More than 50 firefighters and St John medics raced against time to save a dozen people trapped in smashed vehicles at the weekend - but it was only a simulation.
Volunteer firefighters came from Otago and Canterbury to show their skills in a Cromwell warehouse in the United Fire Brigades Association's South Island Road Crash Rescue Challenge.
The annual event was hosted by Cromwell Volunteer Fire Brigade. The event used simulated vehicle crash scenarios, with teams given 30 minutes to treat and cut injured passengers from vehicles as the teams were judged.
Teams from Queenstown, Wanaka, Milton, Balclutha, Ranfurly, Geraldine, Leeston, Lincoln, Rangiora and Rolleston attended.
''The idea of the competition is to simulate on road events to challenge the teams, to further enhance their skills, and those skills get taken back to the brigades, which ... benefits the community,'' Challenges committee chairman Nigel Lilley said.
The scenarios staged over the two day challenge were based on real road accidents, he said. About 40 wrecked cars were used to create various accident scenes simulating vehicles crashed into trucks, trees, power poles, as well as people trapped inside and under vehicles and basic first aid trauma events. Each team had five brigade members and a St John medic.
Rolleston won the event, with Milton second and Geraldine third. Milton won the trauma challenge, with Ranfurly second and Rolleston third.
Rolleston will join the winners of the North Island challenge, Hawera Volunteer Fire Brigade, to compete in the Australasian Rescue Challenge event in Alice Springs in July.
A third team from a New Zealand event will be randomly chosen to go with them.
''All teams should be extremely proud. Their communities are far better off because of them,'' Mr Lilley said.
Balclutha team member Jason Lyall said the event was all about learning and training, and passing on those skills to their own brigade.
Balclutha qualified firefighter Stacey Verheul said it was the only way to get the training because it was hard to source cars.
The competition was organised by the United Fire Brigades Association, with support from St John, Free Ambulance Wellington, the Central Otago Motorsport Club and the Cromwell Volunteer Fire Brigade.
A ''massive'' amount of preparation went into the event, sourcing scrapped cars and the volunteers required to set up, but the event's value to the community ''was worth it'', Mr Lilley said.
''Results were very, very close, all scoring well. This means all teams have been training hard, and the calibre of all the South Island teams is outstanding,'' Mr Lilley said.
