IT'S never a dull moment for Newton Abbot's firefighters and Monday evening was no exception as the town's crew carried out a training exercise with a bit of a difference.

For this particular training exercise the great and the good from Newton Abbot Fire Station went in blind, both in terms of what they would be facing and, in this instance, literally.

What awaited the firefighters was a Breathing Apparatus (BA) drill thus crew members were blindfolded, which is an effective way to simulate the effect of smoke where it would not be practical to use actual smoke while training.

A search and rescue operation at its core, the exercise saw firefighters suit up with BA gear and sent into a building reported to house at least one if not several casualties.

With a hose-jet reel in hand, firefighters proceeded up the stairs to push back the fire, and also apply a smoke curtain in an attempt to keep the stairway clear from smoke.

Further exploration of the building threaten to become bogged down after it became apparent that a large amount of electrical cabling had collapsed from the ceiling: electrical labelling the Breathing Apparatus Entry Control Officer confirmed to still be live.

Due to reports of casualties trapped within the building and that the insulation on the cables was still intact, the crew did their best mission impossible impressions and proceeded up the stairs, doing their best to avoid the cables.

Channelling their inner Ethan Hunt, the principal character from the Mission Impossible franchise, the crew made there way up the stairs, doing their best to avoid the cables.

Upon reaching the top however, it was reported that one of the team had suffered an injury such that the emergency team, who were on standby throughout the length of the exercise, were immediately deployed.

The electricity had, at this point, been isolated and so the emergency team, with wire-cutters in hand, reached the downed firefighter in no time flat.

Once the emergency team linked up with the team already present in the building, they provided the injured firefighter with additional air from a spare BA set: they then proceeded to extricate him from the building using a carry sheet.

A spokesman for Newton Abbot Fire Station said: 'The teams worked brilliantly together to overcome what can be a dangerous situation that we may one day find ourselves in.'