Help Me, your suggestion regarding closing the metro interface CFS brigades makes sound business sense, however you have been unfairly attacked because many volunteers only look at issues through "emotion".
In the last 20 years the city has encroached into the country and brigades like Salisbury, Dalkeith, Tea Tree Gully, Athelstone, Burnside, Happy Valley, Morphett Vale and Seaford are now located in "the city".
Their response areas have dramatically reduced and in most cases are surrounded by MFS fire stations. Then they complain when they respond with MFS only to arrive when the job is over...Hello....isn't this telling the CFS something, that paid fire fighters located at the fire station will always respond faster than volunteers who have to leave their jobs etc and drive to their fire station?
Then CFS members complain they are responded to "crap" jobs !!! In any fire service there are never any "crap" jobs because all jobs have the potential to be life threats..People who complain about "crap" jobs need to consider if they should belong in a fire service.
Finally these urban brigades were orginally left in place to protect the urban interface...conservation parks etc. However DENR and SA Water now have highly trained, more experienced, paid firefighters that perform this role today.
The fire fighting world has changed in South Australia yet no one is willing to "bite the bullet" and close these urban brigades.. in the meantime they take large amounts of the CFS budget away from the other 350 or so other "Country" Fire Service brigades.
Yes Help Me you are on the money with your view point.