AFRS Staff Undertake a Variety of Courses - 959/2025

During recent months, firefighting staff at all levels of the Airport fire and Rescue Service have been very busy engaged in undertaking a variety of courses.

Station Officer Jamie Linares recently attended the two-day Incident Command Assessor (ICAT) course at the Fire Service College (FSC). This intensive programme, accredited by Skills for Justice, is designed to train individuals to become qualified as assessors but focused on evaluating individual command competence, knowledge and skills being performed in a variety of operational scenarios.

Successful completion of this course by Stn. O Linares leads him to attain a Level 4 Certificate of Achievement and further strengthens the AFRS team's ability to assess operational command performance and incident management. Applying consistent and reliable assessment methods ensures a fully accredited alignment with UK Fire Service National Occupational Standards. This ultimately enhances the development of competent and effective Incident Commanders within our service.

Also at the FSC, Station Officers Karim Afzan and Jamie Linares undertook a course on Designing and Delivering Incident Command Training. The course focused on developing high-quality, scenario-based training that strengthens decision-making, command competence and operational leadership across all levels of the fire and rescue service. Both officers gained advanced skills in creating realistic, training scenarios and assessing command performance in line with UK National Standards.

Their newly acquired expertise will further enhance and strengthen the local resilience training framework, ensuring all emergency responders continue to meet the highest professional standards. Embedding safe, consistent and effective incident command practices throughout the service will support stronger operational readiness and improved resilience across the AFRS Team.

Sub Officer Daniel Cabezutto and Leading Firefighter Julian Lopez also successfully completed a Disabled Aircraft Recovery Management Course held in Amsterdam, organized by Resqtec. This intensive program brought together international specialists to train participants and provide very useful insights on the safe and efficient handling of specialist aircraft recovery operations. These included an introduction to the required equipment, complex lifting techniques, incident coordination and providing a wide understanding on the requisites of modern recovery technologies.

Participation in this course also strengthens the AFRS's capability to respond to aviation-related emergencies and ensures it remains aligned with the highest global standards. The knowledge and skills gained will be shared across our teams, further enhancing operational readiness and overall safety in any eventuality. These two firefighters had previously attended an Aircraft Accident and Investigation Branch training session, held locally over two days just a few weeks earlier, which additionally served to complement their knowledge in the context of these operations.

The Minister with responsibility for Fire Services, the Hon Leslie Bruzon, stated: "Ensuring our frontline responders receive continual exposure to a broad spectrum of skills and specialisms, and become qualified to the highest possible standards, further strengthens and reassures public confidence in our emergency preparedness and response capabilities. Professional and organisational development remain core priorities within the AFRS, so I would like to congratulate these individuals on their respective achievements."