Holmatro Rescue Challenge 2026
At Interschutz 2026 Holmatro once again organized the Holmatro Rescue Challenge. In this third edition of the event, 23 teams from 19 different countries and 4 different continents showed their skills in different extrication scenarios. These scenarios were set up with modern Škoda cars.
Each team had six members: a team leader, a medic and four extrication specialists. They used the latest Holmatro tools during their run-off. Obviously the next-gen Pentheon tools and V-Struts were instrumental in stabilizing the vehicle and gaining access. But the Mini Cutter CCU 10 and the Forcible Entry Tool T1 also proved useful for teams when freeing their patient.
Rescue Challenge
In this challenge, the teams had twenty minutes to free one live victim. Their performance was judged by experienced assessors from the UKRO. The live victim in each scenario was one of the four assessors. The team from UKRO consisted of Rebecca Ivinson, James Short, Martin McManus and Raymond King.
Goal for the event
The aim of the Holmatro Rescue Challenge is to facilitate a safe learning environment for teams, enabling them to show their skills in the areas of incident command, technical rescue, and medical assessment, and for the teams to receive feedback from experienced assessors. After their run-off, teams were given a debriefing by the assessors, to make sure they take home their positive points and learning considerations. On top of that, the three winning teams received great prizes with a total value of € 60,000.
Tool familiarization
Before their run-off, teams received a training session to make sure they were familiar with the Holmatro tools that they were going to use to extricate the patient.
Masterclasses by Artem
Because electric vehicles are becoming more and more common, it’s important first responders know how to handle them when there has been an accident. That’s why the competing teams also received a masterclass on electric vehicles from Artem Fire & Rescue. During this training, Artem used a Škoda Enyaq, the EV-trainer, and the EV-SIM.
Best Team Spirit
Even though all teams showed tremendous spirit, the team that stood out was Industrial Fire Rescue Australia. Not just in the teamwork within their team, but also in the way they supported the other teams. Because of this, the ‘Team Spirit’ trophy travels with them to Brisbane.
Best Technical Team
The best technical team from 2026 is from Romania: Inspectorate for Emergency Situation Mureș. After being very close to a trophy in 2022, this year their technical performance was second to none.
Best Overall Team
Just like in 2022, the price for ‘Best Overall Team’ went to a Spanish team. It was Bombers Generalitat Catalunya / GRAT who were overall judged to be the best team by the assessors.
Conclusion
Once again, we received a lot of positive feedback from the teams during this challenge. We want to thank all of them for joining this challenge, and of course we thank our sponsors: Packexe, Škoda and Kask Helmets. We appreciate the UKRO for lending us the expertise of their four assessors, and Artem for giving the teams Masterclasses.
Finally, a big thank you to everyone who watched this edition of the Holmatro Rescue Challenge, either via the livestream or on site.
See you next time!
