Toogoom Rural Fire Brigade

Toogoom Rural Fire Brigade, along with a number of other Rural Brigades, SES units, Urban and Auxilliary Brigades, and Police, from around the Maryborough Area, were involoved in an exersise with Rural Operations Air Attack Unit at Maryborough Showgrounds on Tuesday the 28th of April.

An Incident Control Point was established, utilising 432 Oscar (shown below), to control the Air Attack exercise. The exercise was used to give Rural Brigades, and other agencies, a real time experience of the capabilities of the Rural Operations Air Attack Unit.

"Helitack 401" (shown below) was rigged with a 450litre "Bambi Bucket" and directed by ground crews to a simulated fire front marked by smoke flares. Helitack 401 re-filled the bambi bucket by hovering over a 12,000 litre "Collar Tank", and submerging the bucket. Collar Tanks are portable tanks that can be deployed almost anywhere a helicopter can land. They work on a similar principle to the "easy set" pools advertised at discount stores, but are made of materials that can withstand the harsh environment of Air Attack deployment grounds.

Overall, the day enabled personell a first hand look at how aircraft are used at an incident, how the can be utilised, and also thier limitations. With the increase of residential development in bushland areas, called iZones, the use of airborne wildfire suppression will be more commonplace, as they can assist with providing a fast knockdown of a fire front threatening homes or infrastructure, thus assisting ground crews to bring a fire under control more safely and efficiently.