Melton firey put through his paces

As part of his assessment to become an SO, LFF Mitchell has completed a number of training modules by correspondence and courses at CFA’s Fiskville Training College. He has now applied to attend the next development course at the college – a three-week program of practical and theory-based training, aimed to refresh career staff in a number of operational aspects along with learning new skills.

To prepare LFF Mitchell for the development course, his SO Craig Kneeshaw and a team of volunteers and staff from Melton Fire Brigade have been putting him through his paces.

This included a number of ‘real-life’ training drills held last week at a soon-to-be-demolished house in Coburns Road, Melton.

The use of the house was offered to the brigade by Devine Homes so that firefighters could undertake training in a scenario as close to an actual structure fire. An old caravan at the back of the property also allowed LFF Mitchell to test his skills in the role of Incident Controller.

“It was a great opportunity to not only refresh my skills but the whole crew,” LFF Mitchell said.

“The fact that we were also able to train using a real house was extremely beneficial. You just can’t replicate that sort of thing when you’re training on station so I would really like to thank Devine Homes for allowing that to happen.  This sort of assistance from the community is essential for us to fulfill our roles”

SO Kneeshaw – who is also a training assessor – said while he was more than confident in LFF Mitchell’s abilities, the training was essential for his progression and would assist him to complete his assessments.

“While Rob, as a volunteer at Werribee and a Leading at Melton is a very experienced firefighter, the SO assessments can be quite grueling so we want him to go into his development course prepared and confident,” he said.

“This is also typical of the training that happens regularly at Melton – the volunteers and staff at the brigade are all committed to maintaining and improving their skills to fulfill our role at CFA, and that is to protect lives and property.”

Watch some of the training here: