The week-long championships will see 42 teams of firefighters compete as teams of four, in 16 events. The events are designed to reflect the skills and expertise fire fighters use when called into action, including ladder events, breathing apparatus events and a rescue event.

“The purpose of the championships is to foster training and camaraderie,” Glen Innes team member Vince Davy said.

“It enhances our skills as firefighters to do a better job and is good prestige for the station, being from a little country town, to do so well.”

Mr Davy along with team members Bob Grange, Greg McLaren, Mark Gallagher and David Willis have been training twice a week for the last few months in preparation for the championships.

The Glen Innes team has been competing in the championships since 1994. In that time Mr Grange, Mr McLaren and Mr Davy have all featured in the team. The best result the team has recorded in the state competition to date was fourth at the state championships in Port Macquarie in 2006. Although competing against the likes of the Casino Fire Brigade who took out the championships in 2006 and the team from Nowra who have so far taken out three of four regional championship titles this year, the Glen Innes team expect to finish in at least the top three.

“What happens on the day happens on the day,” Mr Davy said. “We are good at the rescue event, we’ve won a few of them in the last little while.”

NSWFB Commissioner Greg Mullins said that the biennial championships provides an invaluable training opportunity as well as the chance for the community to familiarise themselves with the work the fire fighters do.

“This competition is a chance for NSWFB retained, or on-call, fire fighters to test their skills against their colleagues from around the state, interstate and overseas, and an opportunity for the community to see first hand just how fire fighters respond to emergencies,” he said.

Held at Cross Park in Tamworth, the six day championships will commence with a torchlight procession on Saturday night. More than 200 fire fighters will march through the streets of Tamworth carrying torches.

This will be followed by the Fire Spectacular, which includes mock fire fighting demonstrations and a fireworks display. Sunday is the opening ceremony and a flyover from British Aerospace. The last day of competition is next Friday.