Fireys turn up the heat

Joshua from Werribee CFA took part in the weekend event. Photo by Damjan Janevski.

Volunteer fireys rolled out the reels and manned the pumps to prove their worth in Victoria’s urban firefighting challenge at Werribee last weekend.

The competition tests firefighters’ operational skills in categories including their use of the reel, hose handling and priming, pumping and ladder work.

Werribee’s Country Fire Authority volunteers were among 10 senior brigades from across the state doing battle, along with 27 teams in under-14 and under-17 age groups.

They had converged on Werribee’s Galvin Park Reserve for the two-day annual Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria (VFBV) urban firefighting competition, where Werribee’s under-17s team won the two-man marshall event, while the seniors took out the Y8 event.

This involves eight competitors sprinting with a traditional firefighting reel, then hitting three discs with their pumps, while one man scales a ladder and hits the target at the top.

VFBV competition deputy co-ordinator Sean Brittain said the event was a great way for volunteer firefighters to show off their skills.

“It’s about the comradeship,” he said.