Training in the core skills required to be a full hillgoing CVSRT mountain rescue team member is an ongoing commitment. Each team member must demonstrate they can meet the requirements on an annual cycle. Our twice-monthly training sessions focus on learning and practicing these skills.

Last night CVSRT held a training session at Halifax Fire Station (the base for CM4 our Incident Control Vehicle) to practice casualty ‘packaging’. This core skill is ‘bread and butter’ for the team - almost all callouts involve some element of casualty handling, packaging and evacuation by stretcher.

Team members visited eight ‘round-robin’ stations designed to allow them to demonstrate appropriate casualty packaging using stretchers, lifting mats, casualty bags and vacuum mattress, and also turning, lifting and loading of a casualty on to a stretcher.

The team frequently use a ‘Bell’ stretcher, a stalwart of the mountain rescue world which was designed and first manufactured back in the late 1960’s. Like many other pieces of team equipment, stretchers have an operational life span. Later this year CVSRT will need to invest funds to purchase two replacement stretchers.

Many thanks to West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service for the use of their facilities at Halifax Fire Station.