Inverell and Macintyre High School students came together for a premier interschool challenge last week, capping 10 weeks of basic fire safety training with the Rural Fire Service (RFS).
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Fifteen students participated in the challenge that saw three teams go head to head to see who could coordinate teams in a basic fire fighting drill.
“We’ve run quite a number of programs across NSW through all the secondary schools,” RFS assistant commissioner Steve Yorke said.
“Close to 5000 students have gone through the program from years seven through to 10 depending on where we are.”
Teams were required to unfurl and join two lengths of hose and deliver water from an RFS truck to a specific point at Rugby Park last week.
The task demanded the students put 10 weeks of teamwork training, fire safety and gear training into practice for one task in only a few minutes.
Inverell High took out the inaugural honours, with Macintyre students vowing to bring tough competition to the next event.
“It’s been a great program for us. All the kids who have been involved have enjoyed it,” Mr York said.
“It’s quite well established, a lot of schools are in their third and fourth program which is great. This is the first time we have combined the two high schools here at Inverell and that’s been a good thing as well.” RFS superintendant Chris Wallbridge said the course is primarily focused at developing a sense of camaraderie among the students.
“The main focus is on the gear, learning how to use the gear, a bit about fire safety, but it is primarily about teamwork, building that teamwork and leadership,” he said. He said he was hopeful that some students would consider getting involved in their local RFS brigades.