SA Firefighter

We were called to Karoonda the night of the storm to a "fuel tanker rollover" which I believe turned out to be a tank turned over in a paddock (dunno, never found it). Scary part was that the station was unoperational - the comms room was undamaged but the power board had sustained substantial damage (power was off in whole town as precaution.

Freak event, I know, but really, these standard stations with no space except high above our heads where it can't be used should be a bit more reliable than the standard tin shed!

Katrina

I believe brigades recieved memo's about them a while ago, that they should not be bought, or specifically used, out of STC.

Really? I get rather frustrated when I hear of yet another memo telling us that we should or should not be doing something that seems to have not made it to our mailbox! All the personnel in our Brigade that receive correspondence are excellent and prompt at sharing it so I can only surmise that perhaps they are region specific mail outs or in some cases not official memos at all but Group directives or even just "someone thought they saw that once, somewhere".

Does every Brigade check all equipment purchase against some type of approved list?

My turn for quoting unverified memos -  I "thought I saw somewhere once something" that suggested that we did have to seek approval for any piece of operational equipment outside standard stowage (ie: came with vehicle) before purchase??

I have no real opinion either way but would an appointment be less likely to break a dictatorship than a (democratic?) election. If the appointment is made by the Region or the Group are they in a better position to make an informed decision than those members that have to work with the appointee? It's easy for a potential Group Officer to say all the right things (and even win the position through a merit based selection process) to the Regional Commander and have the Regional Staff think the sun shines out of the proverbial but in reality they may be inept, an operational disaster, have no people skills etc - in short a cluster****

Interesting that the few who have chosen to vote are favouring elections. It seems there are a few who want to vote on some applicants that have been through some kind of merit based selection process? Maybe there are a fair few Brigades out there that have problems trying to get anyone to take these positions on in the first place and have to push someone screaming and kicking into the position 

Most employers provide their outdoor workers with hats as part of their OHS&W commitment. We're often working outdoors in non operational conditions and I think hats are a reasonable expense for Groups to consider. But green with red and yellow checks!!!!!! Ewwwww!!!!! And not in a frivilous fashion conscious sense, in a how about presenting a professional image sense.

OK, couldn't help myself and found some time:
 
From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia:

French firefighters are called Sapeurs-Pompiers, and reflecting the rural nature of much of the country (wide areas with low density of population), the Volunteer Fire brigade (SPV, sapeur-pompier volontaire), with over 190,000 firefighters is the largest firefighting force in France.

In Germany there are about 25,000 fire departments - 24,000 volunteer fire departments (Freiwillige Feuerwehr), 800 private fire departments (Werkfeuerwehr; which mostly protect large industrial complexes) and 100 public fire departments

I'd say volunteers provide a major roles in those countries 

What's wrong with "come and try days" and "focus groups"?

We had one member come back from last weekends new members day very, very keen and motivated and wishing to nominate for BA and RCR. Now I have been asking her (yes, irrelevantly a female) to consider these courses for quite some time with no success. So this day was of immediate benefit to our Brigade and community straight away.

And during my time condicting sessions during the Women in CFS come and try days I encountered many, many success stories from women who had been inspired to become active firies, drivers, BA opearators etc. Most have to overcome life long societal baggage that has given them the ingrained impression that they are incapable of doing these things. A lot of them had to face more overt and nasty (not to mention unlawful) disincentives.

If Many Brigades are (and I believe they are) experiencing volunteer recruitment and retention problems and they have, say 2% female membership and women are 51% of available potential volunteers why wouldn't you welcome an initiative to make membership more attractive to that sector? (Particularly when there are distinct barriers to this sector). Similarly if the Brigade membership average age is 50, why wouldn't you try to attract younger members with specific programs?

Look forward to your answers   

What do they mean by "heavy" do you think? Does that refer to the 4000l capacity maybe? The 325gpm pump is a bit of a downer with all of that extra water to play with.

OK, can't help myself. Some base info for those interested in the history of our star:

From: http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/about/firestar.htm
The Fire Service Star is used by CFA as an official symbol. It can be seen on uniform hats, and on Long Service and Outstanding Service Badges.
The eight-pointed star is the Cross of Saint John. It originated in the Maltese Cross, the emblem of the Knights of Malta, and was used by the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem at the time of the crusades.
The points, or tenets, were said to represent the knightly virtues of tact, loyalty, dexterity, observation, sympathy, explicitness, gallantry and perseverance.
Since these represent the qualities required of a firefighter, the star has been chosen as the insignia of CFA.
Tact - discretion
Loyalty - commitment to the organisation through 'thick and thin'
Dexterity - mental adroitness and flexibility
Observation - attentiveness or perceptiveness
Sympathy - compassion or sharing
Explicitness - thoroughness
Gallantry - boldness
Perseverance - determination  

(from http://www.abilenetx.com/firedept/hmaltesestarlife.html)
History of the Maltese Cross
The Badge of a Fire Fighter is the Maltese Cross. The Maltese Cross is a symbol of protection and a badge of honor. Its story is hundreds of years old.
When a courageous band of crusaders known as The Knights of St. John fought the Saracens for possession of the holy land, they encountered a new weapon unknown to European warriors. It was a simple, but horrible device of war. It brought excruciating pain and agonizing death upon the brave fighters for the cross.
As the crusaders advanced on the walls of the city, they were struck by glass bombs containing naphtha. When they became saturated with the highly flammable liquid, the Saracens would hurl a flaming torch into their midst. Hundreds of the knights were burned alive; others risked their lives to save their brothers-in-arms from dying painful, fiery deaths.
Thus, these men became our first Fire Fighters and the first of a long list of courageous men. Their heroic efforts were recognized by fellow crusaders who awarded each hero a badge of honor - a cross similar to the one fire fighters wear today. Since the Knights of St. John lived for close to four centuries on a little island in the Mediterranean Sea named Malta, the cross came to be known as the Maltese Cross.
The Maltese Cross is our symbol of protection. It means that the Fire Fighter who wears this cross is willing to lay down his life for you just as the crusaders sacrificed their lives for their fellow man so many years ago. The Maltese Cross is a Fire Fighter's badge of honor, signifying that he works in courage - a ladder's rung away from death.

For the die hards try:http://www.northirwinfd.org/maltese_cross.htm  http://www.bushfire.nsw.gov.au/index.cfm?cid=110&the_start=3
and congrats to Woodside CFS for a mention at http://homepages.picknowl.com.au/woodsidecfs/history/01.htm

In fact a basic search will turn up thousands of fire Brigades paying homage to the star in its various forms and expressing the pride they take in working under that badge. Brings a tear to one's eye :crybaby:
(and inspires great pride and inspiration).

Dunno if he was singling out a Brigade - said photos came from Tailem but certainly wasn't Tailem Bend Brigade. We don't even have a senior

And if it's a photo from when we did - the Bullard Fire Dome helmet he wore had white reflective stripes on the side with the red narrow senior stripe down the middle.

And a uniform manual would probably be adhered to if people had access to it. I know we've never been afforded the luxury of a copy. How about the rest of you?

In the rescue area under Friday night training in Naracoorte there are some details of an informal training session in view of the kids and James has seen these run before.

We've had a couple in Meninige - there is a Coorong Road Safety Committee (which we used to be a part of) that facilitates these kind of things. We had a police officer who has run a lot of these come along (he had some resources with him including a plan from beginning to end - coroners court - including media releases of an exercise).

I've heard these were always well received. We've never done one as we don't have a high school in our area but have done RCR displays for the general public at community events that have generated positive interest.

So where do we get this in PDF format?

Our Group doesn't have a Hazmat response and the neighbouring groups have a constant battle to keep operator numbers up. It's one I personally really wish all CABA operators could get training in if they wished. Then Hazmat Brigades would have a bigger pool of operators to draw from.

My opinions only, yada, yada.