National Parks and Wildlife service to carry out training at Griffith airport

The National Park and Wildlife service will be taking advantage of the local terrain at Griffith airport from July 17 to July 21.

NPWS flight operations director, Grant Simpson, said the service relies on its own fleet of choppers and fixed wing aircraft to carry out essential maintenance and fire management.

"Each year we bring the entire NPWS flight team together for mandatory training and mentoring, and Griffith Airport with its facilities and big skies is the perfect base for these exercises," Mr Simpson said.

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"Our top priority is ensuring safety for our staff, including 1,200 professionally trained firefighters. This training bring us up-to-date with our certification while providing practical experience through real-life simulations."

Training will be conducted both on the ground and in the air, with a focus on sling operations for practicing heavy load lifting, essential for remote visitor infrastructure projects.

"We also practice water bucket operations where pilot and aircrew train to collect and precisely drop up to 800 litres of water as part of hazard reduction activities and bushfire fighting," Mr Simpson said.

"Winch practice is also vital as we regularly fly experienced personnel into extremely remote and challenging terrain for firefighting, conservation and other operational purposes."

Griffith Mayor, Doug Curran, has welcomed the personnel to the city in advance and hopes to see the aerodrome and its facilities aid their endeavors.

"Having this type of training take place in our area has an economic benefit of course, but them being trained in here also benefits the community should an event ever occur," Cr Curran said.

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