West Midlands Fire Service

As with many other fire services, West Midlands Fire Service uses a rank structure that has evolved over time – the original titles are still used by some brigades.

Technical Rescue Support Unit

TRU Prime Mover with WSU Pod

• Technical Rescue Pump (TRP): 1

• Technical Rescue Support (TRS)

• Light 4x4 Vehicle (L4V)

• Prime Mover (PM): 8

Pods:

• Major Rescue Unit (MRU)

• Trench Rescue Unit (TRU)

• Water Support Unit (WSU)

USAR Prime Mover with Pod

• Personnel Carrier Vehicle (PCV)

• Search & Rescue Dog Unit (SDU)

• Prime Mover (PM): M98 / M121 / M122 / M123

Pods:

• Module 1 - Technical Search Equipment

• Module 2 - Heavy Transport, Confined Space & Hot Cutting Equipment

• Module 3 - Breaching & Breaking Equipment

• Module 4 - Multi Purpose Vehicle

• Module 5 - Shoring Operations

• Detection, Identification & Monitoring (DIM): M4

• Incident Response Unit (IRU): M45 / M62

• Prime Mover (PM): M32 / M96

Pods:

• Mass Decontamination Disrobe (MDD)

• Mass Decontamination Rerobe (MDR)

Operating out of two locations, a primary base at Bickenhill fire station and a satellite base at Wednesbury fire station, the WMFS Technical Rescue Unit has purpose-built facilities to train in all specialist rescue disciplines, providing a local, regional and national response 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to any USAR/widescale flooding incident as well as the support necessary for specialist rescue incidents.

The team is made up of a Station Commander, Administration Officer, Equipment Maintenance Officer, USAR Training Officer, Search Dog Handler, and four watches each made up of a Watch Commander, Crew Commander and six Technicians. A further four watches are based at Wednesbury.

With shifts running along with the same colour watches as the core fire crews, watch based personnel work a 96-hour duty period with 48 hours on full duty and the remainder on the retained cover. Retained personnel can respond to base within 30 minutes of being required for multiple incident deployment.

The unit makes use of a wide range of vehicles and equipment to carry out their role. Each TRU base has two primary response vehicles:

• Technical Rescue Support Unit – this 4x4 Mercedes Sprinter van provides a fast response capability for water, rope, and large animal rescues to get initial personnel and equipment to an incident as fast as possible.
• Technical Response Pump – based on a modified Volvo FL Pump Rescue Relay, this appliance carries enhanced rescue equipment at the expense of some fire fighting equipment. This will respond to life-threatening incidents in the local station ground alongside the regular TRU callouts.

Additional vehicles and equipment that are based at Bickenhill:

• 4 New Dimension Prime Movers – modified to be able to transport both New Dimension and regular WMFS demountable pods to the scene of an incident.
• 5 Urban Search and Rescue Modules.
• 1 Trench Rescue Unit.

Additional vehicles and equipment that are based at Wednesbury:

• 1 Water Support Unit.

The United Kingdom International Search and Rescue Team (UK-ISAR) is on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to respond to humanitarian accidents or disasters anywhere in the world. There are 18 team members in West Midland Fire Services UK-ISAR, split into a Red Team and a Blue Team. The role of the team is to respond to support the UK Government when deploying personnel and equipment in response to international disasters such as earthquakes.

When on international call, a deployment is made of a team of six including the team leader from one of the groups and a Group Commander to act as the Operations Commander or Deployment Commander in charge of the UK International Search & Rescue Group (UKISARG).

The team should arrive in the affected country within 24 hours of the disaster occurring and be self-sufficient for periods of up to 10 days. Extensive specialist training over and above that normally required for firefighters is given to all team members.[12]

12 members of the West Midlands team were deployed as part of the UKISAR (United Kingdom International Search And Rescue) mission to Haiti in the wake of the earthquake there on 12 January 2010.[13] The team were joined by 2 further members who had been in Sweden as part of a training exercise at the time of the earthquake. The team were involved in the rescue of several people, including two-year-old Mia, who had been trapped for over four days.[14]

The Fire Investigation and Prevention Section (FIPS) was the first one formed in the United Kingdom in 1983, and in 25 years has attended over 8,000 incidents.

FIPS investigates the cause of fire in a variety of different types of incidents including large fires, fires where the cause cannot be immediately determined, and fires where people may have been injured or died.

FIPS works closely with the Police, other Services, and organisations such as insurance companies when investigating fires. The officers also work on special projects including arson reduction policies and strategies, human behaviour in fire, the main causes of fire, and the compilation of any information to identify trends in fire causes. This information is vital when undertaking targeted initiatives and campaigns relating to the education of fire safety awareness.