SA Firefighter

This is the minimum standard:- basic skills & Induction, Basic comms, Map reading, Basic rescue! What callout are you refering to?
If you are talking about RCR then add Tools & Equipment & the Road crash recue course. If its Storms & Floods - storm damage course. Why do you ask?

Same as other major disasters interstate. Interestingly you mention USAR which is what SASES has done since day one (civil defence days)- disaster rescue(with minor changes. So if a twin towers type event were to happen interstate e.g. Sydney you would see multi agency deployments. Thats how Australia works, its also why Nationally SES is adopting common training. cheers

Not sure Mack is that the same as SNAFU?

I know I'm a bit late on this, however as one of those who went with the second deployment and had the honor of leading one of the composite teams I just had to respond (couldn't help my self ). As I said in another post we tackled & completed tasks that the other states wouldn't. Favourable comments were made by NSW at our level of training & skill.
So from my understanding, you don't support CFS/MFS strike teams going interstate. Therefore you also don't support interstate Emergency Services coming here to support us when we need it. So you believe that the fire services won't need help this summer, or when another cyclone Tracy hits stuff em!
That would be the same as not sending a team to Adelaide during a major emergency, or not sending search teams out side of our area to help other areas.
Thats not why I joined the emergency services! I honestly believe that we all live in one country & if we are ever asked again to go interstate - I will be in it. cheers

Thanks mate - I was aware of that (also read the fire ground practices on the subject)interestingly the Victorians run with two. I've asked our gurus about whether we should try that.Opinion was not a good idea - relies too much on other agencies who may not be at full strength. I think going forward some radical thinking from all three services in consultation with SAAS will need to happen to fix the issues with road crash rescue around crewing issues, when to call rescue/ fire cover (the time delay between SAAS and everyone else being call is sometimes ridiculous). Cheers

Number not based on incidents - but units certified by the state rescue board & same as Victoria. I would not be surprised considering NSWFB covers Sydney, Newcastle & Wollongong (& has retained all over the place), and like all fire services counts RCR's they attend whether they are doing the extracation or providing fire cover. Interesting that you mention the VRA & NSWFB in the same sentence, considering NSWFB were trying to take Rescue off VRA in Penrith (an area of Sydney I know very well), I actually agreed with the reasons for it just the method was very poor.
And you might be surprised to know that in rural areas the VRA & SES work closely together (same membership support each other on ops etc)in some districts, they have an MOU so the infighting would stop and resources would not be duplicated.
So yep anyone can come up with stats to support their argument & if CFS/MFS could guarantee 24/7 cover & meet the standards of emergency response for Road Crash Rescue (in people, equipment-no combitools, training), meet the standard for fire coverage (& no not using the rescue crew), keep up with all of the training you guys do & finally it improves service to the community - then why not get rid of the SES all together. However before everyone cheers this years fire season is looking to be really bad.
So while you guys are out doing what you were formed to do - fight fires, who is going to look after rescue? And be honest can every brigade/ Station in the State get a full crew? I already know the answer, we have similar issues. However to meet the Standard I only need 4, think about that.
And just to clear something up I'm not blinded by the Orange, when I first took over the unit I'm currently in ( I was bought in from a near by unit) I considered handing RCR over to the local fire service & wind the unit up. After doing the SWOT analysis, it was not as simple as first thought (interservice rivalry between the fire services would have meant that the other SES units picking up a lot more work which they didn't need) & there was no guarantee that the situation would improve.
A far simpler solution was to change the membership of the unit(which was painfulfor those involved), luckily we also attracted another very experienced operator & some new people who will do ok. As I said above if handing rescue over to someone else would provide a better service I would have-less grey hairs  .
Cheers and thanks for your thoughts

Thanks Pip

Instead of short sharp messages that get to the point, Long rambling discussions that tie up the network, stop messages getting through and sound unprofessional.

Exactly

Yep your right, our basic comms course goes for about a day. We have some suit case radios from state when they run a course. But we still use the units radios when they are not broken that is . We would not run it as part of a basic rescue course - too much other stuff. cheers

No worries you could only but hope - Pizza Haven too

Used the 5000 model in NSW recently, cool bit of gear the way they had them set up. When we have a radio go down, we don't get a replacement - at one stage we had no hand helds at all. Hopefully new radios won't be to far away (in government terms anyway ). And when we do hopefully they will be like NSW, able to talk to any service with the push off a button. The current setup is very poor, we need the ability to talk to each other without requesting a multi agency. cheers

Mack your comment on who decides the priority is spot on. Initially its on the pager, Unit manager/Duty Officer contacts Adelaide Fire to a) notifying them that crew is being dispatched - before the call is defaulted, b) to gain further information. From that the response is managed - vehicle to use, siren/ no siren, speed etc. The vehicle one might make some people curious, if we are going to support another unit at an RCR for example - if they only require extra crew we would use our 31 Unit (refer to call sign post )as it is faster than the big truck, takes up less space etc.
Now some from SES may disagree, however, I have been in three units (this unit twice) & when I became manager of this one, discussed this with other unit managers in the area - this is the way they do it as well.
cheers