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South Wales Fire and Rescue Service is seeking to become pioneers in evacuation protocols and high-rise training as the service’s High-Rise Task Force shares its work building a more robust response to high-rise rescue operations.
The task force is a response to the recommendations in the two Grenfell Tower Inquiry reports and is led by South Wales Fire and Rescue Service Area Manager Mike Wyatt. He explained: “The task force has been put together to ensure we meet our high-rise recommendation targets, but it goes much further than that.”
“The team and I share the ambition of being pioneers in evacuation protocols and high-rise training, and want to equip our staff with the knowledge, skills and equipment to be ready for some of our most challenging incidents.”
In the last year the task force delivered 29 high-rise training sessions and as a result, all wholetime crews and TAC managers now fully trained.
The team has built phases of training for all crews, commanders, and Control Room Operators, covering every aspect of high-rise firefighting and evacuation. In addition, continual professional development training has been put in place for all incident commanders, which includes familiarisation, refreshers and incident training.
Now in its second phase, the task force is focused on training for all on-call crews, concentrating on building construction and failure, along with evacuation procedures. They are using immersive 360° technologies, including virtual simulations to test trainees’ decision-making and skills, using different scenarios which can be changed ‘on-the-fly’ by an instructor. This virtual learning is being delivered in combination with the on-site training, which provides familiarity and real-world practice.
“We know that high-rise buildings are some of the biggest risks that we as a service must deal with, and it’s been wonderful to see how the high-rise team is training our new recruits. It’s a highly complex situation that high-rise presents for us, and we know the devastating consequences for our staff and the public if we don’t get it right. So, it’s been really impressive to see the training.”
SWFRS Commissioner Kirsty Williams.
The High-Rise Task Force is in discussions with members of the Welsh Government to help guide policy and legislative changes affecting those responsible for managing, maintaining, and ensuring fire safety in high-rise buildings.
For more on how South Wales Fire and Rescue Service invest in training read – Doctors of the future learning first-hand how JESIP works on the ground.
