A COURAGEOUS Ramsbottom firefighter who drowned trying to save a boy from a lodge had received no training in water rescues, a crown court heard.

Sub officer Paul Metcalf (40) perished when he tried to rescue 15-year-old schoolboy Reyaz Ali from Simon's Lodge, Holcombe Brook, who also died in the tragedy in September, 1999.

Despite several memos from various firemen dating back to 1994 mentioning a lack of equipment or training, no guidelines for dealing with rescues from water were drawn up or extra equipment provided to fire crews, a jury was told.

The circumstances were outlined at Bolton Crown Court this week in a prosecution of Greater Manchester Fire and Civil Defence Authority by the Health and Safety Executive.

It is alleged the authority failed in its duty as an employer to ensure, so far as is practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of its employees for operations in, on or near water.

The authority denies the charge, brought under Section Two of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The court heard how, on September 5 1999, Reyaz Ali and several of his friends from the Darul Uloom College in Holcombe Brook, had gone to the nearby Simon's Lodge to swim.

Soon after entering the water, Reyaz got into difficulties and disappeared beneath the surface. His friends tried unsuccessfully to reach him and found passers-by, who raised the alarm.

Police and fire crews from Ramsbottom and Heywood were sent to the scene.

Mr Metcalf, a part-time fireman from Whalley Road, Shuttleworth, was one of several firefighters who entered the water more than 30 minutes after Reyaz had disappeared.

Tim Horlock QC, prosecuting, told how Mr Metcalf had partially undressed and tied a rope around himself before entering the water and swimming to where police in a helicopter thought they had seen bubbles rising to the surface, some distance from where the boy had last been seen.

But soon Mr Metcalf was in trouble and began shouting for help. A colleague swam to him and began towing him back to the bank, but Mr Metcalf kept disappearing beneath the surface as the rope had become tangled on a tree branch beneath the surface.

He was eventually pulled to the bank, but attempts to resuscitate him failed. The boy's body was later recovered by police divers.

Mr Horlock stated that while the fire service has no legal duty to perform rescues from water there is a public expectation that they will do so and fire crews first on the scene would enter water if there was a chance of saving someone rather than waiting for back-up.

"There was a failure, over a lengthy period, to address the serious risks such operations may contain," said Mr Horlock.

Concerns about water rescue dated back to January, 1994, when there was a memo from a fireman requesting the provision of lifejackets for fire crews.

It was stated that in 1993 there were approximately 30 occasions on which Greater Manchester firemen had to enter water to deal with incidents.

In 1997 there was also a memo from an assistant divisional officer who had questioned firemen in B division and stated they were in favour of developing a policy which would involve training and equipment for water rescues.

In June, 1998, a risk assessment of water rescues was carried out by the brigade and an operational policy and guidance document was due to start being drawn up in September, 1998.

A year later, by the time of Mr Metcalf's death, it had not been completed, although such a document has been issued since.

Proceeding