Advertiser Article 06 Nov - Black Saturday Sparks CFS Recruiting Surge

[crashndash]

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,26310831-2682,00.html

We are a victim of our own stupidity sometimes. Why do our paid media staff and leadership waste an angle (the surge in numbers) that might have some sway given the upcoming weather.....talking about 000 enhanced pager systems....ffs..... Oh yeah....and all our brave and erstwhile volunteer really wants to be is an MFS firefighter. Oh and yeah....the training is full on and intense....2 and a half days...wow....different to every BFF1 I've ever attended, mostly the only struggle there is against falling asleep. Of course our recruit commits 30 hrs a week to CFS, which is admirable of course, but I wonder how many of the public who were thinking anout maybe joining went, well I cant do that so I wont bother. Totally the wrong picture to portray. I highly doubt most of this crap came from the person concerned, more likely the scripted media release. Do they have any clue whatsoever??

Maybe we could point out said new recruit, working in a Brigade with some of the higher callout numbers going around (and lets not get into a pissing contest about callout numbers) is STILL working from a tinshed....

[safireservice]

Maybe we could point out said new recruit, working in a Brigade with some of the higher callout numbers going around (and lets not get into a filtered contest about callout numbers) is STILL working from a tinshed....

Looking at the Promo site the station doesnt appear to be a tin shed?

[Firey9119]

Looking at the Promo site the station doesnt appear to be a tin shed?
[/quote]

it not a tin shed, the photo was taken in our change area which has a tin wall for privicy

[pumprescue]

Did you ever think maybe said brigade isn't needed, and only does 400 something stop calls from MFS, what a frustrating station to be involved with...."321 from SO BLAH BLAH INC 69, K66, CFS not required"..........I was also impressed with "I live 8 mins away in Elizabeth Park so I RACE to the station"...............

Also I think this gloss is kind of a media spin, the urban CFS brigades have always recruited fairly well, still doesn't help these stations in the country areas that are struggling big time....gotta love a media spin.

[Baxter]

Recuiting is easy get them through the door, make them feel welcome and then the problem comes that of retaining them. This maybe not so much of problem for the urban brigades but for the typical bushfire brigade it can be a bit problematic. Service trinkets are fine but maybe we shouldbe investing in other ways that volunteers can be apprecated and rewarded. Some times the organization is at odds with what would make good volunteer practice.

[crashndash]

Looking at the Promo site the station doesnt appear to be a tin shed?

it not a tin shed, the photo was taken in our change area which has a tin wall for privicy
[/quote]
no worries, I've never been to Salisbury so I was looking at the picture like the public would....what do i see.....tin shed behind our heroes with various arrays of PPE (and drink bottles everywhere - could have at least tidied up  )

[uniden]

Did you ever think maybe said brigade isn't needed, and only does 400 something stop calls from MFS, what a frustrating station to be involved with...."321 from SO BLAH BLAH INC 69, K66, CFS not required"..........I was also impressed with "I live 8 mins away in Elizabeth Park so I RACE to the station"...............

Also I think this gloss is kind of a media spin, the urban CFS brigades have always recruited fairly well, still doesn't help these stations in the country areas that are struggling big time....gotta love a media spin.

What a pathetic comment to make. Urban brigades provide support through EMA and COQ etc.Its amazing how many people on this site cant support others within their own service..

[boredmatrix]

recruiting surge = inexperienced bums on seats?

[Robert-Robert34]

[quoteRecuiting is easy get them through the door, make them feel welcome and then the problem comes that of retaining them. This maybe not so much of problem for the urban brigades but for the typical bushfire brigade it can be a bit problematic. Service trinkets are fine but maybe we shouldbe investing in other ways that volunteers can be apprecated and rewarded. Some times the organization is at odds with what would make good volunteer practice.][/quote]

I agree with you malleefire on the fact that recruitment of volunteers to bushfire brigades can be problematic especially for brigades who are non rcr and only get like between 8-15 calls a year

[Darren]

Did you ever think maybe said brigade isn't needed, and only does 400 something stop calls from MFS, what a frustrating station to be involved with...."321 from SO BLAH BLAH INC 69, K66, CFS not required"..........I was also impressed with "I live 8 mins away in Elizabeth Park so I RACE to the station"...............

Also I think this gloss is kind of a media spin, the urban CFS brigades have always recruited fairly well, still doesn't help these stations in the country areas that are struggling big time....gotta love a media spin.

Pretty sure the article was about how many they have recruited, not how many stop calls salisbury get........most urban brigades go to 99% crap, but these are the brigades that make up the strike teams, without them CFS is in strife....

[BundyBear]

Did you ever think maybe said brigade isn't needed, and only does 400 something stop calls from MFS, what a frustrating station to be involved with...."321 from SO BLAH BLAH INC 69, K66, CFS not required"..........I was also impressed with "I live 8 mins away in Elizabeth Park so I RACE to the station"...............

Also I think this gloss is kind of a media spin, the urban CFS brigades have always recruited fairly well, still doesn't help these stations in the country areas that are struggling big time....gotta love a media spin.

Pretty sure the article was about how many they have recruited, not how many stop calls salisbury get........most urban brigades go to 99% crap, but these are the brigades that make up the strike teams, without them CFS is in strife....

Good to see most of you lot have no idea what you're talking about quoting what urban fringe brigades go to and not. Having been at 2 urban fringe brigades over the years and a rural brigade. When urban fringe brigades get stop calls it is due to the first arriving appliance not requiring any additional assistance so they are generally not just stopping CFS but MFS as well and a lot of the time CFS has been responded as rescue and no extraction is required. Don't you put stop's through in the country when neighbouring bridages are not required?

Plus these urban fringe brigades back up MFS for EMA and COQ and respond into other CFS group area's assisting them and a lot of the time arrive to those incidents quicker as they can get out of their station quicker.

Also as stated they generally get strike teams together quicker and usually can supply 1 or 2 fire fighters after that fact for composite strike teams.

As for the arguement why is Salisbury still there in between two MFS stations you could argue that about a lot of urban fringe CFS stations. Why are there MFS retained stations in areas that do less calls than these stated urban fringe brigades? Why do we have CFS brigades that are lucky to do 50-60 calls a year not far from bridages that do 200+ that could just absorb there responsibillty with the same response time?

[Alan J]

recruiting surge = inexperienced bums on seats?

Inexperience is more easily cured than no bums on seats....

Still waiting for our surge though.
Several phone calls, mostly from well out-of-area.
Only one of the useable callers actually fronted up to the station as invited.
Conclusion: not that much additional interest...