Ranger Exchange 2024 - Abbey’s Adventures update three

With fire season just around the corner, was time for me to undertake Pre-Season Fire Training in South Australia. The Ceduna crew met up with other crews from around the Far West and Eyre region in Gawler Ranges to participate in a two-day training event. This was a valuable opportunity for me to gain experience and an understanding of how the South Australia fire unit operate.

Day one was spent covering the important topics of getting yourself ready before a fire season, what happens when you are deployed, tactics and strategies for fire suppression and mopping up after a fire to ensure it is fully extinguished.

We then went into post deployment activities such as taking care of yourself and your team as well as restocking the vehicle ready for the next deployment. This covered basic firefighting knowledge and skills, but it was a valuable refresher for new and experienced firefighters alike. During the day we were able to deep dive into weather, fire behaviour and the use of aircraft in firefighting.

An interesting activity we participated in at the start of the day was lining up in order of our experience levels. It started with first year firefighters and ended with our top-level Incident Management Team. We were asked to look to our right where the person with more experience was standing, before looking to our left where the less experienced person was. This showed who we could go to if we needed help or had questions.

On the second day, we had a full day of practical activities. The day started with a morning briefing before we broke away into teams.

There were four activities to rotate through, they were designed to strengthen skills in, radio and team communication, mapping and orienteering, organising vehicles, understanding planning, water drafting and running hose lays. The highlight activity for me was using the big red ‘Boston’ Fire Tanker to run hose lays using the different hoses and connection pieces. Through this activity, we were able to see what the different nozzles and connection pieces could do and how to use each of them.

Wrapping up the training, I’m now officially refreshed in my firefighting knowledge and skills and prepared for the upcoming season. l left feeling like a welcomed team member to the Eyre and Far West region.