SA Firefighter

Never heard of the Health dept issuing an emergency message accompanied by a SEW in any of the states I have lived in (Vic -several times,NSW -several times, QLD) or worked in (NT & WA). Agreed Health are the experts in this area but are not an ESO i.e. covered by the Fire & emergency Services act or Emergency Management act (sadly neither are SAAS). Now this may be an oversight & personally I think it was wrong that SAAS wasn't lumped in with us (Emergency Services) since St John's is mentioned in the EM Act.
Prior to the announcement Health, Police, Premiers office, the heads of the 3 ESO's & others (possibly even SAAS) would have met, considered the emergency that is/ has developed or will be developing & it's possible consequences. And  decided that this was a good idea! Health/SAAS are not authorised to use the Standard Emergency Warning System -again an oversite perhaps but thats the way it is.
Finally a bit of history. About the middle of 1974 the Natural Disasters Organisation (NDO) was formed. This was bought about to effectively plan & manage Natural disasters. At that time the states agreed to rename their civil defence organisations to reflect the fact that they would also be planning, educating, combating Natural Disasters (non fire) as well as their Civil defence responsibilities. Our constitution places the responsibilities for the day to day management of ND's at the state & territories feet.
These organisations were called the State/Territory Emergency Services! (NSW had this organisation years before but amalgamated it with CD to be inline with the other states. Since that time SES/TES have been closely link with the planning & high level combat of ND's (non fire) in every state. If you read the SDP's, RDP's or LDP's of any of the states you will see that SES is heavily involved (even in the Flu Pandemic). In recent years the SEW has been re-invented to warn the great unwashed of impending major emergencies (why not it works well with cyclones). Heatwaves are considered a major emergency (check out the EMA website), & more people have died in Adelaide in the last 48 hours from heat than in recent bush fires, ambulances are streached & the modern suburbanised average person isn't used to living without their air con's etc.
Perfect reason for the warning, maybe just a bit late - there is a lot more to emergency management than flash uniforms & flashing lights remember PPRR?
And before anyone corrects th actual dates - some of the states took longer than others to change remember governments tend to be a bit slow
cheers

108—Functions and powers
(1) SASES has the following functions:
(a) to assist the Commissioner of Police in dealing with any emergency;
(b) to assist the State Co-ordinator, in accordance with the State Emergency
Management Plan, in carrying out prevention, preparedness, response or
recovery operations under the Emergency Management Act 2004;(c) to assist SAMFS and SACFS in dealing with any emergency;
(d) to deal with any emergency—
(i) where the emergency is caused by flood or storm damage; or
(ii) where there is no other body or person with lawful authority to
assume control of operations for dealing with the emergency;(e) to deal with any emergency until such time as any other body or person that
has lawful authority to assume control of operations for dealing with the
emergency has assumed control;
(f) to respond to emergency calls and, where appropriate, provide assistance in
any situation of need whether or not the situation constitutes an emergency;
(g) to undertake rescues;
(h) to perform any other function assigned to SASES by or under this or any
other Act.
Now do you really think that the CEO of the SES would be acting on their own?
After the last 48 hours wouldn't you think that parts of the Emergency management plan would start to be enacted?
And the Commissioner of police may have had something to do with it? (afterall the are in charge of the plan) for those who don't know the use of the SEWS is serious business & not just done for a joke!
Instead of making comments do your self a favour enrol in the emergency management & disaster management course, and then you will be enlightened And before you ask I've done mine very enlightening also watch the ABC news it's filtered serious!

3 methods I was taught & used:-
1 use the Lukas LRS-C Ram support
2 push against the point where the floor is re-inforced and raised(where the front seat bolts on as you know).
3 cut a wide slot into the bottom of the A (or a pocket cut) spreader tips at 90 degrees & spread.
when i left they were trialing a bigger ram that would reach from the rear wheel arch - don't know how it went.
Got pictures of two & three but sadly can't post on a public forum - copyright!
We have used the spreaders to push against, but we think that too much force was applied across the spreaders (which they are not designed for) & as most units have LRS-C's & all are taught all three methods couldn't see much point.
Pity you can't get hold of the SESSA training package, good photo's
cheers
cheers

yeah I thought the same thing & you can get really big rigid tankers ask the army! And they will go almost anywhere just need a over weight permit to be legal. Thats right the fire services don't like permits
Out of interest they were pto driven pumps with a hand priming pump and two side reels - to assist the civilian fire services during emergencies.
cheers

Sorry Numbers - I'm actually a Mexican (born in Altona, grew up in Melbourne & NE Victoria just try to keep it quiet )

From ABC News - Incident controller CFA "forget the spin doctors - we are in deep scheiße!"
Best comment I have heard in years
All the best CFA hope you guys come out of it ok
Stay safe

A proper rescue service? (not just RCR) About 80% of your service & the communities that need the services of a rescue squad while the fire fighters are off fighting fires (its going to get busier not quieter)
And the people who have a paid job.

Ah I wonder who that is? No worries Zippy But I can understand why some would "just want to fight fires" guys. My new unit only does Storm & Flood (VRA does rescue), alot of our guys are ex VRA who just don't want to do it anymore but still want to serve their community. However due to a change in our funding model & other reasons, there is a push for us to be rescue sometime in the future. Now this is without consultation or consideration of our members, we have RFS, VRA as well as just plain SES members.
The unit members have not expressed a wish to expand our role or think its a great idea afterall SESNSW strongly promote our prime role (sound familiar),so I'm not sure its a great idea, so maybe in CFS's case all of the membership should be asked what"model" should CFS follow & alternatives to the current system (if indeed thatswhat the majority want). Anyway thats what I think
cheers
cheers

Have to agree with you Numbers on every point (& not just with the CFS).
I am surprised that any thoughts of a "third" fire service even made it to print (now that I am living in a state that has 4 rescue services & see what a mess that can cause).
Anyway have a safe day & keep cool

Toally agree Numbers, maybe one day a properly constituted State rescue board will be formed & some common standards will finally apply e.g. all rescue squads should be at least qualified & trained in rope rescue (even if its just to gain access until further "heavier" crews arrive). Medium rescue & heavy rescue equipment list should be developed & be identical for all rescue services with sunset clause of 12 months to fully comply with equipment & the required training - if you don't comply you are down grounded to light rescue only and any medium/ heavy equipment withdrawn.As far as the RIV thing I know what you were getting at. And if there were proper resource tracking we would not have had this conversation
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Bronto I care because I still have family members who live in SA, I'm still an accredited rescue member (but true not in SA)& we have facilities in SA which may require the service of a rescue service. Oh & I still spend time there.
As far as 3 red trucks thats a SAMFS operational decision isn't it?
Numbers agree with all of your comments - including those on the Roadrunner.
Seen the Holmatro gear in action - wasn't impressed, having said that I did try and get the Lukas version when at Berri exactly for the reasons you mentioned, could get to the job quicker in our fast response, most jobs did not require the heavy hydraulics & our fast response carried everything required for simple RCR jobs (including FARA stabilisers, cribbing, glass management & hard protection just not separate cutters/ spreaders/ram), however I settled on a second set of cutters instead.
Whilst I agree that brigades who are rescue may have a requirement for a combitool for RIV, as said previously that was not the reason previously mentioned(my reading was to attend jobs when the primary rescue was committed elsewhere) & I stand by what I said "If you primary rescue is already committed, then default should be automatic" unless of course you have two rescues including certified crew.
Bronto you are of course correct Heavy rescue is not a term I would apply to the majority of squads in SA, or infact elsewhere - maybe medium rescue?
Finally refer to Boardies comments in the St Johns thread - when things go bad fall back to the good Samaritans act. I think some (thankfully not all)in the volunteer emergency services (not just SA), tend to think like that (payed staff as well as volunteers) & would rather set the bar low in regards to equipment, people & training instead of biting the bullet and demanding betterfrom our respective governments, people & communities.
In an ideal world there would be a true heavy rescue squad based in each area (groups),and properly equipped/trained medium teams in each council area- but thats in an ideal world
cheers
 

Bajdas - the NSW blouse type top is better that the two piece top SA uses, but the pants are pretty poor (SA ones with knee pads are far better).
Numbers why navy blue? Why not SES style in yellow?
Here RCR crews wear slip on steel caps and overalls, everyone else gets rescue boots (no steel caps), black Dunlop volleys for roof work & big floppy hats. And a back pack to keep it all in!
Anyway totally agree with your comments (glad someone pays attention on Landsearch courses).
cheers