Warwickshire’s firefighters have been battling it out against the best of the best at the annual Breathing Apparatus Challenge.

The event was held at the Fire Service Training College at Moreton-in-the-Marsh in Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service was represented by a crew from Rugby White Watch.

Joining them at the event was Warwickshire Deputy Chief Fire Officer Gary Phillips.

He said: “The crew competed against 16 other teams in the annual BA challenge and finished the competition in 3rd place.

“This is an excellent achievement and the amount of work and preparation to compete in this event cannot be underestimated. The standard is always extremely high from very strong opposition from across the British Fire Service. The achievement of the team is commendable and they were a credit to Warwickshire.”

The DCFO was particularly pleased with an individual singled out for their actions.

He added: “Worthy of particular note is that Watch Commander Dave Ashwell was awarded the best Incident Commander on the day and given that he was competing against some of the best Incident Commanders across the whole Fire Service in the UK this is a magnificent achievement and he is to be congratulated.

“I was proud to be there on the day and to hear so many positive comments about our team, their professionalism and the way in which they carried out the task they were given.

“This competition relies on cohesive team work, good technique and the ability to work quickly, within procedures whilst under pressure and they did this extremely well.”

The team representing the service were:

WC Dave Ashwell

FF Lee Taylor

FF Ben Cleminson

FF Matthew Dunkley

FF John Gregory

CM Ben Harrison