SA Firefighter

Quote from: THE RANGER on June 08, 2010, 08:45:32 AM

Recently we attended a MVA, I spent 60 minutes, supporting the patients neck...

How do you support just the neck? Is it like an awesome choke hold?

I said neck not the throat, maybe a first aid course may help you understand , seriously I had some guidance from those SAAS dudes.

My point was to highlight the fact that the ATO, and other govt departments have no idea of what we actually do.

Again we didnt ask for the new 34, As for your comment....

wow....so a new truck so u could just have some fancy windscreen washers and a bunch of Halloween masks......plenty of brigades doing 10 times your calls would love that.

As Numbers says.....makes your brain hurt wondering why

I am sure my fellow fire fighters that have been in a burn over would refer to these added safty measures differently. 

First - "Those Air tractor pilots are legends, thanks guys  "

Why spend 30-40 M, on a single item, if something goes wrong you loose 100% of your fire cover, I agree with Zippy, use 50% on the Air Tractor (if something happend to one plane you still have 90%)in addition the Air Tractor is 50% faster, give the stated 3 min response, I know which option I hope responds to a fire in my area.

Spend the other 50% on appliances, training and equipment.

First I apologise if I am rehashing anther thread, I will go and read it SA Firey  

Secondly Alex where do I get a copy of the Road Crash Rescue Directory ?

I agree with you as annoying as stop calls are, I like the proactive response rather than the catch up method.

OK, I see what you mean Firey, a damn good thread, will take a few hrs to read it,

cheers 

I question sometimes who makes the call , As you can by the message the SAAS GOT responded 8 min B4 anyone else, we rolled 9 min after our page, it took us 6 min to get there.  My question "Why the delay"

1924962 13:58:24 04-04-10 MV71 CatB Brookman Rd, Hope Forest SAAS Road Crash Research

1908891 14:06:56 04-04-10 MFS: *CFSRES INC042 04/04/10 14:06,RESPOND Vehicle Accident,CNR BRIDAL RD & BROOKMAN RD,HOPE FOREST MAP 0 0 0 TG132,2 CAR ACCIDENT, NO ENTRAPMENTS, 1 CAR BL,OCKING ENTIRE ROAD,MCMP19 RNGE00 CFS Mundoo Group Officers Response

98% of the time we get on the truck, the only other people we see is fellow CFS members, at staging area, meal time or on the fire ground. I think as long as you brigade wear the same it works, you don't look like dad's army.

Yes have the star(because it stand for something)and logo if you want, as said there is no missing our trucks.

We went blue with yellow because its off the shelf, 100% cotton and low cost.

As this discussion shows by the time we decide what the majority want(others will want different), get the CFS to give it the tick, then to actually get them. Our current shirts will be dress up cloths for kids or rags and the next lot will be worn out.

P.S. I have seen some brigades at meal breaks all wearing the same shirts, their crews do stand out.

Fellow Firefighters, an update - first thanks to the members that offered support and useful comments - the ones that suggested we didn't deserve even a 24 or station if you find yourself in a similar situation don't come complain only kidding no hard feelings, we all whats best for our communities.

What happened - well we met with the region commander last night - after useful dialogue between a few of our officers -  brigade, group and region we came to a compromise.

For the time being the 24 remains however becomes a part of the regions pool, so we will look after it for all you in region 1, from time to time it may be called upon when some others brigade need to fill a hole - this happened before from time to time.  The good old 24 actually left for KI for a month or so at one time.

The past is history - time to move one "Note to self - make sure the AIRS are filled in it in our interest"

Constructive or not - it was good to get feedback from fellow firefighters (however you new who we were, we had no idea who you are, I feel sure one of the aliases could be region - because if I was in region I would watch this forum)keep the good work up.

If the Flying Doctors are the "Mantel of Safety" surely the CFS are the "Defenders of safety" because that's what we spent the last week doing for our comunity to ensure in the future we could provide them with quick reliable and sustainable fire cover.

It was fantastic to see even though we don't get the cartons of beer or donations we used to before the Emergency Services Levy - the community support was amazing.

Who know the good old RHF24 may help you out down the track - if you are lucky enough to be in Region 1.

So thanks to and for now this is the 'THE RANGER' signing off and hope to see you all again on the forum or if called to arms in the field.

You don't fill out AIRS reports for ALL your incidents?

Why not give us the real stats? ALL your calls?

You  seem to want to know allot, are you from region or something?

Again say region do get our truck... if you were Captian of your brigade who would you kick... your older, not so fast but experienced members or the younger longer term inexperienced members...?

I mean if I was in region I would ask why  are we supplying 25-30 sets of PPE and pagers to a single appliance station.

Mmm.. no wonder our police checks keep taking 12 months to come back, they have been holding our membership back by stealth.....

Yeah - your thoughts are being carried out as I type, however the comment
 
"When you get down to tin tacks, you are losing your second appliance because there is no money to buy one for the brigade which is getting yours."

Is possibly the actual reason however the reasons we have heard - its 1/ Deployment in a higher fire risk area or 2/ Added to the pool for a replacement vehicle.

You input is greatly appreciated, thanks

SOME STATS

OF 68 call outs in the last 5 years RHF 24 has been responded 23 times, more importantly in the last 2 years we have had 14 call outs for fires of witch RHF 24 responded to 9 that over 60% of the time.  It also shows the need for increased protection as in some cases this is due to RHF 34 being tasked elsewhere.

and: what does the SFEC say for your brigade? (I know it's out of date etc but is a starting point at least)

Good point already on it, yes in the most basic form we do come under the single appliance guidelines however under section 2.4 "RURAL BRIGADE TYPE DESCRIPTION" there are exemptions and provisions for additional appliances may be provided if no mains water is available and or terrain ,rural threat or activity levels all theses apply.

Terrain - the elevations of 150m+ < 1000m
Rural Threat - Due to high levels of intensive Ag major tractor movements, slashers, gas guns.
Activity levels - as the suburbs move south - hoon driving has caused fire and increased threat of accident.

Also note the SFEC for Rural/Urban also states the Standard Appliance requirement of 1 (ONE)appliance.

Quote "The term Rural Area has several definitions, however, in the context of CFS coverage area, can be defined as large areas of a country, outside a township boundary, often with low population, and may include areas of grasslands, bushland and crops".

Based on this 3 of the first 8 brigades I checked were rural all with 2 or more vehicles, this puts allot of brigades in the same position.

We realise the stats and graphs will be pulled out, we are ready. The official response re sending the 24 to a higher risk area..mmm let me see  a rural brigade, located on top of an escarpment(the same location the Ash Wednesday fires began), a pine forest, a conservation park, no mains water, 100+ ha of new farm Foresty and more on the way, can't wait to see their, higher risk area

Great an election is looming - good timing to get some press - one side (of politics) offers 9M the others 13M.  Well lets see what happens when these pollies find out that while they are chasing brownie points to encourage new members the bureaucrats in the CFS want to take one of our trucks.

The thing is its over 12 years old - is in good condition and owes knowone anything (some diesel and a service now and then) and its damn reliable, something which is comforting considering its role. This is getting personal, and its only just begun.

Oh yeah I have heard it could be the activation of the minimum fire cover thing -you know "Rural Brigades on need one truck" - mmm, well I guess we don't need so many members that's easy.

I have tried my best and succeeded to get 2 new members others have brought in another 6 in the last 2 years, why  , it the rural brigades that have the members on tap 24 / 7 because we work where we live.

No offence intended to the town based brigades - we are all brothers (and sisters) in arms, we do what we do for our community not for fame or fortune.