SA Firefighter

Believe CFS has agreements with Media agencies for broadcast!

Different in all areas, due to coverage and also the listening audience! With the execption of the ABC, how cover SA wide

Well done to the crews in Region Two - activate early, get as many applinaces as possible, get the job done quickly, go home early - GREAT PLANNING  :-D

Sounds like a great idea and something CFS could follow suit with!!!

It would be nice to arrive at a going incident and know you had more than a couple of minutes of water, before you needed a hydrant!

Have seen the MFB and NSWFB ones - when speaking to the crews they had nothing but praise (execpt for the extra weight and licence upgrade)

From the Advertiser - Tuesday 09/10/2006

CFS volunteers are refusing to drive new trucks because of safety concerns, just one week before the start of what is expected to be one of the state's worst fire danger seasons.

At least two of the trucks have been pulled off the road, and one will undergo expensive modifications.
Volunteers claim some trucks bought about two years ago are "undrivable" when loaded with firefighting equipment.

Separate sources told The Advertiser yesterday the 11 trucks in question, costing around $300,000 each, are "overweight and unsafe" when water tanks and equipment are installed on them.

The appliances have been allocated across the state but, with a heatwave expected this week, the McLaren Flat appliance is sitting in a Murray Bridge engineering yard while the Kangarilla truck is sitting in a private shed after being slapped with an internal CFS defect notice.

Arthur Tindall, CFS manager of infrastructure and logistics, said yesterday independent reports showed nothing wrong with the vehicles. Instead, further driver training was required to get them used to handling the trucks, he said.

Despite this, Mr Tindall said the CFS was undertaking extensive modifications to at least one of the trucks to "appease the volunteers" and "overcome perceived issues".

"The volunteers will say they weren't consulted but you can't consult 15,000 people," he said.

He said further driver training would be conducted.

Sources said despite complaints and concerns by CFS volunteers, those in the city headquarters "don't give a s--t" and nothing was done until volunteers would no longer drive the trucks.

CFS members say it is placing not only homes and lives at risk, but also the volunteers. There was no planning or forethought," a source said.

"The next group of appliances (purchased about six months later) are fine - it's like they realised the mistakes and fixed it on those ones.

"But with the 11, they built them, gave them to us and said 'there you are, be happy with it'," he said.

Nothing like supporting one another and working together to find a solution. Appeasing people is one thing - insulting their intelligence and their commitment is another - how quickly people forget their origins.

If it wasn't for the toxic smoke ....... let the thing burn, would solve the problem once and for all :-D

Would be nice to se similar facilities in Regions 3, 4 & 6 and probally the top of 2 :-)

With the increasing outside preasure on volunteers (work, family, social etc) traveling to Adelaide is becoming harder for some due to time constraints - maybe CFS could adopt a simialr model elsewhere - maybe though on a smaller scale - i.e. for the regular incident attended - BA, small LPG & car fire, RCR and alike - leave the larger scale for Brukunga!

10:16:05 06-10-06 PRIMARY ALARM, I1: FIP, RENMARK HOTEL, MURRAY AVE, RENMARK
10:29:09 06-10-06 MFS: RESPOND Private Alarm 06/10/06 10:28,RENMARK TOWN,RENMARK, MAP 0 0 0 ,,BACK UP RENMARK TO FIRE ALARM AT THE RENMARK HOTEL,609*CFSRES:

CFS brigade 3 km away - Berri MFS approx 20km and a slight time delay??

10:16:05 06-10-06 PRIMARY ALARM, I1: FIP, RENMARK HOTEL, MURRAY AVE, RENMARK
10:29:09 06-10-06 MFS: RESPOND Private Alarm 06/10/06 10:28,RENMARK TOWN,RENMARK, MAP 0 0 0 ,,BACK UP RENMARK TO FIRE ALARM AT THE RENMARK HOTEL,609*CFSRES:

Intersting anomaly - with a CFS brigade 3 km away, who would you respond and in what time frame?????
PS - Renmark to Berri approx 20km

Quote from: squiddy on October 02, 2006, 07:20:47 AM

Quote from: medevac on October 01, 2006, 08:08:52 PM
PRIORITY TWO = SES responding only, lights and sirens

Hold up there big fella... why the buggery is anyone going with lights and sirens to a P2? Maybe lights, but a 10m branch does not constitute alarming the public like that. Maybe if it were on a busload of girl guides, but certainly not if it is already on the fence and in the school grounds.

Hold on a minute - before we point too many fingers - there are a lot of fire service resources that will respond P1 to everything - including tree's down, minor flooding, spillages (non hazmat) even tractor boggings - each service has it's SOP's and from there down each station has an OIC who makes a determination when the call is received

Quote from: Federer on October 05, 2006, 11:43:02 AM

Quote from: oz fire on October 05, 2006, 11:26:56 AM

Wish list  :-D
Urban Pumper, mid mount Darley LDMH 1500 pump, 911 CABA seats, twin 90 mtr hose reels, on board generator and invertor, steam lighting, with full urban stowage including PPV, High rise pack, primary entry tool/multi tool and of course monitor - crew 6

A Scania?

Scania, Volvo, Freightliner or maybe a La France - prime mover is debatable

Appliance builders can only build whats been specified to them by the services!!

Wish list  :-D
Urban Pumper, mid mount Darley LDMH 1500 pump, 911 CABA seats, twin 90 mtr hose reels, on board generator and invertor, steam lighting, with full urban stowage including PPV, High rise pack, primary entry tool/multi tool and of course monitor - crew 6

24P, kitted to meet both rural, rural urban interface incidents, 2 x BA sets minimum - crew 6

Tanker (new wank work BWK) min 10,000ltrs, dual axel, mid mount Darley HM500, 2 x 10,000 floating collar dams, portable pumps for dams, crew protection features - crew 3

QAV - Quick attach 14, min 600ltrs of water with foam system or CAFS on Toyota Landcruiser or similar - crew 3

and finally

A grouop vehicle that is accessible to the group, not just the group officer :-)

If you can pass the tests of entry and the training, does it matter what sex, colour or race you are - honestly!

The tasks combat soldiers do, are known to them before they join, if they still want to do them, then put them against the criteria.

It wasn't that many years ago, that people scoffed about women in the Police, Fire and Rescue services, now they are slowly becoming common place.

If a woman wasnt to go to combat and can meet the standards - then let her, it is her decision. Once she has the uniform on, she is a soldier!

OR ..... if you really can't sleep, phone the Regional MFS manager and as him or phone the DO in charge of training and as him.

At the end of the day, it makes little difference, Mt gambier was an execption to the traditional intake in MFS - time will tell if they use this style again (i.e. offer retained firies first)

Quote from: pipster on October 03, 2006, 05:06:21 PM

Quote from: bittenyakka on October 03, 2006, 12:34:55 PM
No we dont. But check if the other brigades second and third appliances are CFS or Brigade owned.

Another issue alluded to by a number of people, is your level of risk.

Appliances are not allocated on the basis of how many people you have in your brigade, or even within the district you cover, or necessarily how many calls you get.  Appliances are allocated on the basis of what risks exist within your area.
Pip

And an urban brigade warant a Pumper how - 96% rural risk????

Sorry, but the urban fringe brigade is an easy example, due to their "primary' risk being rural/hills face zone, with little urban risk in THEIR area

The immediate risk is tangible - i.e. should CFS consider the MFS area (an area MFS are funded for) part of the CFS risk. Should CFS consider the SES tasks (an area SES are funded for)
OR
should CFS first and foremost consider the risks, in the brigade PRIMARY response area???

Quote from: rescue5271 on October 01, 2006, 07:57:24 PM
No did not get a copy,but lets look at this paper....Now if you attend a meeting(group/vfba/etc) and there are paid staff there and say the meeting starts at 2000hrs and ends at 2300 hrs you then drive home say 1.5hrs..as a volunteer you have to get up the next day do your normal job and the paid staff members gets time off and does not have to show up to work till later in the day now where is the logict in that??

And Blinky - if your employer sent you to do something after hours, would there not be conditions attached - i.e. time off in lieu, overtime etc (unless you are self employed and then you make the decisions).

Would be nice to see our staff be offered over time instead of having to take time off - but they are stuck in the political and financial management of government.

I applaud them for the extra hours they put in, volunteer for, where they are not paid, not recognised and like you and me many of them are also volunteers so they are well aware what we go through and the time commitments we give!

Sure the fire season is starting early - but be honest - are you as a fire fighter more prepared during the fire season than other times, as people have indicated here that it's an impact on us ...... WTF?

As a firie, I'm prepared 24/7, 365 days. If I can attend I will, if I can't there is little I can do about it.

As a firie, I'm active in the community with prevention, including my own home.

As a firie, I encourage my neighbours, friends etc to be fire wise and prepared.

The fire season to me - warmer weather, still prepared, still active and still aware that the community is complacant, regardless wheteher it be due to fire season, driving accidents, structure fires etc.

or maybe, just maybe, they want to discuss the front that wil be moving across the state tomorrow!

We could speculate though ....... maybe there is to be more rain in the green SE while the rest of the state dries out, or maybe there is going to be strong winds, infront of a cool change, moving across the state tommorrow, or maybe due to the change there will be a few days of cooler weather...........

Joy oh joy - an early fire season!

The differance to us - sweet F/A, bugga all and none!

Pager goes off, we respond, end of story!

Have a safe early FDS people

The SES Course is to the National Public Safety Training standard - (PUASAR002A) Undertake road accident rescue

Interesting the only training provider registered to deliver this course in SA is Fire Safety and Training Services

CFS deliver the AFAC standrad for RCR, which when the two courses are compared does not align or meet the requirements of the National Public Safety package - few minor discrepancies!

Quote from: CFS_firey on September 22, 2006, 03:02:15 PM
oz_fire, where are we the lead agency for CFB? In SA?

lead in training in SA and last I was at Brukunga was told we have staff leading the training in NT, WA and Vic, plus still working closely with Qld and NSW

I have witnessed first hand issues with CFS, SES and MFS crews in RCR - as has been stated every situation is different!

Obviously everyone who has commented here has been on the tools and follows a standard, document and well rehearsed extrication each time they attend an MVA with RCR requirements.

Interesting to note that CFS and MFS are using an AFAC standard, whilst SES are using the new National Standard as part of the public safety training package.

In such a small state, we should all be learning from each other, training with each other and working to move forward.

I have seen a lot in innovation from both CFS and SES in RCR in the past few years - both are championing the cause and pushing RCR techniques and training forward.

We all need to remember though, competency has a shelf life and if your were trained 4 years ago, your techniques cannot be compared with those of today due to new tools, new techniques and the rapider changing car industry.

Quote from: ath on September 22, 2006, 02:35:30 PM
Might come as a shock to some of you but the SAMFS do actually conduct wildfire training and what to do. Aside from that most MFS appliances are not designed to be taken off road and are less likely to be involved in a burnover situation. Except for the 4x4 ones of course.

Might come as a shock to many MFS people to know that CFS are the lead agency in the training of Compartment fire fighting and have many crews trained in CABA as well - plus Hazmat, CBR, RCR, USAR etc, etc, etc .......... not just rural fires.

Cuts both ways. We are all adults and in the big world, the community deserves a response by trained, equipped and competent people and of the course the most appropriate response, regardless of the service, colour of their uniform, make of truck or PAY RATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and I'm sure you have all put in a grievance form as per the SOP's identifying that MFS still aren't calling the appropriate services at the appropriate times!

Lucky we are not SES, apparently MFS have stuffed up over half of their turnouts!

Quote from: ath on September 17, 2006, 01:03:02 PM
Must be a decent one they even called in the proffessionals.
12:59:44 17-09-06 MFS: RESPOND GRASS FIRE 17/09/06 12:58,PORT LINCOLN MFS,PORT LINCOLN, MAP 0 0 0 ,,ASSIST CFS AT GRASSFIRE WOODS RD - CONTACT LINCOLN BASE,549*CFSRES:

You donkey slong!!!!!!!!!

Professionalism is a state of mind ........ NOT A RATE OF PAY!

Quote from: mundcfs on September 13, 2006, 04:17:57 PM
So peoples opinion on this:

Now that Gambier MFS will have one fulltime crew at the station should or would Gambier MFS be made first response RCR for the City of Gambier (Not outside of the town)???

I guess one would ask WHY?

After all the precendent is already set across metro Adelaide - where we have MFS and CFS stations who are neighbours and both have RCR rsponse.

It's called pre planning, resource sharing and stopping duplication!

Being devils advocate - why would MFS even contemplate RCR response with a full time crew - wasn't the full time crew put in due to the hight alarm rate and increasing fire rate????