You might have noticed batches of fire fighters in full gear at various places throughout Altona Monday evening, and despite what it might have looked like there was no need for concern. 

Members of Altona/Rhineland Emergency Services were participating in regular weekly training exercises.

Called "roll ups", last night's exercise saw fire fighters don full gear and get dispatched to a local address where a fake fire was burning. Crews are then required to respond to the incident, set up and deploy the proper equipment and fire fighters as they would in a real incident.

The point, according to Deputy Chief Barry Friesen, is to help smooth out the department's actions and buy precious minutes when fighting real fires in the future.