There’s no need for alarm though, the only urgency was to prove who was best with a barbecue.

Although there were considerable flames at one stage, barbecue participants couldn’t have been in safer hands.

The Forbes Barbecue Society (FBS) held their first trial competition last Saturday, pitching local emergency services, health professionals, the Mayor and local fishermen against each other to see who could grill, marinate and dish up the most mouth watering barbecue feast.

Member of the FBS steering committee, Robyn Miller, said the challenge involved barbecuing four different kinds of meat; a lamb chump, scotch fillet, chicken breast fillet and pork ribs, before presenting them before the judges.

The five judges, including two special guest judges who are registered with the Kansas City Barbecue Society, rated each dish on its presentation, taste and texture.

Last Saturday’s inaugural competition was a major coup for the FBS steering committee, who have been working on creating a barbecue event of major significance for Forbes since travelling to Kansas City, USA in August last year.

The trip to Kansas City saw three local identities, Robyn Miller, Chris Roylance and Duke Jelbart, meet the Kansas City BBQ Society team and learn how the competitive cooking events were organised.

They returned home to ‘Australianise’ the concept and judging by last Saturday’s laughter, it seems to have worked.

Competition between the six participating teams was tough but eventually the ‘Shape Shifters’ – the Forbes Community Health team – proved to have too much barbecue prowess.

Full story in Thursday's Forbes Advocate.