Pupils from schools across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough have competed against one another in a Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service school challenge.

The fire service held a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) school challenge at Huntingdon fire station and had given students three months to design and build their version of a fire engine, which would deliver water to a model of a house.

The teams competed to see who could deliver the most water through their fire engines and delivered a presentation to a panel about their design.

The judging panel for the challenge included deputy chief executive Matthew Warren and officers from the Service's Operational Support Group and Combined Fire Control.

Speaking about the challenge, the fire service's head of ICT, John Fagg, said: "I am passionate about promoting STEM careers within schools, particularly in the areas of IT and cyber security, which are suffering from a shortage of skilled individuals to meet current and future demands.

"Our school's challenge provides us with an ideal platform to demonstrate the wide range of technologies in use to assist in the prevention of fires and in the response to incidents.

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"It can be hard for pupils to relate the STEM subjects with real-world examples of their use, and both the challenge and the activities on the competition day have hopefully helped to inspire the next generation of technologists in a fun and educational way."

Peterborough-based school Ormiston Bushfield Academy won the competition, ahead of Arthur Mellows Village College, Thomas Clarkson Academy and The Kings School.

A spokesperson said: "The students did an incredible job."

The day also saw the students participate in various activities, including learning about the Service's drone and incident command unit and using a thermal imaging camera to find hidden objects in a training building.

They also learnt some first aid from the RAF Wittering Co-Responder team and received a talk from Cambridgeshire Constabulary.