GRIMP (Group de Recconnaissance Interventione Millieux Perilleux) Day is an international challenge event that attracts search and rescue teams (firefighters, police, military and civil defence) from around the world. Taking place in the Belgian city of Namur, GrimpDay, was created in 2006 by members of the regional fire department.
It was DMM's privilege to support the London Fire Brigade Rope Rescue Team at the event. Competing against thirty-seven other teams including ones from as far afield as Taiwan, Brazil and Canada they placed mid-table in a very competitive field. The format of the challenge is to complete a series of rescue scenarios with the final ranking based on the time taken to complete the task, style and security.
Alastair Hislop from the London Fire Brigade Team, that has numerous UK titles and a couple of North American successes under their belt, said: “We were a bit disappointed with the result but we're not ready to go down the road of single rope technique or body belays used by other teams and that slows us down time wise. Other than that it is a great learning environment where you can pick up some interesting techniques and practices. Bring on next year's 10th anniversary GRIMP Day.”