SPECIALLY trained firefighters put their skills to the test during a staged rescue operation in Worcester.

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service's Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team practised saving a trapped casualty from a rubble pile during yesterday's operation at disused warehouses in Hylton Road.

They had to secure a wall before drilling a hole big enough to fit a stretcher through and then take the victim' to safety.

The team is one of 17 USAR units across the country, set up following the terrorist attack on New York on September 11, 2001.

The service's area manager, Martin Blunden, said: "The USAR team has been provided by central Government as part of the civil resilience framework to enhance the ability of the fire and rescue service to respond more effectively and efficiently to catastrophic incidents."

The team has specialist cutting equipment, concrete breakers, thermal imaging cameras and pumps to respond to urban disasters, such as terrorist attacks, building collapses, explosions, road traffic collisions and natural disasters such as earthquakes.

The unit also demonstrated how it uses specialist listening devices to detect trapped casualties in collapsed buildings and sniffer dog Jess, which is trained to carry out sweeps of large areas to locate injured or trapped victims.

The teams, which operate across the country, are all situated within two hours of each other to provide a national response to incidents.

Hereford and Worcester's unit is based in Droitwich and each member is a full-time firefighter.

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