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TEN Students from Tenbury High School and one from Ross-on-Wye have undertaken four days of work experience at Tenbury Fire Station.  The event was run by specialist staff from different locations across the service who work with young people, supported by firefighters from Tenbury.

Day one saw the students receive an introduction and briefing in the morning.  In the afternoon the first of the practical sessions took place.  The students were taught "numbering off" into crews, words of command and took part in a team building exercise.  The crews created a portable dam.

The squad were then shown how to run out hose and get jets to work.

On day two, the students attended training and development centre and USAR (Urban Search & Rescue) based at Droitwich Fire Station, where they were shown specialist search and rescue kit as well as given fire extinguisher training.

Day three, the crews spent the morning learning about the different roles in the fire service, from mechanics to finance staff, and water rescue to equipment purchasing.  The students also watched various videos highlighting the affects of arson and hoax calls.  The students were also introduced to breathing apparatus sets.  Later on the squad were perfecting their hose running skills, had carried out various drills, including "burst length" and "add a length", and were taught breathing apparatus search techniques in preparation for the final exercise on the last day.  They were also taught how to haul hose aloft before getting jets to work on the first floor.

Day four was the last day - the big day with the climax being the "passing out exercise".

The first two hours were out on the drill yard carrying out standard drills and being introduced to the "curtain spray" resulting in some very soggy young firefighters!  Then inside for a well earned tea break and to dry out a bit.

The squad was then split into two teams and incident commanders nominated ready for their passing out exercise.  They were pre-warned that "they would be shouted at" but please, not to take it to heart!

The exercise was done in two sessions, with the non-participating crew using thermal imaging cameras while the other team did their exercise.

The two teams were sent off station in the fire appliance ready to be "mobilised" to an undisclosed incident.  Then after a short wait, in came the radio message..."YB532 proceed to house fire with persons trapped at rear of fire station"

The crews arrived in the drill yard with blue lights and sirens to find thick smoke (from the smoke machine), belching from the station and a distressed man (Steve) screaming at the team leaders that his family were inside!

A team of two were sent wearing blanked out goggles to find the casualty that was trapped inside.  They quickly felt their way upstairs and found the "baby" and brought it outside to safety.

Meanwhile, crews were setting up main jets, trained on the roof, and the curtain spray to protect the neighbouring building (the drill tower) from the flames!  Once the search was complete, a jet was hauled onto the first floor and got to work.  Then the last command of the course "Knock off - make up".

The course ended with group photographs and course paperwork, and a special send off from the students for Instructor Steve in the form of a soaking, as he finished his last day working for the service..  They all worked extremely hard and took in a huge amount of information in a short time.  All of the students were a credit to their schools and a pleasure to work with.