SA Firefighter

Cant see it happening ,MFS need us just as much as we need them..having said that may be its time to look at having MFS day crews in CFS station where both services can work as one service rather than two...Works well interstate....

Sorry but Bullshit...

Having worked in the CFA for almost 2 years as a full time firey I can tell you that the integrated system is scheiße.

Would be OK if we were one service but staff and volls had their own stations but never together.

Imagine for a minute the morale of the vollunteer respondingto the station knowing that

1.Hes going to miss the truck 100% guaranteed
2. hes not getting paid to be there and those on the truck are.
3.hes on a striketeam with a couple of paid guys (like we used to be in Vic) who are getting paid double time to sit on a fire and hes losing work at home.
4. Industrial disputes ...where the staff are on strike over something and the volls "cross the picket line" at the station...(at Victoria the staff and volls atone station had a fist fight in early 2000 over this issue)
5. firies at (say Mt Barker) getting paid 20 to 30% more than the dudes at region 1 (as full time firies would be on the award as negotiated by the UFU)

etc etc etc etc

and the list goes on.

The integrated model in Victoria is NOT something we should aspire to.

Better to say CFS will employ full time fireys (at award wages) at Mt Barker with no volunteers at the station at all (including decent trucks/aerials etc)

Cheers
R

The Hoselayer or "haspel" carries 6 lengths of 70mm (or "B" hose) at 20m per length.

Saves huge amount of space in lockers and be used as attack or supply hose as all couplings in Germany are storz.  The new model comes with the hydrant and key fitted to it so that setting up a hydrant is a one trip job.
The Haspel is very easy to dismount from the vehicle (5 seconds) and can fold out of the way as well.

I forgot to mention before that there are 87 volunteer brigades in Hamburg which are part of the Hamburg Fire Service!!! Same proceedures, comms, training, equipment etc etc..

If they can do it why couldnt we ?

Food for thought

Cheers
Rainer

pictures

Whats all the hassle about..

"Euan Ferguson is currently the Chief Officer of the South Australian bush firefighting organisation, the CFS, and is a former Deputy Chief Officer of Victoria’s CFA.  While the CFS is predominantly a rural firefighting service, Euan’s CFA experience makes him well versed in its role of protecting more than half of suburban Melbourne and regional cities as well as country Victoria...."

Arent we a "predominantly rural firefighting" service?

What were our incident stats across the state last year if we attended more than 50% rural incidents wouldnt that make us a "predominantly" rural fire service?

Having worked for the CFA I can assure you all that they have a much higher urban/rescue percentage workload than us.

Pity im in Germany may have put my hat in the ring and by god would there ba some changes then...

Maybe we should have one set of SOP´s that cover both services ...gasp... then there wont be any confusion... also how about we ask to have some input into the SOP´s so that they actually reflect what we do in the field...shock...and now for the big one.... how about we only open group bases in times of increased radio activity and use the existing comcen for all "minor" jobs with the same codes or whatever we decide for all SafeCom emergency services....

I know i know too utopian for us plus what would we (the 1010 members of this group) bleat about then 

PS im in germany for a year working for the BF Hamburg so if anyone would like to know more about how things work over here start a question thread re: fire services in Hamburg.

cheers
Rainer

I think those handsome devils went down there without telling anyone not the CFS or the VFBA and the intent was to let the pollies know that their actions are being watched closely by volunteers at grass roots level.."where the rubber meets the road"

Just make sure that if we have to go down there and show some backbone dont let your fellow volunteers down by saying "oh no the govt will get angry at us" and not showing up... Lofty Group is committed to making a difference!!

I actually didnt want to say this but it captures the mood quite well   ..."United we stand...."

cheers
R

Because full time firies in the CFS would undoubtedly be UFU members and be paid to the SAMFS award which would mean that a firefighter/ senior firefighter on station would earn more than the regional staff which is kind of funny considering that the regional staff would technically outrank on shift firies

does anyone think if theres a actually protest outside " the house" the powers to be in CFS mite look not to favourably on this? i just cant help to wonder if we did sumthin like this it may backfire for individuals or brigades?

What are they going to do ...Sack you?...cut your pay?...

Hi All,

Can I just lay a few issues to rest..

1> Sturt and Lofty didnt go all rogue to the Sunday Mail..In fact we were both contacted by the Sunday Mail for comment following buy "budgets" post and both declined to comment pending seeking advice from our nominated representatives, namely the CFSVA.

At a subsequent meeting with Wendy, Ken Schutz and Wayne Thorley we were given the all clear to proceed with a media release using the replacement of vehicles as the "hook" to engage the public and present other issues as well such as buildings,training,pagers,staff shortages. etc etc.

In fact we were encouraged by the CFSVA to go public and their supporting comments should show that.

Unfortunately the coverage in the Mail was poor and clearly Mcleod's 313 games are more important to the editor of the Mail than CFS issues...As far as facts , we supplied a ream of material however this was badly interpreted and presented.

Anyway thats that and the Media didn run it as much as we had hoped.

What I would like to let the 790 odd members of this forum to know is that despite the shortcomings in the story we were trying to get the ball rolling on CFS issues statewide and not limit it to Lofty or Sturt groups but again it wasnt to be.

What I find disappointing is comments from the west coast that we dont need more money when clearly there is some dissent on this subject from people within you own group Mark.
We need to present a united front like when Ceduna got a special crew cab appliance with red and blue beacons to carry a crew in comfort for long distances and slow truckies down on the Highway (beacons) when the rest of the CFS were issued with single cabs and red beacons only... Oh yes I have a memory like an elephant and I remember the support you got from other regions and groups.

The CFS management are on government contracts and are expected to toe the Govt line or else (not have your contract renewed) or (so you want to be chief one day do you??) and I dont expect anything more from them ...in fact scheiße , Id be toeing the line too after all this is pays my mortgage ...

We need to shift the blame to the Government and hit them where it hurts , votes and public shaming.

If we dont present a single viewpoint they will always divide us and set us against each other.

With this in mind how many of the 790 of you are prepared to fight for the cause even if it has no immediate effect on you or you dont agree with it?

I suppose you have a solution in mind? Maybe we could form a working party or sub-committee to look at the "issues" and present a report that will get ignored because we dont have any money to deal with the issues.

PS I heard the other day that after 2 years of progressing through various working groups and committees the concept of carbon fibre cylinders was endorsed by COAC but because each cylinder costs $20 more than the old ones the process has been stalled because "we need to do a comprehensive business plan prior to implementation to cover the expenditure."

Give me a break.

Facts (and I can only speak on behalf of my own group)

Lofty covers 650 SQ KM of area (most of it high risk peri urban)
over 16000 residents
average of 1100 calls per year
23 frontline FF appliances
8 Stations (1 over 300 CPY, 2 over 150 CPY, 1 over 100 CPY, 4 over 30 CPY)
250 (approx) volunteers.

And as a matter of interest

4% of the CFS brigades in the state (around 20 brigades) account for 94% of the responses.

Now im not having a crack at those less busy but surely you agree that these brigades should be adequately funded.

I encourge you all to freeze your community fundraising accounts for one financial year stop your groups penny pinching and demand the CFS to pay for what your brigades are rightly entitled to...Then and only then will CFS management realise that it actually costs a  hell of a lot more than they realise.

STOP PROPPING UP THE SYSTEM.........

When and if the drive down to parliament house happens I expect you all to be there ...thats 790 volunteers + appliances ....should make a significant impact

Mr moderator perhaps you could start a poll on that and see how committed we all are.

Cheers guys,

Rainer

PS give me a call if you want to discuss (Lofty GO)

Ciao

Is it such a huge problem that an incorrect response was made, yet Mt. Barker, as the correct rescue resource was turned out manually 19 seconds after the page to Stirling, and turned out by MFS 4 minutes later?

The problem was solved, and in a very timely fashion. Yes things could have been better, but at the end of the day, when things are flat out in comms, things can go awry. (Well, only in SAMFS, as they apparently never ever did when the SACFS heroes ran everything out of SOCC )

How can we criticize the people in comms one day about their lack of initiative and the fact they should be using local knowledge, but the next day we smash them for not following BOMS?

Grow up ladies and gents...

hear hear ...

Lateness due to the fact that this is the first of this type of appliance built and we were of the opinion that if weve waited this long (26 years) for a new appliance its worth getting it right...

We were up there today and it looks a million dollars im sure one of the boys will put photos up soon..
At this stage all going well (fingers crossed we will pick up Wed next week back in Adelaide on the weekend. ..I hope.

Cheers
Rainer

6739264 may I ask which brigade/group/paid fireservice/SES unit you belong to?