SA Firefighter

Interesting concept.
Some comments from a Volly NOT in Region 1.
i understand the concerns raised re some body looking after brigades doing 1500 jobs a year and perhaps loosing some command cars etc.
on the other side some good comments re the number of GO regions would have to "deal" with etc. might make it easier for all to operate

When you have such a large diversity in number of brigades in groups i can understand why such a proposal has been floated (i expect it to go to all regions in due time)I think one of the smallest groups has 4 brigades(5 appliances) (2 command/ logistical vehicles) up to the largest with i think 20 brigades (23 appliances) and 4 command/ logistical vehicles. The "balance" is just not there.

The point raised re no one would want to be the GO etc in "super" groups all boils down to 2 words

Delegation and
Management

The GO needs to Manage the group, and he needs to delegate responsibilities out to others.(not happening in some groups)

Now i know these comments will cause some discussion but that is what this forum is for isn't.?

SCC: *CFSRES TASK NO 55. RESPOND TREE DOWN. CASTERTON ROAD PENOLA 5277. ON MAIN RD. SAPOL MT. GAMBIER. P1. BWN. SES Bordertown Response


interesting response. They are at least 100k away from Penola.
There would be 40+ CFS brigades closer, including Penola who would do this job many times a year.

 I agree with Fireygal and others.
This, if true should not happen.
If it happens it will cause issues for all, the same as the suggestion of "different" types of fire fighters that has had a run on another thread.

cheers

15:33:15 21-06-09 MC81 CatB Int Beachport-penola Rd, Kangaroo Inn SAAS Road Crash Research

16:03:15 21-06-09 MFS: *CFSRES INC039 21/06/09 16:02,RESPOND Vehicle Accident,PRINCES HWY,MILLICENT MAP 0 0 0 TG231,CNR BEACHPORT RD AND KANGAROO INN INTERS,ECTION - NO ENTRAPMENTS,ARGY00 THOR00 CFS Argyle Response

Thats not bad 30min delay......Hope the group follows up on that one.......

I believe the group is following this up

Well done Army,
what events?

Posted on: May 31, 2009, 10:20:44 PMPosted by: malleefire  
I heard this at a community event that a brigade which leases it building could be closed as the CFS does have the money to either lease a building or construct one. Is the new CFS motto safety first only if it financial viable


 
I find it hard to believe they would do this unless there were other circumstances that haven't been put out in the public domain.

In the group i am in we have had several leased buildings that the owners over the past years have expressed their views on "doing other things" with the buildings.
In All cases the CFS has relocated the brigades.
(this is also one of the factors that lead to brigades "jumping the Que" in regard to replacement stations) Much to the ire of other brigades who are waiting for replacement stations.
We still have at least 2 buildings currently being leased that i am aware of, one has a pepper corn lease amount and the other, well, lets say you have a whole condiment range of lease amount.

I agree with CFS_firey, (well part of it) it is not about one or 2 brigades it is about the whole service.
I think we all agree that we need more money, how much, where it comes from etc i don't know but when we get it, then the allocation of funds to what will be a "purler" of a debate.

My understanding is we have 2 "systems" in place to guide the decision makers in who gets what out of the money "bucket"
first is the SFEC (which is being reviewed i believe) and
the funding matrix that has been developed in the past few years to allocate funds per brigade based on many line items including no of calls.

It seems that the 2 systems have worked to some degree in the sense that the limited finances available to us is spread around the state.
 Not only to provide essential equipment to brigades and members but to start and provide some new or updated stations to those brigades who, for whatever reason are lacking in the most basic of facilities i.e. power and toilets etc.

Surely no one would deny such brigades such basic items?
As i have said before i believe the construction of some of the stations that have occurred in the past few years has exceeded the requirements of individual brigades in regard to providing of facilities to meet the CFS responsibilities in regard to the workplace under the OHS act.

I believe now that this is being addressed.

It would be remiss of any manager of a brigade or group not to try and get more money or equipment for their brigade or group and sometimes the "squeaky wheel gets the oil" but in our case to the detriment of some other "project" within the CFS.

It would be nice to find say $50 mill to get ALL of the brigades up to a standard (what ever it might be) and where ever they might be, and then be able to then look at other areas to improve the service.

cheers

for those brigades lacking in crew numbers, lets go for a gun mounted on a Hummer ( there is one in the clips) then you would only need a crew of 2 or 3 (or 1 group person) to handle the initial attack 

This sounds good, let us get one for next year.

Then as it will only be able to be used from Adelaide, that is OK too.
This will then allow the current "crop" of aircraft we contract each summer to be dispersed across the state to supplement the rural firefighting capacity.
Wait a minute, where is the money going to come from, from the current "air" budget, or from one of the other "buckets" the CFS has.
(i am being sarcastic tonight, its been one of those days)

I am sure that the CFS powers that be would weigh up all the options before committing to such an arrangement.

hi,
just going through some old posts and came across this one.
very interesting in the numbers, numbers said about the calls they had especially in 98-99 (48)
I did some digging and this brigade was called Wattle Range before it was re named Mt. Graham.
It was about the same time that the W Range support brigade was formed, thus i suspect that many of the 48 calls were actually "jobs" that the WR support brigade did and not the Wattle Range / Mt Graham brigade. (would go for the average of 2-3 per year as much closer to the mark)

couldn't agree more zippy and mac13, looks like an ideal low crew number unit for struggling brigades, lets get it over for a proper "look see" and try out 

2 comments come to mind when thinking about GO and DGO attendance at incidents.
they are
Mentoring and
Succession planning.

Are they attending to do this ? in some cases i believe so but in some other cases i don't believe this is the case.

In my region we have some groups who this is defiantly not the case, eg the most senior person there is 99% of the time in charge. (i know they can but at "simple" one or two appliance jobs do they have to)

Several groups don't have rotational duty officers thus you get multiple group people responding  both physically and on the radio.

I know some of the comments have been written re you voted them in etc and if you are not happy vote them out. This has been tried at one group i know of to the detriment of the people and brigades who supported them.

in some of the groups people are happy just to fight fires and leave every thing up to the GO to do.
this is fine for some but brigades need to look for future leaders as well as groups. what happens when it is tie for these Group/Brigade  people to retire after 30 + years in a position if you don't practice Mentoring and succession planning. Who is capable of picking up the pieces, who will want to without some experience.

The groupies are not ment to go to any fire/incident that is under a second alarm and at all times the local brigade is still in charge of the job. our groupies will only roll to second alarm and up but will mann the base for a single brigade who has a job. works ok here...

I Agree Bill re the Groupies are not meant to attend fires etc under a second alarm and that the local brigade is in charge, but as you know within your region most groups work differently.
ie we have up to 3 groupies attend a single brigade response and almost always they will take command at every job they attend, thus not giving the local brigades a chance to develop skills etc.
No wonder, when the situation arises and no group people can attend it can be a bit chaotic and disjointed.