THE Northern Tablelands Rural Fire Service (RFS) cadet team has been crowned state champion in two separate categories at the recent NSW RFS State Championships held in Narrabri.
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Four out of the five cadet members are members of the Glen Innes Rural Fire Brigade.
The cadet squad won the Rural Remote Response and the Missing person categories and team member Danny Kerr took out third place in the Chainsaw Challenge.
District Officer Stephen Prichard said there were 14 Senior and 12 Junior NSW RFS Teams selected from all over NSW to compete at the 2016 State Championships.
“Despite the wet weather, the Narrabri showground held up to provide a great venue for the 2016 State Championships,” he said.
“It is a credit to these young people that they are taking on the responsibility involved to be a volunteer firefighter, whilst also having a good time along the way.”
Mr Pritchard said winning the Rural Remote Response section of the championships was a great achievement.
“The cadets are given a scenario that their crew is responding to a fire on a remote property, the details they are given are unclear and reports are conflicting, so they need to be ready for anything,” he said.
“The NT Cadet crew responded to a fire on a remote property and overcame obstacles to reach a car alight with an injured person lying beside the car.
“The crew attacked the car fire whilst providing first aid to the patient and they displayed very impressive skills and fire ground leadership.”
Mr Pritchard said the Missing Person scenario saw the cadets combine with a senior team to rescue a farmer who claimed his shed had been hit by lightning and one of his children was missing.
“The crews must work together to locate the missing child whilst at the same time provide fire protection,’ he said.
“The Northern Tablelands Cadet team displayed a very high standard of firefighting skills, teamwork, fire ground communications and determination to complete each event.”