Berry firefighters Luke Branley, Brendan O’Reilly, Ross Goodger and Rick Guinery.
Ross Goodger poses beside some of the Berry equipment at Tamworth.
It came down to the wire, but in the end the boys from Berry narrowly missed out on being crowned the state's firefighting champions.
After competing in 14 gruelling events over two days, the team finished third at the 2012 NSW Firefighter Championships, held last week at Tamworth.
Staged over a two-year period, the competition consists of 10 regional weekend events, culminating in the state championships.
Teams from Albion Park Rail, Thirroul and Scarborough also competed for the top honour but finished outside the placings.
Berry firefighter Rick Guinery said his highly competitive team was disappointed to have missed out on the top spot after a promising two-year lead-up to the event.
"All three teams were in it right to the end. It came down to the final event," he said.
"We were a bit disappointed to miss out but the two beers we had later that night helped."
Teams tackled a series of challenges, each designed to test crew members' firefighting skills. Among those were hose and hydrant, rescue, ladder, mock fire extinguishing and equipment inspection events.
Favourites Kelso took out the top spot, with border-jumpers Echuca in second.