FIREFIGHTERS practised their life-saving skills in the former press hall at the Swindon Advertiser offices yesterday.

Members of white watch used the huge space to hone a search and rescue technique that is usually regarded as a last resort.

“It was an opportunity to practise using a guideline that we do not use very often,” said watch manager Paul Hanlon. “It is something we use to search larger areas that we can’t search with our breathing apparatus teams then we’ll lay a guideline and search back off it.

“It is all fingertip. That’s why there’s good comms between the crews.”

Roped together, wearing breathing apparatus and blindfolded, the team inched their way around the edge of the building and across the floor, doing what firefighters have nicknamed the BA Shuffle.

“We would look at doing lots of other things before using guidelines. They are kind of a last resort. We would ventilate or fight the fire from outside or do something else,” said Mr Hanlon.

He explained they were blindfolded to make it a little bit more real. “If they could see what they were doing then they wouldn’t learn too much. We know if they can do it fully blanked out like that they can do it in a bit more visibility.”

The printing press was removed from the hall nearly 18 years ago.