I spent an afternoon with firefighters at Blidworth Fire Station to get a first-hand experience of what it is like to be an accident victim and learn more about what is involved in the Extrication Challenge –– which the county's two teams will be battling it out for in a regional final on Sunday.

• Click the green 'play' icon to watch a video of Adam's experience as a mock crash victim.

They will be battling it out against each other on Sunday in a challenge to remove a casualty from a vehicle within a 20-minute time, allowing teams to practice the lifesaving skills they need to do their jobs.

Figures from the Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service show that across Mansfield and Ashfield, the number of road traffic collisions has remained consistently high between 2000/01 and 2006/07, while the number of fires in residential dwellings has fallen steadily since 2000/01.

Skills

Fire crews are now required to have a wide range of skills such as first response, which allows them to use medical equipment like defibrillators at accident scenes –– delivering crucial, lifesaving first aid to casualties in accidents before an ambulance arrives.

In the competition, teams must use physical strength, as well as medical skills and specialist cutting equipment to remove the casualty safely in the quickest time possible.

Firefighters have no idea what situation they will see and casualties could be trapped in cars upside down, on their sides or in other situations to best simulate actual accidents.

Being trapped inside a car is an eerie experience, and despite knowing this was a practice, it was hard not to think of how terrible it must be for people in a real car accident –– thankfully I was in safe hands.

From the second the timer started, the extrication team were complete professionals, working together and constantly communicating to ensure everyone knew what each other's role was.

It is amazing to think that these people are normal folk, who sacrifice their own spare time to train in these skills which save people's lives.

The first thing I noticed was how fast the team works, by the time the medic had finished asking me how the accident happened and checked to see if I had any injuries, the rest of the team had set to work removing the boot of the car and before I knew it, it was off.

The next step was for the team to cut through the supporting pillars of the car with powerful cutting equipment –– the noisiest part of the extraction and certainly the most intimidating.

As the saw arrived at the pillar nearest my head, I could't help recalling the banter before we started about how I was in need of a haircut anyway and my left ear would, eventually, compensate if the other didn't grow back.

From beneath the plastic sheet –– placed over the casualty to protect them from glass and other debris –– I could watch as the team bent the roof forward and over the windscreen, giving them space to lift me from the wreckage and take me to safety.

The team managed to complete the extraction in just over 17 minutes, well within the 20 minutes allocated in the competition and, before I'd realised, the team was nearly finished I was out and safe.

The regional final will take place on Sunday at Northampton's Mereway Fire Station and could see the teams progress to the national competition in Stirling –– and possibly the international competition in Cardiff later this year.