SA Firefighter

well Cert IV for a training job but otherwise I'd go for a diploma in fire management type thing, eg. http://courses.swinburne.edu.au/Courses/ViewCourse.aspx?id=29084
do some googling around for jobs in paid fire services around australia and see what pre-requisites they want.  Another option could be via DEH perhaps.

I also find it very disappointing that the CFS corporate has refused to acknowledge there's a lack of funding, they should be taking every opportunity available to take more funding, even if they do think we don't need it.

this is perhaps the biggest thing to come out of it (I think). That the CFS acting chief officer follows the government line (spin) and falls back on the old 'above SFEC minimum' argument (ignoring all the other points like that the SFEC is at least 15 years behind the times). He had a perfect opportunity to support and unite all CFS members (volunteers and the paid staff) and push for increased funding. Sure he may well worry it would be a 'career limiting move' but it just shows where he stands I think. And as he should well know, CFS paid staff are just as cheesed off about the reductions in budgets, lack of staff, unpaid overtime etc.

the other thing to note is all the group officers and deputies involved spoke about, and gave examples of, a lot more things than made it into the paper. For whatever reason the Sunday Mail chose to limit the story to just a few items.

Try telling that to all the people who were prepared and successfully defended their properties in Vic, but are completely ignored by the media in favour of "hero's" who escaped at the last minute...

there was a great submission on day 2 or 3 of the transcripts (forget where now) by a bloke who sounded very well prepared and talked the commissioner through his story in detail. His house and family did what you are supposed to, retreat into house when the fire hit, etc, his family and house survived.

http://sacfs.org/publications/State_Emergency_Management_Plan_v1.1_Sep2007.pdf

May be its time that some groups took back to running their own needs rather than the regional BSO who will call one supplier and not another...

dunno about your region Bill but from where I sit the BSO is not the problem (far from it in fact, she does her best to help us) the problem is govt and CFS policy.  Eg. just to pick one of my hobby horses: computer gear. 

We are told policy is we are forced to buy all computer (and related) gear through SAFECOM.  So we get the HP desktop PCs (which are fine) but pay twice the going rate.  SAFECOM/CFS say that's because it includes "support".  But I'd rather not pay for "support" and do it myself or deal with a local supplier.  When bits break just buy new parts and/or take it back to the local supplier, who because they know it's for the local CFS, they give good service and a good price.  This is what the govt loses out on - and worse still it is deliberately not supporting the local community/businesses yet relying on that same local community to support the CFS!

(and of course, as Rainer says, there is no budget provided to brigades/groups for computer stuff so whatever a group wastes through SAFECOM this way means less money to spend on other things)

I sometimes wonder if we are not heading to the point where in another few years my group would not be better off breaking away from CFS as such as seeking our own funding from a combination of local councils again, fundraising (which we do anyway), major sponsorship and fees for service (eg. alarm monitoring, false alarms etc).  Given the puny amount we get as a group budget it should not be that hard to do from the financial side with some dedicated financial people in the group organising it.  And I kind of like the idea of the "Stirling Hotel BWC" (for example).

who says there's a lack?  are you talking about replacing lost/stolen ones or additional ones above your allocation?

From what i remember when the change over from CDMA to NextG occured, every appliance was meant to be allocated 1 mobile phone.....

no, every CDMA phone was swapped for a NextG Nokia 6120 (and carkit if there was already a carkit), there was no additional ones allocated unless the group asked for, and paid for, extras.

Halon is still in use in some places and planned to be up until around 2030 I think

I am forwading this from a work colleague as I know there are a few CFS volunteers around who are in the security industry and have contacts therein.  If you can help please contact Ken at "[email protected]".
------
If you work in Security, or know someone who does, please take a few seconds to read this posting, and pass it on as appropriate.
 
I am involved with a fund-raising concert for the Mt Pleasant CFS, scheduled to take place on Saturday May 16th.
We have organised 5 bands, PA, lighting, staging, and a venue, but cannot currently proceed with the event due to a security requirement. Hiring the required 7 security personnel from an agency would cost us around $4000, which could easily consume all the profits. We currently have no volunteers.
 
So, if you are a licensed security officer, and would consider volunteering some of your time, or know someone who may be interested, please let me know. You will get to hear some excellent bands, and have the satisfaction of helping the CFS update some of their outdated and unreliable equipment.

Quote from: Zippy on March 30, 2009, 11:27:11 PM

Big One = Level 3 IMT incident.

Therefore...i am still unable to be beaten by the crowd.

Did Bridgewater get to level 3?

level 2 (but third alarm) I believe

interesting article about a CFA captain demoted for swearing on the radio:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25164210-2,00.html
(and very odd the article says UHF CB radio not CFA/DSE radio but it is news.com.au so is probably completely wrong)

Quote from: Bill Corcoran on March 06, 2009, 03:30:56 PM

Now that CFS have said brigades can now pick their next appliance

?

I think someone's put 2 and 2 together and got 37.

Elizabeth have recieved their 339 today

so is that in addition to 331 and 332? or does it replace 332?