SA Firefighter

Many of us had individual lawyers to help protect us...and they were working in partnership with the Crown...

Most of the volunteers came out of it quite well in the Coroner's report....only a couple were criticised....But that's not to say that they were pr oven to be negligent.

From my experience, what we perceive can be very different from their views.

The laws of the Civil court are very different from the coroner's....hence why there is only a MAYBE that evidence provided in the coroner's will be admissible in the Civil action.

The only winners are the lawyers who line their pockets...and a long way to the finish line

and the comment re protecting your client is true and can be at all costs of others...we tried hard to not criticise other volunteers and their efforts - someones almost at our own expense.

From someone who spent 7 days in the witness box, I agree with what you are all saying....we don't wish to be dragged back again BUT we also will not agree to any settlement out of court and are willing to fight to the end....

and we expect that it will take many years to resolve...by then, most of us will only have vague memories of what happened.

I have heard from a very reliable source that NOTHING from the coroner's court is taken into consideration for the class action....be interested to know who you were talking to at the NYE party chook...

Unfortunately, we are also breaking new ground as no other fire service has been here before....even the Canberra fire class action were waiting on our findings..

Obviously Robert34 you have never experienced the media on the fireground...they are always the ones in the wrong place, won't do as they are told and of as much value as .....

they are an unusual breed who get enjoyment from twisting the truth and sensationalising everything...

that's why they say "don't let the truth get in the way of a good story!"

It is true at this stage...it still has to be lodged and apparently by 10th January.

There is supposed to be 30 families involved (some are CFS members) and the lawsuit is also against Mr Visic who started the fire.

They are apparently, looking for 10-20million dollars.

It will impact on some of us who have already spent time in the coronial court....

it's not over yet..

No offense taken BUT I suppose we are working in a world of what we were used to...and it's just going with what has been PROMISED>....and we are nowhere near that standard yet...

and I agree with pumprescue....they must be paying peanuts because we've sure heard some of the monkeys...

If you knew how much info is behind the current dispatching system, you wouldn't want to go to a central system...

I am on the alerts system and we often have vital local knowledge that influences the responses...not something that will happen anymore...

and....most people who endured Black Tuesday are super sensitive and summer or winter call in any smoke or fire...how many false alarms are they going to be responded to unneccesarily??  volunteers time is very valuable and it will take no time at all to brown them off if they are often responding to an auto dispatch that is a non event...you will find they will wait until the second alarm...

if you are someone who lives to hear their pager go, you will love it...for those of us who have livlihoods to make, especially farming communities...couldn't be worse...

sorry but it's a huge step backwards...

& we have 2 at Port Lincoln....I can never remember their numbers but they are only 2000ltr ones...

We used to have a small fire fighting unit in Region 6 but they found that the prisoners put sand or sugar in the pumps too often and the fire got away all the time...mind you, the prisoners did a huge job post Black tuesday as volunteers with putting up fences etc...

I think that you will find that staff have very strict stand down procedures...I know if they are going to a night meeting that they aren't at work until late...

I'd have to say that the NEW booklets re farm fire fighting units are a waste of money...they are similar to our SOP's and Operational guidelines booklets...not something the farmers or any of us can read and understand quickly....we gave this feedback to the CO last week...

why can't they just use the KISS principle on this issue? 

this thread discussion is my point exactly...it's too open for interpretation and not mandatory enough for exceptions.

If you think about a deployment....most are more than 1 day, you are away from you own bed (and I personally don't sleep well on deployments) travel time, for some may be hours worth and then you may have to return to work the next day...48hrs is definitely needed to recover...

As for those who have said, they don't have to respond if they are tired...right, and if the bells go, so does your adrenalin, feel tired, nope, going....many are NOT that responsible to rest, which is why I believe it should be more black and white...

and yes, the main issue is OHS, something we base ALL of our SOP's etc around...why should this issue be excluded...

how many firies would actually stand themselves down if they started to fatigue on the fireground???   

I have seen some go past the point of being able to function effectively and start making stupid decisions because they are too tired...

would be good if it was at the top...where it shows the number of posts etc...