The fiery training centre where CFA volunteers are put through the wringer

The petrol tanker is just metres away when flames shoot from the roof and spread in a startling streak across the ground in front of me.

As the flames grow, I dial up the hose pressure towards 230 litres a minute, bending my front knee and planting my back foot to hold my position.

The water streaming forth is so powerful, it takes all my strength just to grip the handle and keep my feet.

The petrol tanker fire. Credit: Alex Coppel

I feel the blast of radiant heat. But I advance towards the engulfed truck, straining against the power of the stream pulling me away from the blaze.

Thankfully, Country Fire Authority assistant chief fire officer David Maxwell has my back. Literally. He nudges me forward and then instructs me to use the stream to sweep the flames on the ground back towards the truck.

“Keep sweeping,” Maxwell yells.

We then aim the hose on the truck to cool it down. My every movement is cumbersome and strenuous in the hulking firefighting uniform, but I’m grateful for its protection.

A few moments later, the flames disappear almost instantly, the menace suddenly over. Fighting this fire felt like the real thing, but it was carefully orchestrated.

I am at the Victorian Emergency Management Training Centre on the outskirts of Ballan, near Ballarat, where Country Fire Authority volunteers are put through simulated disasters in preparation for actual incidents – and today, journalists are also put through the wringer.

Journalist Benjamin Preiss is put through his paces in firefighting training.Credit: Alex Coppel

These exercises are also intended to help drive recruitment for the CFA, which marked its 80th anniversary on April 2.

This external tanker and running fuel fire is the first of three exercises I will undertake. Although I am reasonably fit, my arms and shoulders already feel sore from just a few minutes of handling the hose.

The CFA has kitted me out with safety gear: a bulky fluorescent jacket, fire-resistant hood, heavy padded pants and thickly lined gloves. The sturdy steel-capped boots add to the weight and protection.

As I emerge from the change rooms in this uniform, the temperature outside is a crisp 15 degrees. But beneath all this gear, it is beginning to feel like a stinking summer’s day.

In the safety briefing, we were warned that some people can feel claustrophobic when fitted with the breathing apparatus, which allows firefighters to enter smoky environments while breathing clean oxygen.

The apparatus includes an oxygen cylinder and a face mask. I strap on the gear and release the oxygen from the tank attached to my back. I suck in my first breath, as instructed, and oxygen begins to flow.

David Maxwell (right) helps Benjamin Preiss into the breathing apparatus. Credit: Alex Coppel

The next drill is set in a multi-storey building full of (party) smoke with a fire in a bedroom. I am given the hose and partnered with CFA operational doctrine and training deputy chief officer Rohan Luke.

He guides me through the building and shouts directions at me. I struggle to hear him over the fire truck rumbling outside. And my breathing beneath the mask makes a distracting Darth Vader-like sound.

Our priority is to locate human casualties and carry them out. But the senses I would usually rely on have all been dulled.

The artificial smoke clouds visibility, which is already inhibited by the mask that narrows my field of vision. The gloves strip my dexterity and the weight of the hose slows my movement through the building.

Luke negotiates the bedroom door for me, and we find the room ablaze. My instinct is to release a blast of water, but Luke warns against it. Water creates steam in a house fire, which can inflict devastating scalds on anyone not wearing protective equipment.

Luke instructs me to look under the bed and in a wardrobe where children might be hiding. Nobody there. We move cautiously into another room. I spot a pair of boots attached to a dummy lying on the floor and begin dragging it out.

I grapple with its dead weight as I shuffle backwards down the stairs, trying to dodge hoses that might trip me and other crews moving through the building.

Safely outside, Luke explains that firefighting requires fitness, but proper techniques help, too. They leave hoses in an S-shape so they can drag manageable sections rather than the entire hose length.

When entering a building, Luke says, a firefighting team might also simultaneously pause their breathing so they can hear better.

A dummy being dragged from the apartment building. Credit: Alex Coppel

“We listen, just to see if we can hear anyone yelling, anyone screaming, any noises,” he says.

The final exercise simulates an industrial kitchen fire. An experienced firefighter guides us inside, crawling forward with the hose. I take third position, remaining on my knees as the flames “flashover” us before a few short spurts from the hose bring it under control.

CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan, who joined this training day, says the agency is trying to increase its volunteer numbers.

“Ideally for communities, we want to make sure that we have a nice pool of available firefighters throughout the day and the night,” he says.

Figures provided by the CFA indicate volunteer numbers increased slightly to 51,949 last year, including 28,906 operational volunteers who turn up at fires.

The simulated “flashover” in the kitchen fire. Credit: Alex Coppel

However, these numbers are down from 2019, when there were 54,621 volunteers in total, including 34,380 operational volunteers.

Heffernan says the high cost of living makes it difficult to attract potential recruits, who must prioritise work. Despite these challenges, he says, increased populations in regional areas and more people working from home are helping with recruitment.

The CFA wants more people to undertake training so they can help protect their communities.

The real deal: Ballan CFA crew members Billy Smith, Matt Gorman and Ben Hatfield. Credit: Alex Coppel

While there were no lives or property at risk on my training day, the flames and firefighting equipment were real. To misquote a former prime minister, I can say I did “hold a hose, mate”, if just for a morning of simulations.

And to those who do it for real – in a volunteer or career capacity – enormous respect hardly begins to describe how I feel about their service now.

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