Member Article

Firefighters Pass Out!

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service would wish to congratulate the following trainee firefighters for successfully completing their 15 week intensive training programme;

Paul Armstrong Paul Harkness

Keith Bankhead Ken Lyons

Robert Brown Warren Metcalf

Holly Ferguson David Newton

Jaycee Hall Simon Thirtle

Benjamin Hardy

The Service, friends and family witnessed their new skills as the trainee firefighters went through their passing out parade.

Competition to be selected for trainee’s course 167 was intense with almost 7,000 applications. The course has consisted of many hours of practical training in a variety of subjects including Breathing Apparatus, Road Traffic Collision Rescue Techniques and Trauma Care. In addition to the practical skills the course includes numerous theoretical subject areas, covering all the hazards and risks present for a modern day Firefighter. This includes an increasing number of ‘multi agency’ incident response scenarios such as flooding, terrorism, and major incidents involving chemicals and hazardous substances, air and rail transport, extreme weather and building collapse.

David Newton was awarded the Chief Executive Officers Silver Axe for achieving an overall average pass grade of over 95% throughout the whole course in written and practical examinations. Seven of the trainees have achieved distinctions for the course. To attain a distinction, trainees must achieve an average pass grade of 90% throughout the whole course in written and practical examinations. Four have achieved Merits for which an 80% average is required. The new firefighters will take up positions at Fire Stations in County Durham and Darlington

Susan Johnson, Chief Executive, County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service commented “The journey to become a fully qualified Firefighter is not easy and is not finished. The next phase of firefighter development is to put into practice their skills and knowledge on an operational fire station and deliver community safety advice to acheive our vision of ‘Safest People, Safest Places’.

I wish to congratulate and welcome the firefighters into the family that is County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service. Serving and protecting the community is a huge honour and responsibility. The trainee firefighters have shown they meet our exacting standards and we can all be proud of them.“

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Celeste Veitch .