So the conclusion of your post CFS_Firey is: Every able firefighter should have the BA Ticket as part of OHS&W. Now we know that wont happen till a royal commission tells the CFS to ey...
Zippy I agree with the sentiments of your post and the with SA_Firey. I can see some merit in the having people able to use BA. Considering that I have been to many a structure fire and car fire or refuse fire wear I can't use BA as we don't have BA on the QAV. Using defensive fire fighting techniques to stop the spread of the fire to the neighbours or to other property is good but to those that have lost it all due to a brigade inability to respond properly to a fire that could of been contained to a room or rooms can bring the brigade and service into question by the community it supports.
Maybe that's why Euan wants to cut the CFS back to an only rural service...
I have and along with the Brigade pushed for CABA to be part of our response but the head set in the service has literally some alternative idealogical plane of thinking. I remember an RC telling members of the Brigade that sorry you don't deserve BA because your houses burn to quickly. Well they certainly do if it takes nearly an hour for them to get to your town with a CABA appliance. Their assessment of the town that of owing to a lack of two story dwelling and a part time pub, school, service station and a national highway we didn't need CABA. All his information was based on incorrect information.
I remember at a group meeting not so long ago that we had a discussion about reducing the number of sets of CABA in the Group as we had more sets than operators. The main problems is getting to Adelaide or having the entire weekend off for the course which is one of the problems for the CFS. I am a firm believer that like in the SES where SFA is part of the required training so should BA in the CFS (mind you I also believe that SFA should also be part of the BF1
)