SA Firefighter

Seems like Jaff you may be hinting at something that may be happening to a certain organisation in the near future?
If so the quote still stands - at the end of the day its all about service to the community & how that service is delivered (& by whom).
I understand that it may not be that nice meeting in dank, cold, training rooms or driving 10 year old appliances but you would have to admit the situation now is far better than 15 years ago.
Finally if what you are hinting at comes to pass, considering the current alleged problems with in the CFS - how will your organisation cope?
Remember they (government & business) usually "merge" things for "synergy" reasons (to save money) therefore I hope your not expecting a huge sudden increase in budget - me thinks you will be sorely disappointed
Master the other states have "funding arrangements" that still require the community to pay - just not as transparent as ESL - Therefore the comments are relevant - maybe that was a mistake on the part of the then SA government
Anyway Que Sera Sera  

I hope the same stern talk applies to other services who act in a similar manner! One can only hope.

I read the article with interest & as usual it focused on the same issues.
The CFS in SA & the volunteer emergency services in SA are not the only ones who have these problems, other states have fire appliances stored in sheds on farms, courses are cancelled, trucks are old or nonexistent(we have 25 members & 1 4x4 dual cab). And if you guys saw the news today 5 volunteers were injured while serving their community in NSW. Why? mechanical breakdown, it happens!
And not to turn up for training because its cold is well BS, afterall don't you get wet & cold out doing your job?
And the NSWFB guys(retained) don't even have pagers that tell them the details, like the SA ones - just its a fire call. Victoria doesn't have an integrated radio system.
And yeah we run raffles, beg for money, go without & this unit didn't have a home for 35 years! I have come to realise just how lucky we were in SA you don't see too many new appliances around here. Old Accos = VRA
So yep the situation isn't heaven but as we say around here "suck it up princess & get on with it!"

Chief Officer through the Regional Commander, Appointed Unit Managers work the same way Regional Commander recommendation approved by the Chief. Thought CFS was similar voted in by the brigade members by final approval by the Chief officer?

The position description thing hasn't worked in SES, because of the same reason. It was written for a full timer by public servants & didn't address the actual reality of volunteer emergency services - we are volunteers!
From memory to meet the qualification you would have to be a minimum Cert 4 in business management, Cert 4 in Training & Assessment & other things & it did address the operational requirements for the position - in other words it was crap! While I agree there needs to be some standard & I think voting in a office bearer is rubbish, until the volly services can at least be able to qualify people to Cert 4 in Public safety then it all BS. So the the next best thing is use payed staff as volly officers
Cheers 

Personally I don't think its fair to pay for the books yourself - however they are issued to the individual not the company (in this case CFS) & industry drivers pay for theirs! (and their licences, medicals etc).
And no crossing state borders wouldn't make any difference - in fact if you cross under a SAFETYCAM in a heavy vehicle you are logged automatically anyway & that network is rapidly expanding in the eastern states anyway.
So to go back to your statement of one driver allocated - then CFS must change its management plans (two up is acceptable under the legislation). Quite simply two drivers allocated 1 drives while the other rests (not in the truck if not fitted with a sleeper cab). Therefore if you drive (or do other work) from Adelaide to eastern Victoria ( nine hours?) then both drivers would need to rest prior to going to the fire ground & conversly when returning to SA. Its not that hard to manage really, when I travel from Leeton to Berri, I must leave here first thing in the morning & either drive straight thru to Berri(with a break every two hrs) report in then go straight to the accommodation or over night at Mildura (we are only permitted to work/driver a total of 8 hrs with a recommended driving time of 3.5hrs in rural areas! Times are a changin

No mate you just cant argue with logic and obviously some have just learnt that  ) Take it easy cheers - Hows the rock art going Jaff?

Correct - as always

Right on mate! - well said

No Pip, this makes no sense - Why P1? Why that unit?
Don't get me wrong, I don't understand How or Why the SES works the way it does in SA.
Same job here would trigger the local council/hwys department.
However the easy fix is more units not giving CFS more work.
cheers

As of July 2008 there was no policy
And as some of us know P1 & P2 for us is very similar P1 dual response in metro(read SAMFS full time)areas P2 SES only response lights & sounds - that is from the document that you have Andrew & can't speak to 
The idea of towing trailers at high speed horrifies some but what can you do? Give every SES unit 3 or more trucks?
In fact driving heavy trucks at high speed (driven by people whose only experience in driving heavy vehicles is in a part emergency service) scares the crap out of me but what the hey
By rights the driver should be using common sense when towing trailers, but you know what they say about common sense!
Finally if you couldn't tow trailers at high speed, how do the USAR & rescue boat responses get on then? By the way we only have a dual cab, 2 boats & a trailer
cheers

Which I found odd when I first found that out. In any other organisation, if you are on the night shift you actually work. Not get paid to sleep, exercise in the gym, watch TV etc.
And in the combined MFS SES building at Renmark (which is a very nice facility to look at by the way), its not very practical anyway!
Having a combined crew room, training room & incident room which is located between the radio room & Engine bays was not a very smart design feature.
When looking at budgets, you have to look at the whole picture.
Whilst I agree having 3 disc cutters at Salisbury may seem wasteful, there is also a high degree of risk in that area which may require the use of all three of them & more e.g. plane from Parafield crashes into our milk plant for example (which by the way we have planned for).
Look at brand new appliances/ trucks going to low callout brigades/Units, Non rescue units having pagers & in every state having a different uniform (imagine what sought of bulk purchase price you could get if the whole country went to one style). Duplication in the fire services - still! The list goes on & on. And yes there is a lack of money, bought about by central control & lack of local community involvement - what if the local council/brigade/unit had to come up with a 1/4 of the $ for that new building or vehicle? And the council guys doing their tasks instead of palming it off to SES to save on overtime?
On could go on all day - but you get the picture! I'm sure if you walked around your brigade/station or unit you could find heaps of things that are just wasteful - so I will leave it at that!
cheers

Sorry guys but the combined service you all dream of doesn't work!
Qld & WA still have their Rural Fire services & SES - now they are having to spend more to bring them up to standard (after years of neglect).
Because during major events (cyclones, floods), the "mega services" can't cope.
NSW is doing the same thing, storms/ floods over the last 10 years put the badly equipped badly trained SES under the pump (government investigations) & the almighty NSWFB can't be everywhere! So guess what? New funding module, treated as equals with the two fire services, heaps of media exposure, easy equipment system, streamlined training etc. Victoria is even more forward thinking (after years of the CFA can do it all), the good part of there system is an umbrella organisation that co-ordinates it all.
I agree shared facilities, training etc is a good idea. But as far as "the one service for all things" go then I have seen nothing yet that convinces me that it can work.