A COMPETITION to find the firefighters best at cutting people out of crashed cars is to be held in West Yorkshire.

The Regional Extrication Challenge is taking place at West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service HQ on Bradford Road in Birkenshaw on Saturday, May 12, from 9am.

People are welcome to go along and watch.

Thirteen teams will be competing from Yorkshire, Humberside, Tyne And Wear, Greater Manchester, Nottinghamshire and Gloucestershire.

The teams of five will have 20 minutes to extricate a casualty from a vehicle which may be on its roof, side or wheels.

The teams are judged on the command and control displayed by the officer in charge, the medical skills used by rescuers in the vehicle with the casualty and the way in which space is created to get the casualty safely out of the car.

Judging will be carried out by a team of assessors from around the country including doctors and leading practitioners in the field of extrication.

A trophy supplied by rescue equipment manufacturer Holmatro will be presented to the winners who will also go through to the National Extrication Challenge.

Jim Butters, station manager in charge of special projects for West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "The value of this event cannot be underestimated. It provides a platform for teams to not only compete with one another but to also learn and share best practice.

"The lessons learned are then taken back to the teams' own brigades with the end result being an improved level of service to the public."

The regional event is part of a series of competitions being held around the country in the build up to the National Extrication Challenge which will be held in Cardiff in July.