A two day Swiftwater Responder Course comprising of theory and practicle was under taken by the members of Upper Hutt Community Rescue. In house instructors and the program sponsored by EMANZ made sure that every team member available to attend could. Keeping the classroom time to a minimum ment that quality water time was had. The wide range of skills were taken on board and practiced vigorously. Good weather and river volumes made for a good course.

Exercise Backblast 16-17th February 2007 was a good test of Upper Hutt Community 
Rescue’s response capabilities, and proved that we have a great team that works well 
together and can perform outstandingly when given the opportunity.  Feedback 
provided to the team from the weekend stated that Upper Hutt Community Rescue 
was a professional team with good clear leadership who took the initiative to get 
rescue activities moving when required. 

Local council controllers were around during the weekend, and ideally would have 
been involved in the Incident Management Team, however most were there only 
observing the action.  Members of the rescue teams took turns manning the radios 
and assisting with other incident control activities. Impressive triage facilities were 
supplied by Upper Hutt and Porirua Red Cross.

The weekend consisted of a number of scenarios which started with a full 
reconnaissance of the college on Friday night.  The auditorium scenario on Saturday 
afternoon commenced with a brief of the team leaders where each team was 
delegated one phase of the rescue to concentrate on.  Upper Hutt Community 
Rescue was tasked with reconnaissance, which involved thoroughly searching the 
outside of the building for casualties, hazards, possible access points, resources 
available, and damage.  By talking to the casualties inside we were able to provide 
an initial figure for the numbers of casualties, as well as establishing that the 
restrictions placed on us provided only one means of access, a small ventilation 
shaft near the roof.  

Having reported back our findings, we were tasked with supporting other teams.  
Not only was the access to the building challenging, but the coordinators had 
mandated that the only means of access to the site was over a covered walkway, 
meaning the teams had to work closely together to get rescuers and resources 
to the building.  Casualties, often in stretchers, also had to be transported over 
the covered walkway out to the UHCR van, which was used as a makeshift 
ambulance to take them to the triage facility.  

A number of UHCR team members entered the building, and during a secondary 
collapse provided the only communication from the inside of the building.  Our team 
members were pivotal in communicating what resources were required, and 
ensuring that once collected they quickly got inside, but relied heavily on the other 
teams to obtain, move, and utilise the gear.  The exercise was a good example of 
how the four different rescue teams can work together, pooling resources and 
experience, to affect a difficult rescue.

As with any mass casualty incident, all casualties need to be assessed then 
removed in priority order.  The general rescue philosophy is different to other 
rescue incidents in that the main aim is to ‘rescue the greatest number of 
casualties in the minimum amount of time’.  This was demonstrated in this 
scenario, with the two walking wounded being removed from the scene very 
early on, and some badly hurt casualties being left until later.  When all known 
casualties were removed, a USAR search dog completed a sweep of the area to 
ensure that all casualties had been located and removed.

As with any opportunity to put training into practice, there were lessons to be 
learnt for everyone; for those within the Incident Management Team, with the 
exercise coordinators, and with the way the rescue teams worked together.  
However to remove 13 casualties from a dark enclosed space with minimal 
small access points within two hours was a great effort and all those involved 
should be commended for their part in making it happen.

Upper Hutt Community Rescue has won the Upper Hutt District, Wellington 
Airport Regional Community Awards, 2005.

We are winners in the 2005 Health and Wellbeing Category. 

As a result, we now go against other Wellington Districts at the Regional 
Awards Ceremony on the 17th of November at the Wellington International 
Airport. This is a chance to win not only the Regional Health and Wellbeing 
Category, but also as an Overall Regional winner to represent Wellington 
at the National Awards in Hokitika.