SA Firefighter

see attached...

start with contacting your group officer(s) as it was sent to them

wonder if it really was a pagoda (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagoda for what they look like) or if they meant a pergola.

just got one thing to say (as badjas said it's all been said before, it's a pity such a stuffed system takes so long to get sorted but that's what you get when people play empire building and politics) and that's the paging system can handle a lot more than it did over the last day or so.  OldOne you said "its too slow to handle hundreds of jobs per hour", I would suggest one page every 10 secs is 360 per hour, which is easily achievable. I would hope one page per second (3600/hr) is achievable (the bitrate is 1600 so 200 chars/sec theoretically should be).

Indeed.  As you say they do often get paged but haven't seen any specific job details via pager that I can recall, an example page is something like "Cat B - Heli + blood - GRN when mobile".

Why would you use the tank fill in any other situation than to fill the tank when going to and from a fire ground, should never be used for stationary pumping, there is no way to control the in coming flow, unless you go to the hydrant and turn it off.

If your pulled up and working at a job go through the inlets.

Not that hard is it ?

maybe I'm misunderstanding here but why can't you just partially shut off the valve on the tank inlet to control the flow of incoming water?  not sure what the big deal is...

in my brigade we usually use this way rather than pump inlet, but i'm talking rural 24, not a pumper, and no hydrants/mains.  Effectively we always use the tank then hook in another appliance / tanker / drafting line to keep the tank filled up.  This ensures a continuous flow of water to the branch, as it's using the tank as a 'buffer', when the incoming water stops eg. cos the 2nd appliance is now empty or have to reposition the drafting line etc.  It also means you get water on the fire immediately while the second crew/truck/person can setup ready for more water. The pump operator adjusts the valve to 'balance' the outgoing and incoming water.

I realise you're cynical about the CFSVA Mr T but the reality is that the govt does not take any notice of anything the staff, including the chief, have to say about lack of funding and so it's up to us, the volunteers, to do something about it, and using the CFSVA is the best way to do that.  The CFSVA already have lines of communication open with the minister and we would be foolish not to use that.

The $1.8M being pushed for at the moment for specific training 'gaps' is step 1 (and yes Mr Numbers it's a drop in the ocean of what is needed but you have to start somewhere).  Step 2 is being planned now (so I gather).

After the Vic bushfire the Vic govt pumped more money into the CFA, and just the other day I read the NSW govt announced an increase of $117M in funding for the RFS.  If we don't get behind the CFSVA to help us get funded properly then, as already mentioned, the only way it will happen is when people start dying through lack of training or lack of equipment etc. 

There is a simple lack of willpower high up to fix endemic problems (eg. regular 15-30 minute, or more, delays in rescue resources being responded to car crashes, a problem that has been reported for years now).

We have fire trucks (the 06/07 hinos?) that conk out on the fireground because the air intake is mounted behind the front wheel so gets blocked up instead of having a snorkel up to the roof level. Or trucks (the isuzus) that lock themselves when no one is in them with the engine running. Or trucks that come with insufficent lockers to hold standard essential equipment. These are clearly not fit for purpose yet they were delivered to brigades like this and HQ says there is no money to fix these things.

So we can make snide little remarks about the CFSVA on a web forum, or gripe about lack of training courses, bicker amongst ourselves, or just whinge about things.  Or we can help the CFSVA to help all of us and get a bit vocal and militant and try to improve things.

The CFS standard UHF CB channels are 9, 19, 29 (in that order of preference) unless an existing local arrangement is in place.

I saw it on my private scanner, but there is one online scanner that shows all adresses, not sure if the person wants it public though as its password protected. I guess it is a paging adress that has been removed from the commonly used decoder.

it's an MFS individual's pager, could be a fire cause investigator maybe

ditto I reckon Al is spot on, we always do 4-10 calls more than HQ seem to record.

Quote from: Darren on September 05, 2010, 08:45:21 PM

...I think the SES in this state need to invest in new systems to deal with days like we have had of late....

Darren, I makes me worried if you do not know of the changes happening at MFS ComCen (I thought that was your workplace). Two things holding the changeover and everything else is installed, tested & waiting to go. Affected SES volunteers were officially told three months ago.

is it secret?  why don't you just say what you've been told?
(I can only assume you are referring to the SES SCC ceasing to do CRD? and long past time too in my opinion, the problem is Adelaide Fire can't handle what they do now let alone giving them more to do)

you talking about the siren wail tone Jeff? that has been changed on later ones.
And Bill they work fine in my brigade station (tin shed) where mobile phones die about 6 feet inside the doors.