The Ballan Group of Fire Brigade’s annual preparedness event – the Fiskville Cup - was held last Sunday under perfect weather conditions. This set the scene for a great day of skill revision, teamwork, enthusiasm and fun.
The day required the crews from 9 brigades to hone their skills on the assessment based drills which involved pre-planned scenarios in and around the Greendale assignment area including: a small industry fire (conducted using the P.O.D.), drafting, a shed fire (set up attack lines and ventilate), burn over (crews get off truck to put fire out, then advised of a wind change), radio use (radio traffic went through Ballan LCF including all turn out, on scene, word back and stop messages), car fire, Big Fill and Boosting, first aid – Tanker v/s motorbike, car accident and HAZMAT.
A Camp Fire on a day of total fire Ban was another of the tasks the Brigades were asked to attend, where upon arrival on scene, they were confronted with a very unhappy camper not wanting the fire put out. Brigades were not only assessed on their approach to putting out the illegal fire, but also how they dealt with the confrontation of the unhappy camper.
The local Police were on hand at this task to provide valuable observations and advice and, at the end of the day, commented on the competence of the members and how well they dealt with the situation.
Assessments were judged for their response, awareness of their surroundings, their approach to the scene, crew leadership and management on scene.
While all participants had a lot of fun participating in the events, the serious side of the exercise was appreciated and many left with valuable knowledge and experience for managing the situations.
A BBQ lunch was prepared by the Greendale Support Group for the participating crews and helpers.
Greendale Fire Brigade reigned victorious and received ownership of the coveted Fiskville Cup for the year. Special mention was also made to the high scores obtained by visiting Trentham Fire Brigade and the Millbrook Fire Brigade team who gained top scores of 15 for two of the exercises throughout the day.
The cup is awarded to the crew that had accrued the most points throughout the day.
Author: Irene Keating