Toowoomba blokes suit up to fight fires

MEET the newest recruits at Toowoomba’s Kitchener St fire station.

New recruits David Ferguson (left) and Steve Irwin.

THE Kitchener St fire station crews welcomed two recruits with David Ferguson and Steve Irwin joining their ranks this week.

They are both Toowoomba men who quit jobs in construction to take up roles with the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services.

“I am born and bred in Toowoomba,” Mr Ferguson said.

“I wanted to help people and use my skills in a more practical way,” he said.

The pair had a soft start to their duties during their first week, which consisted mostly of touring the QFES facilities, learning the station routines and meeting the hundreds of officers and staff employed across the district.

“We rode along to a few little jobs,” Mr Ferguson said.

“But when we are on shift next week we will be in the thick of things.”

The fourth class firefighters completed four months of training at the Queensland Fire and Rescue Academy in Brisbane.

The training included up to three live fire exercises each day that exposed the men to the full range of emergency situations.

“They prepared you pretty well at the academy, and they run lots of the scenarios,” Mr Ferguson said.

“We were at the live fire campus for three weeks dealing with three fires a day.

“They can’t simulate the conditions exactly, but they come close.”

The new jobs will be a significant departure from their previous careers.

Along with the rigours of shift work, both will have to face the dangers of the fighting fire.

Mr Ferguson said he was keen for the challenge but his wife took some convincing.

“My wife had the Hollywood impression of the job,” he said.

“She had seen movies and had the wrong idea of what fire fighters do.

“Once she realised it was not like that she was okay.”

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