SA Firefighter

Thanks, one last thing, if the burn does get out of control should it be better if the cadets were well out of the way and they just wait for someone to come and pick them up???

hmmmm.... "go and sit on the truck" was a throwaway comment best not thrown away.
Didn't expect it to be taken literally...

You are quite correct. Cadets are to be escorted out of the way by one or more of
the f/f's supervising them, and kept there until they are collected, or the fire
is under control again.

cheers

What I heard is that as of a few weeks ago, CFS was out of spare pagers, & was
trying to scrounge more from other departments.  Just to tide us over until new
ones are approved & purchased.  Meanwhile, there are repair delays because there
are no spares to pull off the pile & return with the wrong CAP codes. Each one
has to be fixed (or written off) and returned to its brigade. 

As it was probably in here that I heard this, you can discount it as being a
load of bovine manure... 

cheers

Farfax Press chimes in.
http://www.independentweekly.com.au/news/local/news/general/the-burning-issue-of-fire-funding-in-sa/1533296.aspx?src=enews

A few points if I may.

SFEC is supposed to be a statement of the absolute minimum crewing & equipping
required by a brigade to respond to the normal risks in its area.  Treating it
as a "maximum that we are required to pay for" is an abuse of its intent.

The snide remark about "small mansions" is ridiculous & uncalled for. What is
needed are a heap of basic sheds with basic ablutions facilities and suitable
enviroment to teach members the myriad stuff we are required to know.

This isn't about the Adelaide Hills. That's just a convenience for the 'Tiser.
And a willingness by Hills Groupies to speak up.  It's about whole-of-CFS
funding.  It is necessarily in the public arena because funding to the Service
is a political decision.  Only public shaming will prod this government into
allocating the funding for CFS to do its job fully. Including building or
replacing something like 180+ stations throughout wider SA which desperately
need it. Your station might be ok. There are plenty which are junk. How about
helping those brigades rather than knocking those who are trying to?

Further, there is absolutely NO "having a go" at staff in this.  Staff are
impacted even worse by lack of funds than brigades are.  There are not nearly
enough of them to do the work they are legally required to do. Across all
regions & functional areas.

Breach of code of conduct??  Bollocks!!
More like a case of the Emperor's new clothes!

cheers

Conscription into the CFS may be the only way to avoid a repeat.
I'd suggest specifying a minimum of successful completion of BFF1, 26 training
attendances, and 1/3 of the average annual turn-outs for their local brigade to
be completed within 18 months of moving in.  Failure to complete this results
in enforced eviction. Applies to owners & tenants in designated UI & rural
areas.    and   
but mostly   

Nice as it would be to imagine warning people to flee as an effective action,
I don't think it will work -reliably- in the real world for catastrophic events
like this. The bigger & faster the fire, the more incredible the distances
ahead that need warning.  Working through the numbers:

Dead Man Zone for fire-fighters who are (supposedly) prepared & aware & "doing"
fire already is 5 minutes. At FFDI = 80 & slope = 20degrees, that's a whole KM.

Even prepared householders need more like 20 minutes to get going or get defending.
Plus travel time (assuming they can actually go anywhere).
So that's more like 4 or 5 km of warning. In the early stages of a fire when
fire manager/s only have a vague idea of where it is.

Now translate that into the Adelaide Hills, which is a pretty close semblance to
the Kinglake/Marysville area, except that their trees are taller, and fewer people live there.

20 minutes warning for people at Upper Sturt, Belair, Stirling is while a fire
is at Mt Lofty.

Toss in the complication that our Hills roads simply cannot cope with the sort
of traffic volumes of 150,000 people in these areas hitting then all at once...
instant gridlock, and a death toll which would make the Vic fires look like a
minor event.

If CFS is going to accept responsibility (& culpability if it fails) for being
the trigger for people to execute their plans in time for them to be effective,
then we will need to get the leavers leaving early morning of any day that
might have a serious fire...

Oh wait... that's the existing policy isn't it.

Seems to me that we are going to have to communicate the realities of bushfire
to the public a whole lot better. 

So who else is going to the VOICE pilot session ?

cheers

As I understand it from contacts interstate, no exemptions have been granted
interstate services. Other than under red/blues.  Same as us.
Implementation delays only, to allow communication from HQ to brigades & units.
Could be wrong, but that's what I understand to be the case.

Tried to get a new log book the other week.
They will only issue me one if I hand in my old one to have the remaining pages
cancelled. This will be a marathon session at the counter, because I have only
used 2 lines out of 100-odd pages in the old one.  It occurs to me that CFS &
SES drivers could possibly 'break' TSA by handing in our unused logs at about
the same time. 
cheers

How much does it cost every time an appliance turns out..... more to the point how much does it cost when 2 trucks turn out for what was requested as a low priority attendance for a fluid spill???

Very little at all I'd suggest.  To the MFS or CFS at any rate. 
Wages (if applicable) were being paid anyway (except retained). 
The trucks need a run every now & then anyway.
Their occupants (paid or unpaid) need a little activity now & then to maintain interest.
Total cost to The Services - not much more than a few litres of diesel.
(cost to volunteers is not a political or management concern.)
Therefore an extra 50,000km across the fleet ain't gunna make a flea-bite difference
to affordability of big ticket PPE, vehicles, buildings & etc in a $130M combined
budget (+/- $20M or so).

Regarding the original topic - a whinge about MFS comms, at least they are unlikely
to cop the hiding issued yesterday by the NSW coroner to NSW ambulance comms...
There may be other 'issues' at Wakefield St, but refusal to accept or pass on a call
due to lack of a street address isn't one of them. Not that we know about anyway!! 

cheers

Comes with 4 Pratt & Whitney sirens. 
Two settings only - "Wail" and "make-the-ground-shake".

Seeing as it can only operate from long paved runways, we can look forward to significant upgrades to Cherry Gardens airstrip...  blow more than just the
training budget on asphalt !! 

BRING IT ON !!!!

The issue of CFS staff also being officers (or even volunteers) has long
been an issue.  I recall reading a staff member quote in "Tried by Fire"
bemoaning management's pressure to make a choice back in Allan Ferris' day.
Having people holding 2 different operational ranks within the one service
is a bad idea.  Confusing for them and anyone who knows them - "which hat
are you wearing at the moment?"  Also how do they deal with it when one role
conflicts with another - eg. Brigade/Group officer lobbying for more money
from CFS, when their paid role is to "find savings"...

It is a risk having key players holding rank in other emergency services.
But not really -that- much different to them being employees in some other
essential service - power, water, gas, telecomms & health to name but a few.

Hopefully, the revised proposal will continue to have the CO exemption clause.
If not, the proposer may well discover that he has shot himself & his fellow
ROs in the foot.  The replacement officers may not be as 'reasonable' as the
current ones - they may be vastly less co-operative.  They probably will be
angry with CFS management, and they will have the former incumbents to guide
& advise them in maximising their inconvenience up the food chain.  Ask any
RC about 'ministerials'... 

AND they will not have any threat to their employment hanging over them to
moderate their actions and dealings...    (x2)

Methinks someone is betting high stakes on a pair of sixes.
Or the whole thing is a crock..

cheers

Yo Bordie

care to comment on specialist retrievals such as neo-nat or etc vs the
new arrangements?  Will specialist hospital staff still be used for these
retrievals?  Or are the Medstar people so sooper-dooper qualified &
experienced as to not require them?

cheers
AJ

If appliances have to come off the fire-ground to get water, they may
as well be coming out to Booths tankers & the like. Small tankers like
this should be designed to re-supply to appliances on the fire-ground.

That said, better a small tanker that does only half the job for a few
thousand, than no tanker at all. At a guess, CFS probably got 5 of these
on the road for one third the cost of a proper tanker.  With them being
near end-of-life, there won't be the temptation to just leave them there
indefinitely.  They *have* to be replaced in 3 or 4 years.   

The blighters have been reading my notes !!

Agree with most of the exerpts you have copied to the list, but not that last
paragraph.

It seems to contradict itself to me.  Turning over a significant percentage of
your workforce every 12 months is not "stability".  Nor is it long enough to
make an experienced FF. And with many positions occupied by gap-year people,
it reduces the number of career positions available and its attractiveness as
a career.

Looking at the actual article, there are big holes in his warnings arguments -
technical and social.  Bergin & Templeman are right, but

[a] a warning has to be delivered in time to be acted upon.. which means delegating
issuing public warnings to one of the first couple of steps in the information
chain - senior volunteer level (can't see SAFECOM or the minister handing off that
degree of information control any time soon - an unpaid & untrusted vollie might say
something controversial, or worse... true!!)

those it is delivered to have to be prepared and practised to act instantly &
effectively (yeah, right, like that's ever gonna happen...) 

On the whole, a reasonable statement of what should be.

cheers