The much anticipated Australasian Fire Championship was held on the weekend, with Port Macquarie’s crew coming home in seventh place — an amazing effort, says Deputy Captain Donald Davidson.
Coming in first place out of the 28 highly trained and competitive teams was Kelso.
Bringing the championship to Port was the result of three years’ work by the Port Macquarie Fire Brigade, the Port Macquarie Hastings Council, Port Macquarie Panthers, The Westport Club and Fire and Rescue NSW.
Along with further local support, Port Macquarie was able to win the bid to host the Championship in preference to other centres such as Coffs Harbour, Tamworth and Wollongong. The Championships are rotated around the states of Australia and New Zealand and are held every second year.
The competition invited teams to contest 10 events that represent current fire fighting techniques.
Each event simulated exercises including fires on a first floor of a dwelling, getting water from the hydrant to the pump and then onto a fire, all utilising four fire fighters, fire trucks and hoses.
Timing ‘beams’ were used to start competitors and the striking of the target with water stopped the clock, which was accurate to 1/1000th of a second.
The times of the ten events were combined to determine the winners and overall Champion team.
“The Port team has been training regularly over the last five months and nearly daily over this last month,” Deputy Captain Donald Davidson said.
“The competition brought close to 200 fire fighters to town, plus their support teams, with most staying for a week to enjoy our town and local attractions.”
The championships were held over three days, with the Friday being used as a familiarity day for the teams coming from interstate and NZ.
Story: Darrell Nash
