00:00Gearing up for a career on the front line.
00:08These aspiring recruits are preparing to take a physical test to qualify for a place in
00:13the Northern Territory Firefighting Training Program.
00:16I'm still nervous, so yeah, we'll see how it goes.
00:21In the punishing Territory heat, firefighting is a particularly hard job, so the test is
00:26harder too.
00:28We've got a pretty physical one in the scheme of things.
00:30A lot of other states will do a lot more competency checks, but just because of our climate we've
00:35got to be, you know, have that little bit higher fitness levels.
00:38They'll have to be able to pull heavy fire hoses and use a 20 kilogram tool known as
00:43the jaws of life to cut people from car crashes all while in protective gear.
00:49Really tough.
00:50Yeah?
00:51Yeah, extremely.
00:52But it's not just physical fitness being tested.
00:57They're also training to keep calm inside smoking buildings where they can't see a thing.
01:02A little bit nerve-wracking, but I mean, you just followed someone's voice.
01:06While firefighting may have a reputation as a male-dominated field, the service is looking
01:11to change that.
01:12We want everyone, diversity plays a massive part in our role and everyone contributes
01:16something different, so it's really good when we've got a kind of diverse team, they work
01:21really well together.
01:22A crucial job as first responders in a challenging climate.
