Brigade Paging

[HQ OPS Member]

Hi all, my name is Dave, im a member of the kinda newish brigade "state operations support brigade".

i have being discussing the issue of paging with the brigade for some months now and am looking for some feedback for you all.

we are a unique brigade - we dont respond to fires, we dont have a appliances except for a dodgy spare 4WD which we can use when its not been borrowed.

we respond when the Deputy State Co-ordinator wants CFS to take the bushfire hotline back from MFS.
we have one member who does some work with the Helicopters where ever they end up, .we will be doing things shortly like planning, forming as a IMT, planning, logistics all the soft of stuff.


what i need your thoughts on is this.

we have all been isssued with pagers which we recieve the occasional info message letting us know about meeting etc etc. i have requested that we recieve the weather info, level of preparedness messages so that we are informed of when things happen so that our brigade can respond quicker and be ready instead of getting a page out of the blue wanting people to come in quick.

currently we struggle to get people to come is as everyone is already committed doing there other work.

what are your thoughts

Dave

[David]

we have all been isssued with pagers which we recieve the occasional info message letting us know about meeting etc etc. i have requested that we recieve the weather info, level of preparedness messages so that we are informed of when things happen so that our brigade can respond quicker and be ready instead of getting a page out of the blue wanting people to come in quick.


Dave

As the saying goes welcome to our world 

But I wouldn't want all the messages re weather, level of preparedness etc maybe as a state ops brigade you just need to be be informed of any incident that is escalating or has the potential to.  The other option is to get yourselves included into any page that goes out from any region requesting IMT support, that should cover the above point too.
Lets hope we don't need you all that often thou

Cheers

[Darius]

good luck!  I have been trying for years to get a system where you can receive extra info pages if you wish (we can all read them on the web anyway, what is the harm in creating an extra "incident info" paging group and allowing anyone to sign up for it?).  Unfortunately it relies on HQ to implement.  My group gave up and implemented our own system.  You are in a slightly different position however being you are "HQ support".

[bajdas]

Welcome to the difficult world of comms/ops. We are needed when the worst happens, but otherwise get ignored.

Hopefully AIIMS will provide some interesting jobs for you...our SES Unit is changing & we will be informed of the future tonight (but I have heard that before so it might be another carrot of something to come in the future rather than specifics  )

I have manned the CFS Hotline previously has a SES volunteer while our Unit worked from the CFS SCC. Interesting telephone calls.. We are now in the MFS building.

Some volunteers hate the pager info messages to the extent they have now stopped. They prefer to respond to a specific tasking & not be warned.

So I use the internet to keep myself informed of what is happening & what the potential is. Then when (if) I answer my first telephone call I can at least give some sort of reasonable answer to the public.

[SA Firey]

Who needs extra paging when we have such a wonderful pager site...tells us all we need to know

HEADS UP

[HQ OPS Member]

last time i discussed the online paging system with a certain communications staff  member i got shot down very quickly with the beaurocrattic crap if u know what i mean
our brigade is diffrent to other brigades even regional ops brigades but still we hit a brick wall.

THANKS for all ur comments if anyone has anymore feel free to post

dave

[6739264]

I would have thought the logical (yes I know, don't start) thing for an OPS brigade to receive on their pagers, would be exactly what you have asked for. Weather, Fire bans, and state preparadness level all contribute to your brigades preplanning and help you to have an overall picture of whats going on.

As I said, that would be the logical thing, so in other words, it won't happen. Ever.

[HQ OPS Member]

why should we put up with this ? why should we accept that its never going to happen ? would the benefits of keeping our brigade and other brigades completely informed be better than what we have now, struggling to get people to attend ?

[OMGWTF]

Dave,

you have made it extremely obvious who you are, and your username gives the appearance that you represent the entire brigade...

i would be extremely careful as to what i was saying if i was you....

anyway just a friendly word of advice, take it or leave it mate

[HQ OPS Member]

this forum encourages open discussion on issues the affect CFS members and members of other emergency services.

i dont represent the brigade - i wouldnt want to its too much of a job for me to handle. im just asking for something so basic and so easy to be done that outcomes would be enormous if i was listened to .....

[Red Message]

We are all entitled to our own opinions. Who cares what service we are a part of, or where abouts in that service we stand. Its sad that things people say on these boards can and will be taken and acted upon in the real world.

How can we encourage free speech and discussion when you have people effectively telling others to shut their mouths.

[6739264]

why should we put up with this ? why should we accept that its never going to happen ? would the benefits of keeping our brigade and other brigades completely informed be better than what we have now, struggling to get people to attend ?

We put up with it because logic is NEVER applied in the fire service. Its just the way it is.

You're right though, a better informed brigade, especially yours, would do wonders to help your cause.

Why not a SACFS Intranet setup where the information is freely accessible to those in the organisation (ofcourse with differing levels of access) so that if you want to know you can find out, but if you don't care, you don't get hit with pager messages 24/7.

[OMGWTF]

I think you have interpreted my message the wrong way...
I was in no way saying you shouldnt discuss this issue, i was simply giving you some friendly advice not to bag staff members after making it obvious that you are Dave from the State Ops brigade...... but.... D'uuuuhhhh......

[rescue5271]

Welcome,if you guys are ment to help those at SHQ then you should get the messages that you guys feel will help you mann the phones or be part of IMT...Its called letting the troops know what is going on and its called pre planning....

[Darius]

Why not a SACFS Intranet setup where the information is freely accessible to those in the organisation (ofcourse with differing levels of access) so that if you want to know you can find out, but if you don't care, you don't get hit with pager messages 24/7.

all the info is already on the intranet, incident info in crimson and there is even a web paging feed on the intranet - but this requires you to be sitting in front of a computer constantly watching it.  There was supposed to be a plan for groups/brigades to access the CFS intranet in a restricted fashion, it seems to be taking a long time to happen.

[bajdas]

There was supposed to be a plan for groups/brigades to access the CFS intranet in a restricted fashion, it seems to be taking a long time to happen.

I understand the Content Management System has been purchased and is under going or completed testing. It is a long process to determine the access rights for a lot of information on a large computer system.

[uniden]

There are some strict rules allowing volunteers access to government sites apparently too. CFS are developing a way for stations to be able to have similar access through some kind of portal to it I believe.