Murray bridge SES

[chook]

Isn't it amasing what a little internal politics can do to a unit/brigade? And some people who have a big ego or think they can run a unit better? Just a small group of disgruntled individuals almost destroyed that unit. And my understanding of the situation at the time, it wasn't the SES that was the fly in the ointment re: dual response  other things:wink:
Back to Murraybridge a great unit & I was sadden to hear of their potential demise - I am glad it was just rumour & possible empire building (again).
Finally when are you guys going to be happy with what you have? Every time I come on here its another round of "lets get rid of the SES".Halfarsed rumours & accusations & other bollocks! For filtered sake! do you really think you would benefit at all? No of course not! The organisation would still exist to satisfy disaster requirements - just like it does in every other state & any money saved would go into general revenue not CFS coffers. And all up its only worth a few million anyway - not enough to buy every brigade new appliances & buildings to rival SAMFS! Maybe the government should start looking at where all of the money actually goes in CFS & a different funding model that makes towns and councils a bit more accountable. Anyway thats all I've got & again I'm glad to MB is still active

[jason]

Isn't it amasing what a little internal politics can do to a unit/brigade? And some people who have a big ego or think they can run a unit better? Just a small group of disgruntled individuals almost destroyed that unit. And my understanding of the situation at the time, it wasn't the SES that was the fly in the ointment re: dual response  other things:wink:
Back to Murraybridge a great unit & I was sadden to hear of their potential demise - I am glad it was just rumour & possible empire building (again).
Finally when are you guys going to be happy with what you have? Every time I come on here its another round of "lets get rid of the SES".Halfarsed rumours & accusations & other bollocks! For filtered sake! do you really think you would benefit at all? No of course not! The organisation would still exist to satisfy disaster requirements - just like it does in every other state & any money saved would go into general revenue not CFS coffers. And all up its only worth a few million anyway - not enough to buy every brigade new appliances & buildings to rival SAMFS! Maybe the government should start looking at where all of the money actually goes in CFS & a different funding model that makes towns and councils a bit more accountable. Anyway thats all I've got & again I'm glad to MB is still active

Lol... chook get ya hand off it and go sharpen your chainsaw. RIP MB SES

[Andrew K]

well said chook,

the bit i find really funny is you hear all these cfs and some mfs guys wanting to get rid of ses or take there response areas and tasks, were as i don't see many ses guys hoping cfs units shut down.

the way i see it is we are all supposed to be serving the community whatever service we are with, and we should be working together to achieve it not going on with politcal bitchfights.

[Darren]

I lost my respect for the SES when I was involved in the CFS in Mt Barker in the 80's, they started an SES that wasn't supported by the council, the council told them we fund the CFS for this role we won't fund you, the SES got no funding, then had the gall to whinge in the local paper. The council said time and time again we have the CFS for this we don't need another service.

Here we are all these years later and they are still flogging that dead horse!!

You will always need the fire brigade.

[Benji]

Well things have changed a lot since the 80's & even the 90's. Yes we agree there was some real scheiße that went on back then, but the unit has changed a lot. Sure there is still the odd issue, but who doesn’t & they are no where near the size they used to be. For example our relationship with Heysen group as a whole has improved a remarkable lot over the last year or so whilst 'under new management', as have a number of other supposed issues with the unit. At unit level at least, the dead horses have gone.

If you are ever in the area, give us a call and come drop in one night (we train Tuesdays).

[chook]

Thanks for the invite - not sure if I will ever be able to take you up on it though
Sorry Jason - I don't use chainsaws any more - others do that for me (we tend to use RFS for that). AS for the hand off it comment - well whatever. Yep things have moved on heaps, maybe for the better - maybe not! And quite right Andrew only ever heard of an SES unit wanting to take over a CFS role once - and that was a joke after a local group officer said he was going to take RCR off the said unit! We were going to buy a bigarse appliance just to prove a point! (And the unit could afford it too ). A lot of the internal problems are the lack of "people management" skills, it is a real pity the neither service (SES/CFS) bothers to train its vollie managers how to manage its most important asset. If they did a lot off the problems which plague units/brigades would be nipped in the bud! And for you CFS types your world is not perfect either - so as I said earlier you need to look at yourselves before commenting on other services! Past behaviour of some of your members was less than ideal & if they were in my unit would have scored them an official warning for breaches of the code of conduct (do you guys remember that document?) Anyway enough said bye4now

[crashndash]

an official warning for breaches of the code of conduct

oooerr ...shaking in my boots.....

[Andrew K]

Darren attitudes like that gripping about something that happened 20 years ago is what keeps all the sniping, whinging and moaning going.  the ses did this 20 years go for gods sake let it lie. if thats one unit you've got a problem with don't think the rest of the serivce is like that.

as for always needing firies well i'd like to see you keeping up with our workload during the storms with only 1 truck on the road when we've got 3 going, good luck there or funny thing is who do you leave to do all the shoring at a building impact?

if you want to go on about the quality of the vollies i've seen plenty of numpties in the cfs as well as the ses and a few in mfs a well so we've all got them,

how about you come down to our unit at some stage and say hello, you might see that the ses units are anything like mt barker 2o years ago

[Darren]

  I never said we can't have all of them, I was just making a point about the way some of these things are done, like adding another service to a town that doesn't want or need it.

By the way, we had our 3 trucks out on a storm day as well. Most jobs were left to the council.

[chook]

I gather Crash you work in the public sector - say what you like & can't be sac ked The point I was trying to make is if you want a truly professional service then if rules are broken the there should be repercussions, & a mature attitude to all of the emergency services by all instead of this constant sniping - as some of those who I used to manage found out! And the only reason in the old days some councils went down that path was a)cost & b)special interests - just like an ex - emergency service minister a few years ago
It was misguided & now other towns have to cover when it all turns to crap! And if you think I'm talking scheiße then you haven't been around too long Theres a lot more to storm & flood than you might think! And then there is disaster management as well, so while some of you will bitchnwhinge until the cows come home - guess what? it won't change SES will be around for a while yet cheers

[crashndash]

I gather Crash you work in the public sector - say what you like & can't be sac ked The point I was trying to make is if you want a truly professional service then if rules are broken the there should be repercussions, & a mature attitude to all of the emergency services by all instead of this constant sniping - as some of those who I used to manage found out! And the only reason in the old days some councils went down that path was a)cost & b)special interests - just like an ex - emergency service minister a few years ago
It was misguided & now other towns have to cover when it all turns to crap! And if you think I'm talking filtered then you haven't been around too long Theres a lot more to storm & flood than you might think! And then there is disaster management as well, so while some of you will bitchnwhinge until the cows come home - guess what? it won't change SES will be around for a while yet cheers

nope, just interested to see that someone who bangs on constantly about the need to manage volunteers better and how great it is done in other services or over the border would fall back on threatening someone with a bit of paper that frankly isnt worth jack.....if u have to charge someone then the Manager has lost the war, let alone the battle.

That paramilitary approach went out years ago....St John is a good example of how it inappropriate these days....but then much of the SES reminds me of St John.....

[chook]

No Crash - modern people management! Set expectations e.g. Code of Conduct,train people in those expectations - induction, monitor & if an individual behaves in a manner which is in breach of those expectations. ask the question why? Do they understand what is expected? Then in consultation with the individual develop a plan to prevent re-occurance e.g re-training, coaching, mentoring etc. Second breach - formal warning documented, then if there is a third? Show due cause! That is not the military way - I can speak from 12 years experience (extra duties, charges, confine to barracks etc). So why is the code a crock? Other organisations have rules that must be followed (we even have the thall shall not consume other companies beers at offical functions!) So if the code is scheiße, maybe because its never enforced - don't want to upset the vollies or people don't know how to! Point is most people actually like to know what is expected, where the boundries are & if there are breaches then people are treated fairly, equitably, transparently & consistantly. Finally yep I tend to share the good stuff I've learn't or have seen. It's about learning & growing - not sticking our heads in the sand or up our collectives arses cheers

[oz fire]

Doesnt appear that MBSES is closing at all - they have been extremely busy over the last week with a couple of serious RCR incidents.

Funny that people rumour closing of a servis rather than getting more people in to help. We all suffer from poor response numbers some times or hardships or challanges within our services, yet we dust our selves off, get back on our feet and serve our community ..... well at least that was and is one of my motivators for volunteering ....... filter slandering each other - we we need help, it is often the SES or MFS from neighbouring towns that happily support us and we of course readily return the favour!

[Bagyassfirey]

Doesnt appear that MBSES is closing at all - they have been extremely busy over the last week with a couple of serious RCR incidents.

Funny that people rumour closing of a servis rather than getting more people in to help. We all suffer from poor response numbers some times or hardships or challanges within our services, yet we dust our selves off, get back on our feet and serve our community ..... well at least that was and is one of my motivators for volunteering ....... filter slandering each other - we we need help, it is often the SES or MFS from neighbouring towns that happily support us and we of course readily return the favour!

FILTERED best post read on ere in months.. Touche buddy!!

[fly]

Hey Guys,

Hope you are you all? traveing well?
Im from the Murray Bridge SES, despite all the rumors we have not closed down and will not be. We had a sudden death of one of our unit members causing us to need to defult to MFS for a few days over the funeral.
We also had one of our "main" team members off due to an injury for three months.
As i hope you guys know "scheiße happens" we just have had a bad few weeks. But everything is going well now and the member that was off injured is now back to full duty which have made things easier.


Keep up ur good wrk guys

 

[chook]

Excellent to hear you guys are still supporting your community mate - sad to hear of your loss though. Had a lot of time for your unit managers both past & I think present (will contact Terry & find out) .Keep up the good work & all the best for the future!
cheers

[2468]

Well holy scheiße! Seems that the death by a thousand cuts by people on hearsay and rumours doesn't do shite to the MBSES... filtered good show guys! Keep up the good work

Btw Sorry for your loss

[fly]

Well holy filtered! Seems that the death by a thousand cuts by people on hearsay and rumours doesn't do shite to the MBSES... filtered good show guys! Keep up the good work

Btw Sorry for your loss

Thanks for the great comment mate. 

Were here to stay!

[bajdas]

10:05:14 09-02-10 MRB REMINDER PLEASE BE READY TO START TRAINING AT 18:30 IN FULL KIT AS WE HAVE MULTI-AGENCY RCR TRAINING TONIGHT. FROM UNIT MANAGER. SES Murray Bridge

It is great to see that at least the emergency services within the area are training together.