The sun shone brightly on another D11 Firefighter Games last weekend, with members travelling from Mallacoota, Cann River and Omeo to participate at the event, held at Swan Reach Recreation Reserve.
Teams from Metung, Lakes Entrance, Johnsonville and Toorloo were among the medal winners on the day.
This year’s event attracted more than seven brigades with up to 10 members in each team to compete for medals and an overall trophy in games that simulate general firefighter skills while also including driving, crew leadership and working in a team.
These included a round-robin style approach to the running grass fire event, hydrant relay, entrapment drill, draughting, five-person fog attack, navigation and communication. These events required 3-5 people participating and adhering to SOPs and fire ground practices.
Each event was timed and five seconds added to the score for each error made. Coaches were encouraged on the course and judges gave feedback at the conclusion of all teams run.
The day finished off with each team nominating two pairs of firefighters who were placed in a “tennis championship” style draw, to compete in the hose race. This event is exciting for both the participants and the crowd and even saw the group officers having a go.
Metung Fire Brigade was the eventual winners of the hose race with their juniors coming in second and their junior leaders winning the race by less than a second.
Metung brought a strong team and was only pipped by Bairnsdale in the overall best team by one point, medalling in every event.
“It was great to so many new faces at the games, with new members in every team,” event organiser Kylie Findley said.
“The Metung community should feel very safe with the great young people coming through their junior development program. Junior leaders included their juniors in the team with a couple in each event, this allowed them to work directly with them in a crew. Also on the team were two cadets and one member who has just turned 18 and came through the JDP.”
The junior members were presented with a CFA pin at the start of the presentations but all ended up with medals as well.
Gold, silver and bronze medals were presented in each event by local MP Tim Bull, CFA’s manager for volunteer sustainability Lisa Peters and Arthur Allen.
“Swan Reach Football Club worked hard with catering and we would like to thank them,” Kylie said.
