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Don’t worry, there was no fire or rescue required at the City of Whyalla’s Civic Building offices today.
Those passing by would have been forgiven for thinking otherwise as a Metropolitan Fire Service truck was parked outside and swarming with offices on the ground and in the air at lunchtime. It was all part of a training exercise for some of Whyalla’s retained (part time) fire fighters.
Station Officer from Adelaide, John Brumpton was taking a crew through their paces in a rescue simulation as the extended the arm of the Capa Combination Aerial Pumping Appliance reached high on the council building to simulate a rescue requiring a stretcher.
It’s all part of fire service’s training with the specialised fire truck, the only one of its kind on the Eyre Peninsula through to Port Pirie, which is stationed in Whyalla.
“It was a training exercise which also allowed those involved to obtain their elevator work platform licence,” Mr Brumpton said.
“We were doing an exercise with the scenario of a patient with low blood pressure who needed to be kept level when bringing them down.
“This truck has an arm that can extend 20 metres into the air and is used to keep fire fighters along with ambulance and police officers up to speed with rescue techniques.”
Fair North and Eyre Peninsula Commander Noel Dodd said Civic Building was ideal for these sort of scenarios and he thanked council for the continued use of the facilities for training.
“We need access to public buildings for this sort of training and these sessions give our fire fighters invaluable knowledge for real life situations,” Mr Dodd said.
“Whyalla is strategically the best location to station this truck and we certainly appreciate council and the public’s co-operation when we conduct these sort of exercises.”
The fire service regularly uses Civic Building for these exercises.
Pictures - Above: Fire crews are hoisted up on Civic Building. Below: The trainees manouevre the stretcher high up in the air; Adelaide Station Master John Brumpton instructs the crews; the Capa Combination Aerial Pumper Appliance reaches up to the building.
