Recruits rise from ashes

By Kelly Yates
NEW recruits were put to the test at the Narre Warren Fire Brigade last Saturday, as official training began for local volunteers.
Eight men and three women, ranging from 16 years of age to their forties, took part.
New recruit Robert Beard told the News he put his hand up for the local brigade as he felt he could give more to the community.
“After the recent Black Saturday fires and being only 500 metres away from the Narre Warren South fires I thought I could lend a helping hand,” he said.
Mr Beard has been living in Narre Warren South for five years and was part of the SES in Maffra for about three years.
The 36-year-old said he was most looking forward to learning new skills and meeting new people.
“I sit at a computer in an office as part of my day-to-day life so learning firefighting skills, first aid and search and rescue will be great,” he said.
The training covered a range of topics such as wildfire behaviour, safety and survival, extinguishment mediums and methods.
The recruits began wildfire training with an introduction to SPADRA (Safe Person Approach, Dynamic Risk Assessment), and RECEO- a guide to the CFA’s risk assessment procedures (Rescue, Exposures, Containment, Extinguishment and Overhaul).
On Sunday, they had a written assessment covering the previous day’s material and trained with fire ground equipment and hand tools.
There will be two more days of training on the 11 and 12 July, followed by another practical assessment.