SA Firefighter
General Discussion => SA Firefighter General => Topic started by: Scania_1 on November 10, 2006, 01:46:48 PM
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Just wondering how most brigades are off for applaince drivers? Noticed a few brigades from time to time send pages out for driver required urgently or no appliance responded due to lack of drivers. The last brigade(s) I was in had plenty of drivers as some of them did it for their work. Some groups have been able to allocate money to assist members in getting their MR licence so they had more drivers. This is a good idea as long as people dont take advantage of it and then leave on you.
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We have heaps, of course som,e drive more than others and our BA operators only drive if know on else is their to drive.
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We do OK....I think we have about 6 drivers, with a few more to be trained...if your brigade is short of driver's, there is a scheme through HQ / Region, that will pay to have people's licences upgraded to an MR (or an HR) if the brigade meets the criteria.....
Pip
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we could do with a few more drivers, usually the same few that drive and in the day time we sometimes have problems.
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we dont have a problem as we have loads of drivers both P1 and P2.
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We do OK....I think we have about 6 drivers, with a few more to be trained...if your brigade is short of driver's, there is a scheme through HQ / Region, that will pay to have people's licences upgraded to an MR (or an HR) if the brigade meets the criteria.....
Pip
Pip our Group has had a request put in for the last 3 years all brigades in our area are allways looking for drivers. We keep being told we have to wait as we are to far out of Adelaid. Last time I looked we where still CFS but who knows.
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As a general rule, CFS will fund you for extra drivers, if you have less than 4 truck drivers per appliance, and from memory, that excludes Officers......
It is one of those things that often people have more than 4 drivers per appliance, but those people are often not around when you actually need them!!
I was told that if you have a case of enough drivers, but have none around, say, Mon - Fri daytime, you may be able to get some funding to train a few more......
Ask you Regional Training officer - they may be able to give you all the specifics...
Pip
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We only have about 3 drivers during the day, and lots of the time we default because we cant get one of them,
What are the rules for getting your MR?? I have heard it is 1 year driving experience, but is this full licence or are your P's included??
I cant wait till I have mine!!
Pixie
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Wouldn't get too exited there pixie i believe (I'm probably wrong so please correct me if i am) but CFS insurance doesn't cover drivers under 25 when driving P1, or something to that effect??
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Hopefully it does, since we have a couple under 25 and have never been aware of an issue.
You do have to have your full MR liscence to drive P1, however you can upgrade to your MR whilst still on your Ps... as you said, one years experience on your P plates is all that is necessary.
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I heard 2 years driving experiance before you can go for your MR and the years you spend on P's count.
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did you know that if you have a car licence that you can drive the appliance to the job but a truck driver has to drive it back?????
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Yes but there would be a lot of bad stuff to pay if you hit something.
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What is the story about drivers under 25??
We have a couple under 25 that drive P1, they are safe and good drivers.
I hope this is not true about the under 25.
Can anyone point to the document that has this info
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never heard of that rule we have drivers 20/21 year olds
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Never ever heard of that rule re: driving age.
As long as you are appropriately licensed and competent (eg - driver training package, or signed off as competent by an appropriate person) then you are fine. IMO.
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I heard you can drive a truck on a car licence if you have L plates on the back and front
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That would be under instruction from a fully qualified driver.
Say if you were learning for your test etc.
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checked the transport SA website and it says you must ahve had Class C licence for 1 year. Not sure if P plates count or not.
Also found this,
Under special circumstances the Registrar of Motor Vehicles may grant an exemption to an applicant from the minimum experience requirements for a specific licence class. Applicants who are exempted by the Registrar must produce evidence of the exemption to a Customer Service Centre to obtain a learner’s permit for the licence class.
Wonder if firefighting reasons are special enough?
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That would be under instruction from a fully qualified driver.
Say if you were learning for your test etc.
yeah but also just driving the firetruck for example on the roads crusiin around you can do it, i think.
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I would hope the only reason an unlicensed driver would be driving with L plates on (under instruction), would be to practise or gain expereince for their license..
Not just to cruise around..
8-)
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I heard this, I heard that....
Ok. You need minimum 1 year C class experiance to get an MR license. Your years on P's count. Hence the youngest you can hold an MR license is 17.5 years. There is no "lerners permit" for MR, hence you can have L's up and a car license. (the only way to learn to drive)
You can drive a CFS applaince P1, if you hold the license class for that vehicle. It then gets murky. Ir you have a C class license, and are on your P's for it, but have an MR license, you can drive vehicles requiring an MR license P1, BUT not any vehicle that requires a C class license as you are still on P's.
did you know that if you have a car licence that you can drive the appliance to the job but a truck driver has to drive it back?????
Find me written official proof of that. Ill put money on you not being able to find it. (the other way around yes, but NOT an unlicensed driver under P1 conditions.)
Instead of sitting here looking at this, or making crap up, go and look at the god damn SOPS and COSO's.
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I would hope the only reason an unlicensed driver would be driving with L plates on (under instruction), would be to practise or gain expereince for their license..
Not just to cruise around..
8-)
haha yeah I meant that figuratively, I tohught by Learning you meant with a driving school not learning in the truck, glad its all clear now :wink:
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I heard this, I heard that....
Ok. You need minimum 1 year C class experiance to get an MR license. Your years on P's count. Hence the youngest you can hold an MR license is 17.5 years. There is no "lerners permit" for MR, hence you can have L's up and a car license. (the only way to learn to drive)
You can drive a CFS applaince P1, if you hold the license class for that vehicle. It then gets murky. Ir you have a C class license, and are on your P's for it, but have an MR license, you can drive vehicles requiring an MR license P1, BUT not any vehicle that requires a C class license as you are still on P's.
did you know that if you have a car licence that you can drive the appliance to the job but a truck driver has to drive it back?????
Find me written official proof of that. Ill put money on you not being able to find it. (the other way around yes, but NOT an unlicensed driver under P1 conditions.)
Instead of sitting here looking at this, or making crap up, go and look at the god damn SOPS and COSO's.
COSO 7 and 8 to be precise :-D
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Its in COSO go and have a look :mrgreen:
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As a general rule, CFS will fund you for extra drivers, if you have less than 4 truck drivers per appliance, and from memory, that excludes Officers......
It is one of those things that often people have more than 4 drivers per appliance, but those people are often not around when you actually need them!!
I was told that if you have a case of enough drivers, but have none around, say, Mon - Fri daytime, you may be able to get some funding to train a few more......
Ask you Regional Training officer - they may be able to give you all the specifics...
Pip
Spot on Pip - thats how I got mine, we have 5 or 6 MR licenced, but rarely avail for day time call outs. I'm avail day time, and region funded my Lic (and another person) so we were better prepared for day time call outs . went through BTO, GTO then RTO who funded it. It took 2 months to get it to happen, bu tWe just kept on pushing until it was approved
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I had my HC licence at the age of 19 so yeah not hard to get a heavy licence by a young age. 25 for P1 drivers yeah good luck with that....most of our drivers are under 25....
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If some brigades didnt impose a restriction on "You have to live within 3 minutes of the station" to be a new member we would get some more :evil:
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If some brigades didnt impose a restriction on "You have to live within 3 minutes of the station" to be a new member we would get some more :evil:
enjoy the luxury of knocking back members. we take what we can get.
anyways, we're alright for drivers now. we have 5 operational (including officers)and 4 on the go. we suffered earlier in the year when we lost 2 drivers simultaneously, but we're back on now.
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CFS cant afford to be choosy,as drivers of appliances are worth Gold these days,so if you want new recruits to boost the brigade, lift the adhoc criteria :wink:
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Ummm.... you cant hold a probationary licence for 1 class and a full for another. If you are on 'P's for a car then they must be shown when driving a MR etc... as well.
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Talking about drivers with full licences being denied membership to a brigade because they are outside the 3 minute zone :evil:
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I have only heard of one brigade in region 2 that have a restriction on where members must live within a certain zone. Is very restrictive are there more?
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Two brigades in region one I know of....
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There are a number of brigades around the state that have a restriction on how far away from the station you can be....
Generally, those are brigades that have a high population, and can afford to pick & choose who joins..... (lucky them!!) :-)
I can see the merits of that, in certain areas...but it certainly won't work for every brigade...
Pip
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In answer to Bills post I know of at least four, and Pip are'nt we supposed to be encouraging new members to join not turn them away
CFS RECRUITING NOW
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I agree with SA Firey, brigades shouldnt discriminate on how far a volunteer lives away from the station we have someone who lives on & runs a farm outside of Kalangadoo and always gets here when he is a available
It doesnt matter how far you live from a local station as long as you can respond to the first or second page
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In answer to Bills post I know of at least four, and Pip are'nt we supposed to be encouraging new members to join not turn them away
CFS RECRUITING NOW
Yes, we should be encouraging new members..BUT some brigades are full (at least they were ....I am assume that is still the case in some!) They can't take any more members, until some of the existing ones leave!
Some of the brigades who have a limit on how far away from the station you can be, do so for two reasons. One is to keep their membership at a manageable level, the other is these brigades often adjoin MFS area, and an 8 or 10 minute response time to get the first appliance on the road to a call out is not acceptable to the brigade / group etc.
AS I mentioned before, these brigades often have a high population base - and can afford to be picky on who joins, as there are lots of other people in the same area wanting to join....
Pip
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One thing is for sure that after the fire's of this week some rural brigade's will get new members and some more much needed drivers....
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One thing is for sure that after the fire's of this week some rural brigade's will get new members and some more much needed drivers....
Its amazing that after a lot of media coverage of fires we seem to get new members,but if there drivers even better :-D
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but hang on you have to do BFF1 and that will not be till after summer????
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but hang on you have to do BFF1 and that will not be till after summer????
Of course there will be no more courses this year so they will have to wait, and then it will get cancelled as usual.
Oh well plenty of driver traing for them until they do BFFF1 :-D
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Talking of Drivers, what is SOP for Officers incharge of an appliance on a fireground, can they be driver too?
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OIC of appliance can be driver however if there is another driver available takes priority...you are an OIC first.
It can be a case of if you were the only driver of the appliance to respond to an incident,and become Incident Controller once on scene and delegate pump duties to another member, depends on the job.
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Thanks Mate :-D
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Hang on if You can organise a BFF1 there is no reason you cannot run it for your new truck driver.
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Hang on if You can organise a BFF1 there is no reason you cannot run it for your new truck driver.
True,and a inhouse BFF1 is ideal for that,and it wouldnt be too hard to get numbers from within the group for a course :wink:
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We only have 4 regular drivers. We currently have a 24 and 34 appliance. We have asked for 34 the be replaced with a 14 landcruiser. If this happens then we will be a little better off...Still need to make sure the drivers are suitable to use it though.
90% of our incidents are North of here. As soon as we leave the station, it is a 20 minute driver up hill.
The Landcruiser will drop that time to 4 minutes up the hill
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Bet you just love that scenic drive up to Crows Nest pomm.... :lol:
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just great....Going P1 and waving all the traffic to go past. Any slower up the hill and we would be in reverse
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about time you just got a urban/rural appliances with turbo and get a 14 aswell
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Viva La Turbo :-D
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The funny think is, I have offered the Pt Elliot 34 to the Group to make use of as a tanker . We have a poor excuse for a tanker in the Group and thought that the 34 cab / chas would be a good move. Strip it down and put the old tanker tank on it...It will certainly handle it ok + it will be 4x4.
Then was told that 4x4 tankers are now not permitted. Now that dont make any sense. I wonder why?
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I would imagine it would make the centre of gravity alot higher therefore higher possibility of a rollover.
But im not a technician by any means.
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yes...thats a point about the centre of gravity. But our present tanker is similar in chas height as 34.
Oh who knows. Any way it was a thought.
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little of topic but the mundoo tanker is not the same height as a 34 if it is it muct be a low profile 34....
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I was looking at the height after everything was removed back down to the chas. But now you have mentioned it, you are right.
I gotta get my eyes checks, or cut down on the panadol...ha ha :-D
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It may have something to do with load rating. A dual rear axle can carry more, but obviously cannot be 4WD. An old 4WD may not be able to carry enough to warrent making it a BWC.
(Just my rambling thoughts)
MrT
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Well we hope that by aquiring a landcruiser 14 that this will help relieve the preasure on finding truck drivers a little bit :-D
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I vote for the yellow Kenworth Tanker at the Ashbourne/Mt Compass fire Wednesday night..........think it held 14,000 ltrs...man that tank was huge :-D
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Was that a trailer & prime mover, or a rigid?
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That would be the rigid pip it was a transport co from willunga, kyeema tanker was there too. Yes have to agree put a PTO on that big tanker and paint it white i think it would pass as a half decent tanker.
Someone mentioned at that fire that when they set up the portable dam it got an ember in it before any water was in it and burnt a hole in it, Doh.... :oops:
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Didnt hear that one mund, bugger..... ah well, nothing a bit of patch work wont fix...
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Yeah i believe thay patched it up quick smart. :wink:
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I was helping on the dam....yep had a big search for some gaffa tape.....bugga....spot fire hit .and the dam had no water at the time. :-(
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I was helping on the dam....yep had a big search for some gaffa tape.....bugga....spot fire hit .and the dam had no water at the time. :-(
We carry duct tape on all appliances...has many uses :wink:
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Yep, The old duct tape comes in handy.
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As they say in V8's, Magic Tape fixes anything
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Certainly does!
Most Holden's and Fords come off the production line held together with that stuff :-D
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Well we hope that by aquiring a landcruiser 14 that this will help relieve the pressure on finding truck drivers a little bit :-D
Minimum response as per SOP is a Type 2.2 appliance,and many groups work on the theory of large appliance responds first,and then 14's.
You also have to consider if you roll your 14 first to a job that is going, will achieve nothing and result in a possible burnover for the crew :wink:
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You also have to consider if you roll your 14 first to a job that is going, will achieve nothing and result in a possible burnover for the crew :wink:
Our 14 has been worth its weight in gold as the first responding appliance.
Its a bit harsh to say it increases the chance of a burnover, same probability exists for a large appliance.
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Take a look at the new 14's such as Basket Range that is huge for a 14 and comparible in physical size with a 24.
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hi all this is my first post, i live in Ararat Vic,and i am moving to Murray bridge in the second half of next year,and am a code 1 driver,is it recognized in the cfs. stay safe Graeme
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There is no formal driving training in that sense in the CFS.
So as long as you tell them that you have experience and training im sure you wont have a problem.
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Make sure your old brigade sends along a letter of introduction with a list of what courses you have done,unless you have done the new national subjects you will have to do all your training again....