A committed band of Dubbo firefighters will pit their skills against other officers from the Pacific region when they compete in the Australasian Firefighting Championships later this week.
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The crew from the 280 Retained squad will leave for New Zealand on Wednesday, and will be up against fellow firefighters from Fiji, New Zealand and other states of Australia.
Scott Drady will lead the team which consists of himself, Josh Loxley and Ben Moore, while Brett Smyth is unable to make the trip due to injury.
A replacement will be found when the team assembles in New Zealand.
The Dubbo group qualified after finishing fifth in a series of regional events over a two-year timeframe, and Mr Drady said they are excited about the trip.
“It’s not only getting to compete in something we enjoy doing, but learning a bit about how other states and other countries go about things,” he said.
“It’s a competition, and everything is timed, but it’s also a way to sharpen the skills we use when we get called out to jobs, so that we can do that job better in real life emergencies.
“It’s about completing the tasks safely while simulating the work we do, and hopefully combining that to do it a bit quicker than we have been able to do it before.”
