Carlos Amaro – Extrication Lead

Carlos Amaro as been a Firefighter in  Lisbon Fire Brigade (Regimento Sapadores Bombeiros  Lisboa) since 2001, currently holding the rank of Subchefe Principal.

Since 2023 he is “First Intervention Chief” at the Special Operations and Training Battalion (BIDF) and he is the Coordinator of the “Rescue Intervention Team” (RIT) and Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) Modules.

From 2016 to July 2024, he was Coordinater and Instructer at the RSB Lisboa Fire School.

From 2008 to 2014, he was deployed at the Lisbon International Airport.

In 2023, as a member of the Portuguese Joint Operational Force (FOCon), he participated in Urban Search and Rescue operations in Turkey after the devastating earthquakes in the country. During the mission, he participated in the rescue of a 10-year-old child, named Baran, who had been buried for six days.

For his service, he had the honor of being awarded the Medal of the Order of Merit by the President of the Republic of Portugal, Professor Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

In 2012, he was one of the co-founders of Associação Nacional de Salvamento e Desencarceramento (ANSD) the Portuguese National Association for Rescue and Extrication.

He has been a Technical and Command Assessor for ANSD since 2013 and for the World Rescue Organization (WRO) since 2015, having already participated in several national challenges in Portugal, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, and Croatia.

He has been selected several times as an Assessor for several World Rescue Challenges, twice in Portugal (2015 and 2024), Brazil 2016, Romania 2017, South Africa 2018, Luxembourg 2022, and Croatia 2025.

In February 2024, he was appointed WRO Deputy Extrication Lead, joining a team of 5 s.m.e. from USA, South Africa, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

Carlos Amaro is committed to the role Extrication Lead and is looking forward to help WRO

Mark Brennan –  Trauma Lead

Executive member and trauma coordinator for Rescue Organisation Ireland since 2017.  Previously competed in the Trauma and Extrication Challenges both nationally and at the World Rescue Challenge.

Currently co-Deputy head of Trauma and Medical Extrication for the World Rescue Organisation.

I have close to 30 years experience in pre-hospital care and am an educator and instructor in many aspects of emergency care and vehicle extrication.  I specialize in motorsport medicine and rescue and am a director of Motorsport Rescue Service in Ireland and am a trainer with Motorsport UK.

Yves Marx – Deputy Trauma Lead

Born in 1975, I joined the Fire & Rescue Services as a volunteer in 1989, two years later, in 1991 I joined the Luxembourg Red Cross Ambulance Service. Besides being a volunteer, I became Deputy Lead of the Ambulance Service and our Fire Station for many years. In 1998 I joined the Luxembourg Red Cross Rescue Dogs Unit where until 2018 I was the Deputy Head of and besides national interventions, I was team leader for search and rescue missions with the Rescue Dogs unit after the earthquakes in Algeria (2003), Iran (2003), Maroc (2004) and Haiti (2010).

 

Working at the Luxembourg Fire and Rescue Corps (CGDIS) I was for 6 years the head of the logistics and technical service of the national fire and rescue school and now in charge of the logistics at the General Directors Office.

 

In 2014 I joined the LRO (Luxembourg Rescue Organisation), where I became a Member of the Committee and Trauma Coordinator in 2016.

 

After becoming a national Trauma, Assessor I got named Medical & Trauma Assessor by the WRO in 2015. Member of the WRO Committee since 2023 I got named WRO Deputy Trauma Lead the same year.

WRO Logistics Lead – Rui Santos

Rui Miguel Ventura dos Santos 54 years old

  • Bachelor’s degree in civil Protection Engineering.
  • Extrication trainer:
  • Firefighting trainer.
  • Flashover trainer.
  • 2nd Commander of the Municipal Fire Department of Cartaxo.
  • Founder and president of ANSD from 2012 to 2016.
  • Co-author of the Regiment de Sapadores Bombeiros de Lisboa extrication and flashover manuals.
  • Fire Safety Designer for buildings from the 1st to the 4th risk category.
  • Collaborates with WRO in scenario development since 2016 and currently is the WRO logistics Lead

WRO Deputy Secretary – Maria Chin

Maria is a retired Division Chief from the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department (MDFR), after 30 years. She has participated as a member of Team Blackheart and competed in several WRO Trauma competitions. In addition to her experiences competing and assisting teams, she is also a certified assessor with North American Vehicle Rescue Association (NAVRA). Maria has a passion for training and was the Recruit Training Bureau OIC where she facilitated over 40 recruit classes for MDFR. She is a Live Fire instructor II; Fire Service Instructor III and a Nationally certified Paramedic. She served 22 years on the executive board of the Metro Dade Firefighters Union, three terms as Secretary and was also the Secretary for NAVRA. Recently, Maria achieved her certification as a World Rescue Organisation (WRO) assessor and is giving back to the global community on supporting the mission to teach prevention, safety, extrication and emergency medical procedures. She is currently serving in the Deputy Secretary role for the WRO.