SA Firefighter

MFS: *CFSRES INC002 01/03/08 00:43,RESPOND Rescue Animal,WELLINGTON RD,WISTOW MAP 000 0 0,FROM POLICE, ABOUT 2-3 KM FROM WISTOW. N,O ONE TRAPPED,MTB020 SES Mt Barker Response

MFS: *CFSRES INC002 01/03/08 00:47,RESPOND Vehicle Accident,WELLINGTON RD,WISTOW MAP 000 0 0 TG128,FROM POLICE ABOUT 2-3 KM FROM WISTOW NO,ONE TRAPPED,MBKR19 CFS Mount Barker Response

adelaide fire is doing well lately 

THE state's mining boom and the devastating effects of the drought have left some country towns critically short of volunteers.

Volunteers are unsung heroes.Both the Country Fire Service and the State Emergency Service are experiencing a volunteer ``crisis'' in some areas, as an increasing number of families leaves rural areas.

The SA rural sector has faced significant change over the past decade with industry groups saying many farmers have left the land to find work in the mining industry and the city.

An estimated 20 to 30 per cent of farmers is also expected to leave the industry in the next five years.

Fire and Emergencies Commissioner David Place said this was having a negative impact on volunteer numbers.

``There are some small towns that only have half a dozen to a dozen volunteers and when two or three people or one family moves out, that can have devastating impacts on volunteer numbers,'' he said.

``Some of these rural-based people who were our volunteers in country towns are also going into the mining industry.''

Mr Place said not only was there a shortage of volunteers, but also that those who were available could not always attend emergencies during working hours.

A new sector-wide approach aimed at rewarding both volunteers and their employers will be launched this month.

``We will be doing what we can to recognise the value of the volunteers as well as their employers and do what we can to support them,'' Mr Place said.

``If you reward and recognise volunteers, then recruitment and retention issues become a bit easier. The volunteers as well as their employers who let them go are the unsung heroes.''

From July 1, employers whose staff volunteer will be exempt from payroll tax for the hours staff spend away from work.

Minister for Emergency Services Carmel Zollo said volunteers were highly valued.

``The support we provide to volunteers and their employers is part of an important new framework aimed at reinforcing how valued they are,'' she said.

Call 1300 364 587 to become a volunteer.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23228820-2682,00.html?from=public_rss

SECOND CRASH AT 'CHAOS CORNER'

ONE PERSON has been taken to hospital after a semi-trailer collided with seven vehicles at Glen Osmond this morning causing traffic chaos.

It is believed the injured person, who has been taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, has a "bump on the head" and has not been seriously injured.

Police say  it is a miracle no one else was badly hurt.

The accident happened at the Glen Osmond Rd-Portrush Rd intersection, below the Heysen Tunnels, about 9am.

The crash involved a semi-trailer  with an attached trailer loaded with quarry products and seven  other cars and commercial vehicles, littering the intersection with debris.

Traffic from the Hills and through the interesction faces serious delay. The down track is restricted to two lanes and the up track to one.

Last Thursday morning at the same intersection, a woman leapt to safety from a bus shelter just before it was destroyed by an out-of-control semi-trailer, after the truck hit several vehicles on the South Eastern Freeway.

Miraculously, no one was seriously hurt as the truck hurtled down from the Hills before hitting the Glen Osmond Rd bus shelter and coming to rest against the wall of a convent about 7.15am.

The truck driver, 33, from Echuca in Victoria, was later charged with dangerous driving and failing to maintain his log book. He was bailed to appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court on November 11 and said he was relieved "no one died".

Crafers man Mathew Job, 20, whose car was clipped by the truck, said a woman in the bus shelter looked up just in time to jump to safety.

"She dropped her bags and sprinted across the road," he said.

Mr Job's car was hit at the intersection of Glen Osmond, Cross and Portrush roads, as was a second car and a truck.

After destroying the bus shelter, the semi-trailer slammed into the Sisters of Carmelite convent on the western side of Glen Osmond Rd. Its overheated brakes then started a fire, which was quickly extinguished by firefighters. Chris Gent, whose car was the first to be hit, said his fiance, Tanya Nottage, was taken to hospital with back pains.

"It could have been a lot worse. It was all over in a split second," he said.

Police said they did not know why the driver did not use an arrester bed designed to stop trucks with brake failure.

Sister Margaret Hocking from the convent said she "thought someone was trying to blow us up".