SA Firefighter

Personally and most of the people i've spoken to don't think we can but thats unlikely to stop them i would have thought, just means another year of trying to keep unservicable pumps, saws etc working

annoying thing is that some agencies ignore them any way, 

was that the new transit that they are looking at issuing?

Worked with several of the Frist Care Medical guys and girls at the down hill mount bike champs and all of them were great to work with, normally on scene within 60seconds of something happening (and this was in a quarry where they had to carry all their gear in and out), during that time they dealt with some nasty falls one guy had a broken back, broken ribs, dislocated hip and left shoulder, fractured right wrist and no issues there having them on site made our job a whole lot easier

hi ftstn do you have any idea of what the equipment list in them was?, i'd be very interested to see what tassie put in them.

the idea is good especially that you don't need a truck license to drive it adn you could run with a crew of 4 comfortably, i just don't think that this protype setup is suitable for many of the metro units without a fair bit of customization of the interior to fit our gear on board

the other thing i'd be interested to see is what its going to weigh full loaded and how the handling will change as when i saw it it was only about half full

Had a chance to head over to metro south last night and have a look at this, and get some pics (although only with a mobile phone camera)

Having  now seen this up close, i'd say the concept is good, especially for road crash units. However this prototype seems to have been built around a standard kit for tasmania and alot of our gear either doesn't fit properly or has massive amounts of space left.

To start with the cab, no way is it a 7 seater, 5 maybe and the guy in the front centre is going to spend a lot of time kicking the comms gear. The driver is going to turn the siren on every time he goes into 3rd gear, and you just about need to lput your elbow out the window to drive. However there is more leg room than in the canters many units have and the seats are more comfortable.

the ladder mount ion the roof is really flimsy as is the locking handle, and god knows how a 3 stage is going to fit on that thing.

The well for the light mast is one great bucket that won't drain properly unless its half full and the mast itself isn't particulary stable and doesn't seem to hold air pressure that well. The lights themselves are only 500w i think and have exposed bubbles so good odds on popping a few of them.

The body itself is quite compartimitzed but nothing we had a metro south seemed to quite fit or we in strange places. For example the pole saw is internally stored and doesn't sit on the base of the compartment so it can roll around and if it leaks will leak all over the back locker, there is a tray front drivers site that is supposed to be for the genarator but it has this stupid latch at the back with a genarator on the tray you can barely reach and the genni and fuel are next to exposed wiring (see pic 005). The body really needs some shelving or a storage system for small hand and power tools so you don't have 5 cases rolling around in the compartments. There are also several compartments for things like the stokes litter, brooms etc that are about 6f off the ground.
the swaging on the wires for some of the doors in the bottom lockers is really poorly swaged especially the one that is supposed to be a step for the top ladder mount. Even simple things like cutting off zip ties on cable bunches hasn't been done. Hoever there are several roll out trays mounted which would be usefull if they are fitted in the right areas.

Also it isn't fitted with a towbar at the moment which means you can take a load of timber to a shoring job for example.

Overall i thought the concept of the unit was good but the implementation still needs alot of work before we getting them out on the job. hoever i don't see how it will ever replace the rescue trucks as you simply can't get enough stuff onto it without making it way overweight. As a replacement for the leased 4wd fleet it may be a good option

Darren attitudes like that gripping about something that happened 20 years ago is what keeps all the sniping, whinging and moaning going.  the ses did this 20 years go for gods sake let it lie. if thats one unit you've got a problem with don't think the rest of the serivce is like that.

as for always needing firies well i'd like to see you keeping up with our workload during the storms with only 1 truck on the road when we've got 3 going, good luck there or funny thing is who do you leave to do all the shoring at a building impact?

if you want to go on about the quality of the vollies i've seen plenty of numpties in the cfs as well as the ses and a few in mfs a well so we've all got them,

how about you come down to our unit at some stage and say hello, you might see that the ses units are anything like mt barker 2o years ago

mate sent you a pm, i don't really think a public forum is the place to go into it, as i'm sure you wouldn't like it plastered all over the place if this had happened to your unit

Most SES units have Vertical Access Capability, which it to get to a casualty and provide first aid, stabilise and ready for extraction, most units carry the extra gear for the extraction but may not have the accreditation, at the moment vertical rescue is a hot topic as state is making some changes so it will be interesting to see where it goes

JKust saw this come up on news.com.au

Firefighter killed, four injured in Mansfield tanker rollover

A COUNTRY Fire Authority (CFA) volunteer has been killed and four of his brigade mates injured in a tanker rollover in northeast Victoria.

The man died at the scene and four other volunteers, three men and a woman, were injured in the accident on the Spring Creek Road at Tatong, north of Mansfield, about 6.30am (AEDT) on Sunday.

"It appears that a fire tanker has rolled, one person deceased at the scene and there's four others at this stage that they're treating at the scene," Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said.

Mr Mullen said the deceased was trapped inside the tanker and pronounced dead by paramedics on site.

Two men were flown to Melbourne hospitals in a serious condition and a man and a woman were transported by road ambulance to the Goulburn Valley Hospital in Shepparton.

It's believed two of the injured volunteers went to a nearby house to raise the alarm and a doctor and an off-duty policeman were the first on the scene.

A man, aged about 42, was airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with spinal and chest injuries. Another male, aged 52, was flown to The Alfred hospital with neck, back and head injuries.

Of the other injured volunteers, a man suffered head lacerations and a woman had chest and abdominal injuries.

Details of the deceased and the CFA brigade involved have not been released.

Within hours of the tragedy the CFA issued a statement expressing sadness at the death of one of its volunteers.

"We can confirm that a CFA tanker was involved in a road accident at Tatong en route to a fire in the northeast of Victoria," CFA State Commander John Haynes said.

"We extend our deepest sympathy to the families of the victims involved.

"A death of a member bears heavily on the broader CFA family, including brigade members."

The Victoria Police Major Collision Investigation Unit is investigating, together with the state coroner.

The CFA will also conduct a full investigation.

The death takes Victoria's road toll to seven, seven fewer than the same time last year.