LANGLEY — A good game of waterball — it’s just what the chiefs ordered.

Firefighters from across South Whidbey competed in rounds of the game that look more like a spray-of-war than a tug-of-war.

Gathered in the parking lot at South Whidbey High School, fire hoses in hand, each team shot a powerful jet of water at an empty beer keg dangling high on a cable above. The goal: to send the keg onto the other team’s side.

Learning how to maneuver back and forth, lugging a heavy hose and keeping the spray steady amid a blinding mist made both sides winners, though. The game trains the volunteers for “interior attacks,” the strategy used to bust a blaze from the inside out.

“It’s a good way to practice, so when we arrive on scene we can do everything,” said Scotty Carscadden, a firefighter from Bayview Station 36.

Carscadden’s team of three firefighters won the first two bouts of waterball.

“It’s fun,” said Mike Cotton, deputy chief of training for Fire District 3. “But everybody gets a big kick out of it. It tests their skills and abilities and sometimes, they get wet.”

When firefighters respond to burning buildings and need to enter, the skills learned from the game can be crucial. It forces firefighters to communicate as a team, examine an environment, analyze the situation and move as one unit, Cotton said.

That quickly became clear for one of Carscadden’s teammates.

“The person up front can’t see that well, so the back person directs,” said Holly Fairbrook.

Fairbrook controlled the nozzle. She aimed the hose where Eldon Baker, right behind her, directed.

As she attacked the barrel, the downpour from the fight fell on her helmet and visor, obscuring her view. Water cascaded down from above in thick droplets as the water tanker pumped gallons upon gallons.

A third person, Carscadden, stood about 20 feet behind and managed how much hose his teammates handled to keep them from tripping.

As the keg moved toward the other team’s pole, Fairbrook, Baker and Carscadden marched forward as their opponents struggled to blast the barrel back in the other direction, nearly impossible once the keg was directly overhead.

It was a trick that Team 36-3 — Fairbrook, Baker and Carscadden — speedily mastered, as the squad won its first two matches handily.

Training for interior attacks, or battling a blaze inside a building, is difficult. Fire departments typically use smoke houses or fire houses as part of the training, but the most important experience is a real fire.

Palmer said fire districts are hesitant to put firefighters at risk unless a life is on the line, however.

“We’re very, very cautious about who we put in harm’s way in interior attacks,” Palmer said. “Every fire is a training opportunity for us, and they’re so rare — and that’s a good thing.”

Last week’s training, an optional training day, drew nearly three dozen firefighters, about half of the district’s force of 70 volunteers.

Cotton said it was a good turnout for a warm summer day.

“The wonderful thing about firefighters is we love what we do, whether we’re paid or volunteer,” said Fire Chief Rusty Palmer.

The 30 or so firefighters who turned out for waterball were dressed in their full gear, and brought their fire engines and other rigs, just in case an emergency call came in.

It proved to be wise.

Before the games began, firefighters in three engines were dispatched to a vehicle crash.

Thankfully, it wasn’t a serious incident and the crews soon returned to their waterball games.