SA Firefighter

A town that will grow to the size of Mt. Barker and that has no brigade out to areas like Wistow certainly needs more than a single pump and a telesquirt to cover it properly. It's not a duplication of resources when you look at the number of persons within the area they are covering.

All you hear from most vollies is how they want to serve the community and put something back into it. One would think that they would be more supportive of a move to provide better protection to their community, and that still gives them a hands on role.

Pip, you seem to think that the two services cannot exist together in the one area and work together for a better outcome for the community they serve. It doesn't have to be one or the other, they can both exist in the one area. I can understand you may not quite realise this from an East Torrens point of view, where a SAMFS station probably would handle the workload of multiple brigades rather easily, but its different in other areas of the state.

Crank, tell me, are all SACFS personel rescue, CABA and Hazmat trained... no.

The CFS can provide an urban service as good as MFS but not with our current appliances.

In terms of response times, appliance capabilities, training and quality of crew, CFS can simply not compete with SAMFS for Urban response.

Its got nothing to do with single one for one swap. Its not been suggested that you replace entire groups with a single SAMFS appliance and crew, nor has it been suggested that SACFS crews would not be there when required by SAMFS.

Brigades may meet the standard for response times, which is all well and good, but  there are two standards written, one for Professional services and one for Volunteer services. They are very differing standards, allowing for the fact that most vollies need to drive to the station first, then get the appliance on the road.

Pip, by the same token of response times, what happens when the first station is turned out, and has to default to the next station... 4 minutes away and can get a truck out the door in 4 minutes, thats another 8 minutes on top of all other times associated with the initial response.

I was merely suggesting that a full time crew (note: not necessarily only a single pump) is able to get to the job and get to work much faster than most volunteer brigades. They can also guarantee an RCR crew when needed, a full compliment of CABA and HAZMAT trained personnel when needed.

You'd better add in a mission for the paid services that is based around Sitting and watching foxtel without being interrupted for as long as possible.

The biggest issue in that mission is the logistics of getting food from the fridge.

Sadly, the same old argument holds true. There is no way in hell that CFS can guarantee a response to any emergency at anytime. That is merely how a volunteer organisation works.

I know that the special people from Mt. Barker will no doubt yell, scream, hoot and holler that they can get two trucks out the door, therefore they deserve to remain volunteer, but if they really worried about the community, they would be supportive of a move to have full-time SAMFS staffed stations in their area. Keep in mind, by the time they get to the station itself, a full time station would already be on the road...

The same thing holds true in all built up urban areas, Mt. Barker, Seaford, Mt. Lofty Group. Nothing can guarantee service like stations staffed 24/7.

Don't get me wrong, I love the SACFS angle on things, but at some point we all have to think out a bit further than just ourselves.

There really is no 'wrong' helmet. For some reason the service has decided to issue cut price bullshit 'rural' helmets. Its simple really, you get on the truck with the maximum level of PPE that you may be required to wear. You get turned out on your 34P to Grass Alight, then take your PBI set, L1 tunic and structural helmet. Why I hear you ask? Well, simple really, what happens if you're coming home from your Grass Alight and get turned out to something along the lines of House Alight - Persons Reported... What are you going to do without your structural gear?

Either that, or the CFS need to issue bags to store your second set of in and have it on the truck still, but in all honesty the PBI pants aren't that much worse in terms of heat etc etc...

Where was he from? Certain Fire services in Australia do offer both the training required for Cert II and III in Firefighting operations, as well as ranks equivalent to the "trade qualification" of Firefighter. As far as I know, CFS doesn't offer anything such as this.