Media Opportunity

Issued: 23.03.2009
At: 1230hrs
For immediate release

International Search and Rescue Recruitment in Leicestershire

Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) would like to invite the media to our International Search and Rescue (ISAR) recruitment process at 2pm on Wednesday 25 March 2009 at Billesdon Fire and Rescue Station.

The team have been in action since 1993 and have been United Nations classified as a Heavy Rescue Team since 2005. They have attended and assisted major incidents around the world including urban search and rescue at the Gujarat earthquake in 2001 and giving humanitarian aid after the Asian Tsunami in 2004.

The selection exercises will take place over a four day period and will include the firefighters undertaking tasks as if they were attending an international incident. The firefighters will be learning to work within hostile environments, adapt their skills and build up a team ethic, and working with humanitarian aid. Part of the process will incorporate a survival aspect as well as working and travelling at night and learning about how to act within different cultures.

Ian Holden, ISAR coordinator for LFRS, states:

“This training is vital in order to prepare our team for the work they will encounter in the future. It is necessary for all of the trainees to be able to work as a unit, deal with the circumstances and challenges they will face and be able to cope as individuals in the roles that they will be undertaking. All
the firefighters come on a volunteer basis and the experience they will gain in the future overseas will stand them in good stead should a similar incident occur in the U.K.”

The selection process takes place very rarely, with only three selections taking place since the ISAR team was formed in 1993.

- ENDS -

Notes to News Desk

Members of the media are invited to attend a recruitment training day held
by Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service’s International Search and Rescue
team at 2pm on Wednesday 25 March 2009.

It is being held at:

Billesdon Fire and Rescue Station
Rolleston Road
Billesdon
LE7 9AA

Interview and Photo Opportunities

Ian Holden – International Search and Rescue Coordinator and Central Fire and Rescue Station Manager– will be available to interview, as will the recruits.

Contact Information

For more information please contact:

Corporate Communications
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service
Tel 0116 287 2241