to the rest of the world contact Adrian on [email protected]