THERE was a fire threatening the Oberon Correctional Centre and two of its inmates were trapped inside.
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Thankfully, it was just a simulation.
Corrective Services NSW members were joined by the NSW Rural Fire Service, NSW Fire and Rescue and Forest Corporation NSW on Tuesday for what was called a "scenario-based exercise".
The scenario assumed a bushfire about six kilometres south of the correctional centre had started to "spot" and a building at the centre had caught fire with seven inmates (staff dressed as inmates) trapped in the building.
Under the scenario, the centre had responded, establishing a command post and enlisting the help of other agencies.
This included the arrival of vehicles, deployment of staff, response to the fire, injuries and first-aid and a CPR dummy. There was a smoke machine and a real fire that had to be extinguished by hoses.
Oberon Correctional Centre's Dale Ashcroft said it was the first time the centre had conducted an exercise in fire management on such a scale.
"This is valuable for staff as there are multiple layers in the scenario," he said.
"We have had an extremely hot and dry summer, so now is the time to act."
He said the centre had installed a new $700,000 water infrastructure pump to boost pressure and Tuesday's activity was a chance to put it to the test.
"There are 140 young offender inmates and a total of 51 staff at the centre and we have a fire evacuation plan in place," he said.
He said the centre has a concrete structure into which staff and inmates can evacuate, but Tuesday's activity was important because it was a chance to test reactions and response and see if there were any gaps in procedure.
The two-hour scenario started with a lockdown of inmates and the setting up of a command post.
The first respondents were Rural Fire Service volunteers who extinguished spot fires throughout the facility.
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As the scenario unfolded, it was established that seven inmates were trapped in a burning building. Five were evacuated and taken to the facility's medical clinic for treatment, but two were unaccounted for and believed to be trapped in the building.
Oberon Fire and Rescue members were called in to extract the two missing inmates. Correctional centre staff then attended to the injuries, started CPR and administered first-aid.
To complete the scenario, rural fire personnel were called on to extinguish more spot fires.
A debriefing followed the scenario.
"Although today is all 'pretend', we will all learn from the experience and how all agencies work together," Mr Ashcroft said.
