DEVIZES firefighter Pete Eagles has just returned from the busman's holiday of a lifetime in Australia where he joined Aussie colleagues on call at the busiest fire station in the southern hemisphere.

Mr Eagles, 37, who works for Kennet District Council as a parking officer, made contact via the Internet with his opposite numbers in New South Wales and was welcomed with open arms when he landed in Sydney three weeks ago.

His contact, Superintendent Warwick Isemonger of the New South Wales Fire Brigades, met him at the airport and arranged for him to sit in on night and day shifts with his crews.

The Sydney City Central station deals with 8,200 calls a year, compared with Devizes station's 450 to 500 annual call-out rate. As over here, the majority are alarm activations which prove either false alarms or very minor incidents.

Domestic fires are relatively rare in Australia. Mr Eagles explained: "All new buildings have to be installed with sprinklers by law and most buildings in Sydney are fairly new."

The first major incident to which Mr Eagles accompanied the Sydney crews was connected with the heaviest downpour of rain the city has experienced for 50 years. The lake in the centre of Centennial Park flooded and threatened to deluge the city's business centre with millions of gallons of water.

Mr Eagles joined the crews waiting to pump out the area should the worst come to the worst.

He said: "Fortunately it didn't. The water started to recede and we were all stood down."

Another emergency Mr Eagles witnessed was when an electricity sub-station, located beneath the pavements of Sydney, exploded and burst into flames, throwing a heavy concrete man-hole cover into the air. He watched as the local firefighters, universally known as "firies," dealt with the fire with carbon dioxide extinguishers.

He said: "They take a bulk carbon dioxide carrier with them on incidents like this. Carbon dioxide is used for electrical fires and for hazardous chemicals where you can't use water."

The usual instances of public stupidity came to light. The watch rescued 14 people from a lift designed for ten that had stuck because it was overloaded, and the only house fire he attended was caused by people having a barbecue on the balcony of a block of flats.

Mr Eagles was as impressed with the professionalism of the crews as he was with their dedication to letting their hair down. After the shift is over, the entire watch will go together to the local pub and drink a great deal of beer, accompanied, for no apparent reason, by an enormous stuffed penguin.

Mr Eagles said: "They can certainly put it away, but they don't seem to get drunk like people do in this country. They have a really dark sense of humour but that is only a reaction to the pressure of the job."

Mr Eagles also visited the state training centre in Alexandria where he presented training instructor Scott Rouse with a Wiltshire and Swindon Fire Brigade plaque.

He met the volunteers who man the rural fire stations at Clarencetown and Burwood, the first line of defence in the outbreak of brush fires which occur each summer.

He dropped in on his old school chum Mark Earley who lives on a 40-acre spread at Dungog, near Newcastle. Mr Earley has built his own house, complete with swimming pool, on the site.

As with many British visitors to Australia, Mr Eagles was struck by the cleanliness of the streets, the lack of graffiti and public disorder, and the friendliness of everyone he met.

He said: "You walk into a shop and people pass the time of day with you. They are not chatting you up to make a sale, everybody is very relaxed and friendly."

In return Mr Eagles gave his hosts an insight into the problems of fighting fires in Wiltshire, like tackling a blaze in a thatched house. He also took with him a video of Devizes.

He said: "They couldn't believe we have a castle and the beer is delivered by horse-drawn dray.

"I think we will now see a lot of Aussie firies coming over here to see it for themselves."