The Emergency Services Show 2019 – A Showcase of Technology and Collaboration

Visitors to this year’s Emergency Services Show can source the very latest kit and discover emerging technologies, whilst networking with partner agencies with whom they could collaborate at future fire and rescue operations. Taking place in Hall 5 at the NEC, Birmingham on Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 September, The Emergency Services Show is the UK’s largest event for the emergency services. It is free to attend and features over 450 exhibiting companies and organisations as well as live demonstrations, simulated training and CPD-accredited seminars.

New features for the 2019 event include the SkyBound Rescuer Drone Seminar taking place in a dedicated Drone Dome and a SkyBound Rescuer Drone Zone, sponsored by SOARIZON^®️ by Thales. Designed to help emergency services and public-safety professionals to make the best tactical and strategic use of drone technology, these features are expected to attract attendees from every part of the global emergency services community, including fire, lowland, mountain, cave and coastal SAR; lifeboats and flood-rescue units.

David Brown, Event Director for The Emergency Services Show, said: ‘The addition of the Drone Dome will be a brilliant showcase to encourage enhanced operational efficiency and effectiveness alongside other emerging technologies at the show, such as the latest vehicles, communications, medical and firefighting equipment, protective clothing, training technology and much more.’

Popular returning features include the Extrication Challenge, hosted by West Midlands Fire Service and judged by United Kingdom Rescue Organisation, and the First Aid & Trauma Challenge. Both challenges showcase the use of the latest technology and equipment, while the Extrication Challenge in particular is also a highly interactive and immersive experience for participants and show visitors alike, featuring live-stream action cameras broadcasting to large display screens.

Virtual reality training features heavily this year. Visitors will be able to participate in a multi-agency simulated training exercise on The Simulation Centre stand, giving them a taste of Coventry University’s immersive and dynamic virtual training facility. Leicester Fire & Rescue Service (in conjunction with RiVR) will also be offering virtual reality training and the Fire Service College will be introducing its new virtual reality training solution: FLAIM Trainer^®.

CPD-accredited seminar programmes will run in four dedicated seminar theatres this year covering Lessons Learnt, IT, Emerging Technologies and Health & Wellbeing. The recent wildfires on Winter Hill in Lancashire and this year’s Ocado warehouse fire in Hampshire are among the major incidents that will be discussed in the Lessons Learnt Theatre. Visitors will also find out more about the newly formed Fire Standards Board, and an international initiative to prevent firefighter fatalities, launched by the Institution of Fire Engineers. The Katie Piper Foundation will share its recommendations for improving pre-hospital burn care.

Individual and team resilience, PTSD, men’s mental health and the psychological impacts on control-room staff are among the topics to be covered in the Health & Wellbeing Theatre. A number of sessions will focus on equality and diversity. Jennifer Hill, Watch Commander with West Midlands Fire Service, for example will share the experiences of a primarily female fire-service team deployed in civil-war-strewn South Sudan. She will show how lessons learnt from the deployment can be applied to fire safety and community engagement in the UK. Jules King, Chair, Women in the Fire Service is also due to speak.

The College of Paramedics will also host its well-attended CPD training sessions on both days of the event, which include a session on the identification and management of heatstroke, hypothermia and frostbite.

In the networking hub of the show, The Collaboration Zone, over 80 emergency services, voluntary groups, charities and NGOs share details of the support they offer to the blue-light services.

Entry to the event and parking at the NEC are free. To register to attend – and for more information including a list of companies exhibiting products and solutions for the fire and rescue sector.

For more information, go to www.emergencyuk.com