The evening exercise included fire fighters from the RFS, Fire Rescue NSW (FRNSW) and Investigators from NSW Police.

Learning and development officer for the Northern Tablelands, Inspector Konrad Sawczynski, said the training exercise was a great success and an invaluable opportunity for the three emergency services to work together.

“All of the investigators that attended felt that it was a very worthwhile exercise as it helped to reinforce their current skills in a live fire training environment.

“The opportunity for practicing in this fashion is extremely limited,” he said.

The exercise started with some fire investigation scenarios that were run by the RFS regional fire investigation officer, Inspector Trevor Lyons, and NSW Police Forensic Services Group.

Once the fire investigators had completed their training the house was turned over to fire fighting crews from the RFS and FRNSW to practice fire-fighting techniques.

“Local fire crews from Inverell, Gum Flat and Rocky Creek RFS brigades as well as Inverell FRNSW practiced their fire fighting techniques together to help improve and refine their skills,” said Inspector Sawczynski.

“This training session gave fire crews from FRNSW and RFS the opportunity to work together in a controlled environment,” he said.

Fire fighters started the structural training exercise by burning one room and watching how quickly a fire can progress inside a house. The fire was then extinguished and fire fighters could see the effects of their actions on the fire.

Other rooms were set fire to and fire fighters used different techniques to extinguish the fire. The fire fighters were then required to evaluate the pros and cons of each fire fighting methods.

The house was then finally let burn and crews witnessed the house being fully engulfed in flames within approx 10 minutes.

Inspector Sawczynski said fire fighters were very positive about the training exercise during debrief. NSWRFS team manger, Superintendent Chris Wallbridge, thanked local landowners.

“This type of exercise just isn’t possible without the generosity of local land owners like Peter and Shirley Fuller who very kindly donated the house for the RFS to train with,” Superintendent Wallbridge said.

Inverell Shire Council also supported and assisted the exercise by inspecting the property to ensure it complied with Occupational Health and Safety issues.