Castletownbere lifeboat crew and three West Cork Fire Brigades participated in joint training exercises in Castletownbere harbour on Tuesday and Wednesday evening last. Twenty firefighters from Castletownbere, Bantry, and Schull Fire Stations joined twelve lifeboat crew for intensive training in a unique opportunity to familiarise themselves with each rescue service’s standard operational procedures.

  The primary objective of this familiarisation was to ensure that,`should the fire brigade and lifeboat be jointly required to deal with an emergency, both emergency services could operate together with maximum speed and effect. This would be especially important if, for example, firefighters  needed to be taken to sea to tackle a boat on fire or needed to be landed on an offshore island to deal with a road traffic accident.

Among the procedures practiced were, embarking the lifeboat with full breathing apparatus and cutting equipment, safety procedures for firefighters on passage at sea, demonstration of cutting equipment, and the disembarking of fully equipped firefighters into a fishing trawler where breathing apparatus and search and rescue exercises were undertaken.

  On completion of the two evenings, Fire Officer Cormac Daly stated that the brigades had benefited enormously from the joint training exercises and hoped it could be repeated again in the future. Mr Daly expressed his gratitude to the Coxswain and crew. In response, Coxswain O’Driscoll said that Castletownbere Lifeboat was highly committed to its training programme and always welcomed opportunities to train with other emergency services. The lifeboat has trained in the past with Castletownbere Coastguard , Bantry Inshore Rescue Service, and hopes to undertake further training with the fire brigade in the future.

ENDS

01/12/02