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Topics - Alan (Big Al)

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1
SA Firefighter General / Another top DEWNR decision
« on: May 03, 2013, 08:54:30 PM »
So the fire Cox's Scrub at Ashbourne seems to be another top decision by DEWNR to burn the day before very strong winds had been forecast, this weather has been forecast all week yet they have decided to go ahead with the burn and it has gotten away from them.
Unusually it seems to be garnering very very little media attention.

Why are these burns continuing to take place before this weather comes, have lessons not been learnt from previous fires??
And what does it say for the service to continually have these over achievements that requires a lot of volunteer time from CFS?

Is it time for higher up's to take notice and change their procedures and practices for the hazard reduction burns.

How are any of us meant to educate the normal public out there who lets face it the large majority have not much more than air between their wingnuts about safely burning and choosing the right time to burn when they see large hazard reduction burns taking place out there with poor weather predicted...

What are peoples thoughts?

2
SA Firefighter General / Damage to appliances on deployment
« on: November 30, 2012, 06:11:37 PM »
YANKALILLA 34 IS BACK HOME BUT NEEDS TO GO TO THE TRUCK HOSPITAL. DO NOT DRIVE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES J.EDGE :FROM G.C.C 6:53:06 PM - CFS Yankalilla Info

Its a damn shame the way some people treat appliances at large fires, if its not theirs then its there to be damaged.
What happened to people treating other brigade appliances like it was their own???

3
SA Firefighter General / Swiftwater Rescue.
« on: August 17, 2012, 11:03:52 PM »
After a few swiftwater rescues on the south coast is it time for SES or CFS to look at setting up a swiftwater rescue team in the Area?  The risk in the Mundoo and Strathalbyn CFS group areas for this incident is quite considerable is it an oversight that it seems only swiftwater teams are setup in the metro areas??

To be honest i find it a bit poor that the closest team is Noarlunga SES some 50 mins drive (not including response time) away.

Its a pretty tough ask to tell rescuers on scence that they are not to enter the water under any circumstances when someone is literally hanging on for their life knowing that the rescue team is 30 plus minutes away.

What are peoples opinion?

4
Country Fire Service / SFEC paperwork
« on: September 17, 2009, 03:37:17 PM »
Is there anyone out there that could help me find a copy of the SFEC paperwork on the interweb, our station copy has vanished and can't find it on the net, anyone out there have any idea? Cheers

5
All Equipment discussion / Larger Output Non PTO Pumps
« on: December 12, 2008, 09:02:34 AM »
For brigades out there who require a higher capacity pump than a standard 34P but still want a rural capable truck is it possible to buld a 34P with say a 3000lp/m pump and 4 in 4 out plumbing?

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SA Firefighter General / BOMS
« on: March 03, 2008, 07:23:00 AM »
Anyone out there able to PM me the details of the website that you can send paging messages from. Much appreciated. :-)

7
ALL Rescue / Windscreens
« on: June 07, 2007, 04:34:07 PM »
With some windscreens getting harder and harder to remove i'm just after some guidance from anyone on what manual tools (except for halligan tool already tried that, just a touch too messy) are out there that will cut through a laminated windscreen reasonably quickly.

I've heard of one brigade using a plasterboard cutter pretty effectively any other idea's :-)

8
Incidents / MVA Currency Creek Car Vs Tree
« on: May 27, 2007, 05:14:03 PM »
This MVA we attended was an interesting one from a stabilisation point of view.....Note the side stabilisers they are the first time i've seen this sort you basically set them up and as you ratchet them in tight the spikes on them dig into the car. Very cool and easy to setup much nicer than the standard issue CFS one's but much more expensive. Set of three cost's a little over $3000.
Good buy if you have the money these ones have only just been purchased by South Coast SES

9
Incidents / HAZMAT Investigator College Goolwa
« on: May 23, 2007, 09:57:59 AM »
Took these at the Hazmat job we had yesterday as usual i forgot to take my camera during the day but managed to get it last night.

Apologoies for the One's of the classroom as they were taken through a flywire screen

Was a rather protracted job, called at 1436, completed at 2330
Resources used were....
Goolwa 24P
Victor Harbour 711
Currency Creek 24
Christie Downs 431 (They brought some spill response kits halfway)
Mundoo Car 1 & 2
Burnside Car 1

10
Country Fire Service / Death Of A CFS Member
« on: April 14, 2007, 03:21:00 PM »
1909099 09:21:21 14-04-07 It is with regret that I advise you that Daniel Clarke Lt 3 from Tanunda died this morning after a short but courageous fight with cancer. From Rick Kessner 14/04/2007 9:17:36 AM CFS - Angaston Group INFO

My deepest condolences to his family friends and brigade on their loss.

I unfortunatly know what his family is going through my dad was dignosed with an agressive terminal cancer last week, and was given as little as a few weeks to live if the chemo can't slow it. :cry:

11
Incident Operations / Abbitoirs fire Primo, Port Wakefield
« on: February 23, 2007, 10:07:17 PM »
Sounds interesting on the online scanner, a lot of resources on scene and as at 2330 are talking of large ammonia smell from eastern sector.  Sounds like it's going to be a looong night for them.

12
All Equipment discussion / Logistics Vehicle's
« on: February 13, 2007, 02:53:43 PM »
Our group (Mundoo) is getting a Logistics vehicle from CFS, it is based on a Nissan Navara twin cab, and will be based at Goolwa.

Apparantly CFS is building a few of these for groups, it will be available for courses, fire ground logistics and general brigade calls ( this will help our brigade with response on to the beach etc). This is designed to free up Command vehicles from being taken out of area for things and leaving them free to be utilised on the ifre ground.

Is anyone else aware of these????

13
Incidents / House Fire Middleton
« on: January 19, 2007, 02:29:43 PM »
House Fire Middleton frist crews were on scene within 6 mins, always good when your just driving in to town from strike team  when the pager drops and the smokes visible :-D

14
Incident Operations / Hills Fires 10/01/07
« on: January 10, 2007, 08:43:02 PM »
Well the hills have sparked up again with fires at Mt Bold and Meadows this evening, most of the state is heading to the fires, from as far away as Stirling North!! Good luck to the firies who are out there....

On a side note out of all of R1 Mundoo group was the only one left untouched for the Mount Bold fire, then at 1930 another fire started at meadows which borders our group, and strike teams were called in from as far away as Gawler for this fire yet our group still sits here???? Can someone explain how this all works to me, it's just confusing sitting on my hands with a going fire a half hour away  and we still sit here i just don't get it???

15
Country Fire Service / Fire Reports
« on: December 15, 2006, 01:41:05 PM »
I've noticed a few brigades do fire reports for some things that in my opinion you don't report???? The main things are crew changes for fires which is still the same fire wouldn't you just tack the extra names on to the report when the incident is COMPLETED????
Another is "assist landowner with burnoff"? isn't that just function of the brigade that is a pre-organised activity, be for training or hazard reduction??? And another is fire cover for events such as fireworks, events, film shoots etc do these really need to be put down as call statistics wouldn't it be better put in to the non-incident section???

This is probably a nothing topic for most but just wondering others opinions??

16
All Equipment discussion / New Appliance??????
« on: December 02, 2006, 09:25:09 PM »
So whats this shiny new truck doing the rounds of Mawson group at the moment??? Is it the un-named type 2 or something of interest???? Anyone got any info???

17
Country Fire Service / Wish List!!!!
« on: September 25, 2006, 12:29:07 AM »
Just thought i'd start up something totally pointless.
What i wouldn't mind for my brigade and the chances of getting it.

Type 2 pumper- with some hard lobbying, maybe in the next couple years.

Fire Boat-(just something simple) I don't think so tim.

Some better RCR gear that doesn't breakdown so much. Unlikely.

 :-D :-D :-D :-D

18
Country Fire Service / Use of Firefighters for non fire activities
« on: September 21, 2006, 12:28:31 AM »
I bring this topic up because the CFS competitions are coming up, and it is being held in my town.

For the competitions the VFBA has asked that our group put forward members for setup, cleanup, gate duties etc etc... and one other job Security of the Goolwa oval on the Saturday night before the comps.

I have no problems with the other jobs because that is helping out, but our brigade is supplying six members for this security job that i feel is something we as volunteers should not be doing. I have put my hand up for this job and i will do it but i think that the VFBA shouldn't be putting members in the position to have to do this.

The problems i have with this is that as CFS we are not trained to do this, we've been told that we can only do it in pairs and no one else can be there, if something happens there is nothing we can do but call the police. Are we covered or insured by the CFS personally and property wise.

One other thing that annoys me and has for a while is that if you or your brigade are "committed" to these activities then you can't attend any calls. I think this rule is one of the most ridiculous things going around, The CFS is and should always be a fire service first, not a traffic control or security "service". Personally if my house was burning or was i involved in a MVA and was told "Oh sorry the nearest fire brigade is an extra 10 minutes away because the local brigade is down the street doing traffic control for the Christmas parade etc" i would be filtered off (sorry thats the best i could come up with :wink:).

I just find it really cheap that they can't even hire a secuirty guard for 12 hours. :?

These are my views and was curious as to what others think. :|

19
Incident Operations / New Fixed Alarm System
« on: February 23, 2006, 09:33:49 AM »
I'm just wondering if anyone knows about the new fixed alarm system that the CFS is implementing??

On the pager website i quite often see multiple alarms going off in differnt locations with the end of the message reading "Total Comms Fail" does this require a response from the brigade.
Or i sometimes see "WFAM" at the end of the message what does this mean???

20
SA Firefighter General / SAAS Responding Other Services..
« on: December 02, 2005, 02:26:17 PM »
I believe this subject may have been talked about before but i believe that the time taken by SAAS to respond other services to MVA's and related calls is sometimes pathetic!! Looking at the GRN pager website the call times between SAAS and then Fire & Rescue coverage being called can sometimes go as high as 20Min's, eg: in the early hours of this morning at Paringa SAAS was responded to an MVA, it was around 10-11 Min's before Renmark SES and Paringa CFS were responded, although this accident resulted in a fatality if the PT was still alive this accounts for a lot of lost time. A second example a month or so back a car crashed at Burra as a result of a high speed chase, SAAS was responded and 22 minutes after that Rescue was called and the occupants were trapped for some time as a result of the accident.

 I have spoken to some of our local volunteer AO's and they said that if the accident doesn't sound that bad or they aren't given many details then SAAS comms wont respond other resources until the info is updated or the first ambulance arrives to let them know if any one else is required.
 
 I was told a couple years ago as a directive that fire was meant to be responded to all MVA's attended by SAAS as a safety and assistance measure for them. I mean a lot of the time Fire and or Rescue are responded within 1-4minutes which is a pretty acceptable timeframe but what about all the others that take over that time surely one day it will come down to those few minutes making a difference and we will probably be the ones in the firing line (as usual).
 
 Just my opinion though. :|

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Incident Operations / PETROL STATION FIRE
« on: October 19, 2005, 09:04:18 PM »
GOT A GOOD OLD PRIVATE ALARM CALL AT 3AM YESTERDAY MORNIN TO THE LOCAL SERVO, BEING AN ALARM A LITTLE MORE TIME WAS TAKEN TO GET TO THE STATION BUT ON THE WAY I HAD TO PASS THE SERVO. SLOWED DOWN GOING PAST SUDDENLY REALIZED THAT THERE WAS A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF SMOKE COMING FROM THE PREMISES. AT THE STATION FELLOW MEMBERS SPEED AT GETTING DRESSED QUICKLY CHANGED WHEN TOLD OF THE SMOKE. WHEN WE ARRIVED STILL NO FIRE PRESENT BUT ONE OF THE LOCAL YOKELS WITH THE KEYS OPENED THE FRONT DOORS JUST AS WE ARRIVED LUCKILY THE FIRE WASN'T MORE ADVANCE OR HE WOULD HAVE BEEN TOAST (LITTERALLY) FIRST BA CREW UNDERTOOK COMPARTMENT FF. TECHNIQUES AND CONTAINED EVERYTHING QUICKLY. WOULD HAVE BEEN A MASSIVE FIRE IF IT WASN'T FOR THE MONITORED ALARMS.

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