Thousands applied for this year's NSW Firefighters recruiters.100 have been selected, and are now being trained at Armidale during there 16 week program.
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The Class 3/2019 sixteen recruits have been trained at Armidale at NSW Fire Driving and Training Centre.
A skid pan is a surface that when covered with water is a training tool for loss of control situations.
The trucks weight approximately 15 tonnes. The recruits drove the fire fighting trucks at speed on the skid pan. The water contributes to the shifting weight of a heavy laden fire truck which gave the recruits the experience of the movement of the front or back end of a moving truck.
"The idea that they may be going to an incident where, for example, a car accident is very important," Leading Firefighter Daniel Fish said.
"We want them to experience the danger feeling and have the operational responsibility of getting their crew to a job safely."
Recruits are from Northern Beaches, the Shire and Inner West of Sydney. They include people with past occupational work experience such as, prison officers, juvenile justice centres and other community jobs. They believe this past experience will help them engage with the community.
The recruits get to test their limits, and learn how not to cause more problems on the way to the scene of an incident for the crew or the public.
Station Officer Jim Shakelton, Senior firefighter Mick Kerslake and Dan Fish all agree, "firefighting is seriously the best job in the world".
