Fire Trucks/Appliances

[SA- Private- Contractor]

REMOVED 18-07-08

[Cameron Yelland]

No problems as long as they are not used in public emergencies without direction from the proper authorities.

[Alan J]

Yes. 

Within your property you can do as you see fit to protect your people & your
property.  If you work in with the relevant fire service, they will probably
welcome it.

As far as going off-site is concerned, there are legal issues.
In country areas, it is illegal for a public brigade to exist except as
a CFS brigade.  But the various forestry mobs in the SE have dealt with that.
As have Roxby & DEH.  At least some of those industry brigades respond off-site
as well.  Applications to SA Transport for those vehicles to wear red/blues are supported by the service to which they are affilliated.

A welcome example of good corporate citizenship in my view.
cheers

[SA- Private- Contractor]

REMOVED 18-07-08

[bittenyakka]

i don't know about any liability issues with that but i assume some adaptation of the farm fire unit guidelines would be able to be drafted

[chook]

filtered Hell - you have two fully fledged fire trucks! Well done
Since you close to Adelaide, I do have a few questions
1 Why? What was the risk to justify them?
2 How new are they?
3 Who crews them? & are they CFS? if they are your crew could already be committed when the big one hits.
4 If not who trained them? And would they be prepared to operate the trucks during an emergency off site?
5 Wouldn't they be similar to council tankers? i.e CFS would commandeer/ lease them & they would then be under the control of CFS?
Anyway good on you, hopefully you will never have to use them in anger.
cheers

[SA Firey]

There have been fire appliances in private industry for years, and as we saw in Ash Wednesday, anything and everything was thrown into the resources including concrete trucks for water supply.

Private units would come under the Farm Fire Units policy http://www.cfs.org.au/about/pdf/joint%20guidelines%20-%20fire%20awareness%20&%20operating%20farm%20fire%20units.pdf

As long as it went through the right channels and they were utilised as a resource by CFS they would be under their control.

[rescue5271]

I dont have a issue with a private company like BHP,spotless or the mine's having their own fleet of pumpers and tankers and lets face it in some of the remote area's these private firms are going to be able to provide back up and better gear to help the local emergency service. Keep in mind that some of these private fire company's have full time or part time firfighters who are trained in RCR,hazmat,caba,and these members come from staff stations work shift and go home... SA will see a increase in these private unit's around the satte and I for would hope that CFS put into place a policy(if its not already there) that we are able to work with each other and have the same communications systems....

I do have a issue with a farm private unit that has red and blue flashing lights and still has the brigade name on the side and roof from where it came from,make's life hell on the fire ground when your calling that tanker and later find out its a farm unit...

[SA Firey]

Farm fire units are supposed to have orange beacons.

CFS have overall control of them so they need to comply with the policy.The Incident Controller is ultimately held responsible. 

[SA- Private- Contractor]

REMOVED 18-07-08

[Alan J]

Awesome to see you guys are responding... i preparing myself for a substantial dressing down.
[\quote]

We're still coming around to that.  

I have employees who live in the fire zone in belair and the hills area... how do you think the local fire services would respond if we made either of our pumpers available in the event of a large fire..

Our pumpers are all in perfect running condition, have 5k tanks, Darley pumps and roughly 500ft of flat hose, a 150mm Monitor, along with 3 electric hose reels... burn over protection, radios to coordinate with CFS (and not do anything unless given permission) and we all have excellent clothing- Sourced from SA,

I have also rang this past a couple other companies with trucks in CBD or hills area... they have agreed that in the event of another massive fire they would deff commit their trucks and trained personnel.
[\quote]

we promise to take good care of them, but not necessarily return them afterwards...

but seriously... if you want your vehicles & crews to be available/used, they will
need to be built into local response plans. Probably a world of paperwork &
bureaucratic nonsense for you.  You'll need to consult with HQ or Region & come to
some agreement of when & where you are willing to commit them, and on what terms
(gratis / hire / whatever).
You'll also need to make contact with the local Group or Groups affected to see how
you might fit into their plans.  

I'm not sure that the farm fire fighting arrangements will work so well with these
vehicles. They are better suited to urban property defence as full-fledged MFS
pumpers.
In some ways it would probably be easier for all if you were to form as a CFS
industry brigade. As this has already been done elsewhere, it will save reinventing
that particular wheel, & make it easier to integrate your vehicles into the
fireground.  It also closes any Workcover loopholes.  It may require your people to
do certain additional CYA training modules such as burn-over drill & safe off-road
driving.

Alternatively, contact your local Group & tell them you have some shiny BRT's that
you'd be happy to lend on a composite crew basis if they are interested. They will
be able to work out with you & with CFS heirarchy the best way forward.

Now, about that dressing down you ordered...

[chook]

Yeah I know about private sector trucks normally remote locations, very high risk industries.
Going by your reply mate you know all about liability issues & Workcover.
Agree with Alan J & as I said good on you, was just curious being so close to Adelaide. But now I know what you do (your not looking for any more training work are you? We are trying to get quotes for some of the above/ refresher & we can't get hold of our usual supplier)
Bill have you told the farmers about the old callsigns being on the farm units?
Thanks for the reply, didn't expect such detail
cheers

[SA- Private- Contractor]

REMOVED 18-07-08

[Bagyassfirey]

good on ya mate im sure the C.F.S wuld be greatful for ur help (well id hope so)

[Firey9119]

nice work bring on all the help the cfs can get!!!


btw what are the chances of getting a few shots of the appliances you have???

[SA- Private- Contractor]

REMOVED 18-07-08

[Darius]

first thing I thought of reading your post was sounds a similar situation to Woomera Emergency Services:
http://www.fire-brigade.asn.au/Station_Display.asp?Service_Code=SAWES&Station_Code=SAWES

It's a privately owned/run fire service (and ambos) run by BAE Systems under the Woomera Support Contract to the Commonwealth govt (Defence Dept).  However the interesting part is not only do they cover the town of Woomera (which is defence land) but venture out into public land supporting the CFS as well.  I imagine there is some MOU type agreement signed with CFS.  Might be worth investigating if you can go down a similar track.

[SA- Private- Contractor]

REMOVED 18-07-08

[RescueHazmat]

 The Woomera contract only exists cause the CFS don't have MFS backup.

You couldn't be more incorrect!.


-Your picture shows a FESA scania.. (WA Fire Service).

[SA- Private- Contractor]

REMOVED 18-07-08

[OMGWTF]

Have to say its pretty understandable that CFS dont want to utilise your appliances, although it is a great gesture on your part...


I can see, crewing, comms, dispatch, training, ppe, etc all being problems...

Nice to have another appliance... but i cant see it working.


But on the other hand, the truck appears very nice on face value... It can come and sit in our station for crewing by our guys any time if it was my call

[RescueHazmat]

Your comment in regards to Woomera (ie: the Defence Commercial Support Contract and then the comment about CFS/MFS) is totally wrong. - Get your facts right before you start sprawling stuff all over the internet..

Secondly, no. The CFS doesn't always have the MFS. There are a number of areas where response relies on just volunteers. - Another outlandish comment of yours.

FESA is on the door of the truck on your picture, along with WA's trademark setting of the lights half way down the cab, and their striping. - Hope that pic wasn't copyright!

[pumprescue]

Oh dear, another bright spark - please don't come to my fires, its hard enough controlling the people we have let alone some rougue getting around with lights and sirens.

The only thing I would want you for is water.

Also, Woomera is a Commonwealth town, MFS couldn't put a station there even if they wanted to, its not how it works. CFS are invited to have a station in the town but have no role in the town, in fact they aren't on the initial response for anything in the township of Woomera.

I wait all day for people like you to post on the forum, makes this dull winter so much better ! 

[SA- Private- Contractor]

REMOVED 18-07-08

[49194]

SA-Private Contractor.

I am a Firefighter / Ambulance Officer from Woomera Emergency Services.

Unless you are apart of SAAS, or Fire and Rescue Australia - (who supply training in some of our technical course requirements), then I am very interested to know who you are, and what you have apparently 'trained people in' up here before.

1. - Woomera Emergency Services (Or as it was known in the early days, the Woomera Fire Brigade) have been around since the 50's when Woomera and the WPA started operations. - Currently, we come under operation through BAE-Systems Australia. (They have had the WCSC since 2001, - previously it was Australian Defence Industries). BAE Systems have the contract from Dept. of Defence (DOD) to supply Estate services support, Operations-which the Emerg. Serv. come under - and a whole lot of other things...

Part of the Defence contract relating to emergency services, states there must be a full emergency service present to support and cover the Woomera township (commonwealth land, and the WPA). - Hence why we are here. - We have MOU's in place to assist the state (local areas/towns/highway on state land) in times of need.. However operations / duty and coverage in the town, must come first.

There are seperate MOU's and Protocol inplace for the work we do on the Highway in a medical sense (Have travelled hundreds of K's for jobs before). - But that has little to do with this thread.

So in summary..
Your comment: The Woomera contract only exists cause the CFS don't have MFS backup. - Is Wrong!
Your comment: Anyway i guess if the cfs get up filtered creek they always got the mfs. - Is also wrong.
Your comment: Its kinda obvious that there is not a MFS station in the sticks and that it is the CFS area of responsibility. - In regards to Woomera, is totally incorrect. We are a fulltime service, in the "sticks", here to support and serve the DOD. The CFS' responsiblilty out here is the Highway (state land), and all other state land just like any other brigade. - Which does not include the Woomera Township, WPA or commonwealth infrastructure. . .