SA Firefighter

Quote from: 6739264 on June 08, 2010, 02:08:50 PM

Quote from: THE RANGER on June 08, 2010, 07:45:32 AM
Recently we attended a MVA, I spent 60 minutes, supporting the patients neck...

How do you support just the neck? Is it like an awesome choke hold?

I said neck not the throat, maybe a first aid course may help you understand :lol:, seriously I had some guidance from those SAAS dudes.

My point was to highlight the fact that the ATO, and other govt departments have no idea of what we actually do.

Recently we attended a MVA, I spent 60 minutes, supporting the patients neck,who definitely in a position of HELPLESSNES,reassuring him to lessen his DISTRESS, while our fellow CFS, members were removing the roof of the car, to remove the patient to lessen their SUFFERING, the combined effort of the SAAS & CFS, by carefully removing the patient using neck brace and backboard to reduce the chance of DISABILITY :?

And they say the CFS "did not relieve "poverty, sickness, suffering, distress, misfortune, disability or helplessness"

This can in part, be applied to nearly every call out, wether rescuing trapped animals,protecting assets, MVA

Again we didnt ask for the new 34, As for your comment....

Quote from: crashndash on May 27, 2010, 06:16:51 PM
wow....so a new truck so u could just have some fancy windscreen washers and a bunch of Halloween masks......plenty of brigades doing 10 times your calls would love that.

As Numbers says.....makes your brain hurt wondering why

I am sure my fellow fire fighters that have been in a burn over would refer to these added safty measures differently.  :-o

Thanks for your support :-P

Quote from: crashndash on May 19, 2010, 07:34:48 PM
so they average a slice over 13 calls a year....and they have a truck thats a couple of years old replaced with a brand spanker..... do you have a picture of someone in charge with a goat?

What an extraordinarily poor allocation of assets

UPDATE: First we never asked for a new 34, I was told it was a part of a replacment program, in addition a safty upgrade (halo bar, air etc).

Second, we haven't had our 24 for 5 weeks, its doing group duty repacment thing, so I hear.

Third our new 34 is out of service (tail shaft fault)

The result was RHF is off line.

PS. who ever gets our old 34, apart from the water level sensor, its a good truck :-D.

Alex, unless R1, has gone back on our agreement, yes we will still be geting a 14.

First - "Those Air tractor pilots are legends, thanks guys  :-D"

Why spend 30-40 M, on a single item, if something goes wrong you loose 100% of your fire cover, I agree with Zippy, use 50% on the Air Tractor (if something happend to one plane you still have 90%)in addition the Air Tractor is 50% faster, give the stated 3 min response, I know which option I hope responds to a fire in my area.

Spend the other 50% on appliances, training and equipment.

Thats the one, with a couple of minor mods, if we can get them :wink: :wink:

First I apologise if I am rehashing anther thread, I will go and read it SA Firey  :-D

Secondly Alex where do I get a copy of the Road Crash Rescue Directory ?

I agree with you as annoying as stop calls are, I like the proactive response rather than the catch up method.

:oops: OK, I see what you mean Firey, a damn good thread, will take a few hrs to read it,

cheers  :-D

UPDATE, we have decided to go for a 14,with 3 seats, this will help with response time should reduce it by 2-3 min, it also carries around 1600lts, 80% of the 24.  Also taking a 34 out everytime to cut a tree up is a bit of a overkill.

Please note this was not all just about the truck, but also keeping the membership up.

I question sometimes who makes the call :?, As you can by the message the SAAS GOT responded 8 min B4 anyone else, we rolled 9 min after our page, it took us 6 min to get there.  My question "Why the delay"

1924962 13:58:24 04-04-10 MV71 CatB Brookman Rd, Hope Forest SAAS Road Crash Research

1908891 14:06:56 04-04-10 MFS: *CFSRES INC042 04/04/10 14:06,RESPOND Vehicle Accident,CNR BRIDAL RD & BROOKMAN RD,HOPE FOREST MAP 0 0 0 TG132,2 CAR ACCIDENT, NO ENTRAPMENTS, 1 CAR BL,OCKING ENTIRE ROAD,MCMP19 RNGE00 CFS Mundoo Group Officers Response

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mmmmm well id assume a new BWC would be $100,000 + or could go buy a prime mover for the semi for between $30,000 - $50,000. All in All a good out come for the Brigade and in end a whole lot of WHOOOOO HAAAAA over not much  :-)

First - In defence of the CFS they buy new because reliability is critical
Second - Finding a brigade that can fit a 36" trailer and prime mover in their shed.
Third - Every group should have a tanker for a quick response, I feel sure your group has.

98% of the time we get on the truck, the only other people we see is fellow CFS members, at staging area, meal time or on the fire ground. I think as long as you brigade wear the same it works, you don't look like dad's army.

Yes have the star(because it stand for something)and logo if you want, as said there is no missing our trucks.

We went blue with yellow because its off the shelf, 100% cotton and low cost.

As this discussion shows by the time we decide what the majority want(others will want different), get the CFS to give it the tick, then to actually get them. Our current shirts will be dress up cloths for kids or rags and the next lot will be worn out.

P.S. I have seen some brigades at meal breaks all wearing the same shirts, their crews do stand out.

We are putting in an application for a QAV or TANKER we still need to go thru the application and put forward our reasons however considering our current group tanker is a semi with no truck, it a good chance it will be approved.

Further more with the number of vineyards and farm Forestry their also is an argument for a QAV.  However no chance of getting a 24 again  :-(.

In the mean time we have the good old 24, unless some damages their own, however that unlikely as Region 1 drivers are great operators. :-D We hope

Time will tell..

Fellow Firefighters, an update - first thanks to the members that offered support and useful comments - the ones that suggested we didn't deserve even a 24 or station if you find yourself in a similar situation don't come complain :wink: only kidding no hard feelings, we all whats best for our communities.

What happened - well we met with the region commander last night - after useful dialogue between a few of our officers -  brigade, group and region we came to a compromise.

For the time being the 24 remains however becomes a part of the regions pool, so we will look after it for all you in region 1, from time to time it may be called upon when some others brigade need to fill a hole - this happened before from time to time.  The good old 24 actually left for KI for a month or so at one time.

The past is history - time to move one "Note to self - make sure the AIRS are filled in it in our interest"

Constructive or not - it was good to get feedback from fellow firefighters (however you new who we were, we had no idea who you are, I feel sure one of the aliases could be region - because if I was in region I would watch this forum)keep the good work up.

If the Flying Doctors are the "Mantel of Safety" surely the CFS are the "Defenders of safety" because that's what we spent the last week doing for our comunity to ensure in the future we could provide them with quick reliable and sustainable fire cover.

It was fantastic to see even though we don't get the cartons of beer or donations we used to before the Emergency Services Levy - the community support was amazing.

Who know the good old RHF24 may help you out down the track - if you are lucky enough to be in Region 1.

So thanks to and for now this is the 'THE RANGER' signing off and hope to see you all again on the forum or if called to arms in the field. :-D

Quote from: crashndash on March 11, 2010, 05:13:26 AM
for 5 calls a year I'd be asking why you have a Brigade, station and appliance at all, let alone a second appliance

Brave call my fellow volunteer, keep in mind its capacity to respond, level of risk and location. What stats are you reading?

Further more how can you get stats when we find other brigades responded to our area and we are not even paged, believe me it happens in addition why doesn't SOP 2.1 apply in reality. OK ADMIN...off topic.

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You don't fill out AIRS reports for ALL your incidents?

Why not give us the real stats? ALL your calls?

You  seem to want to know allot, are you from region or something?

Again say region do get our truck... if you were Captian of your brigade who would you kick... your older, not so fast but experienced members or the younger longer term inexperienced members...?

I mean if I was in region I would ask why  are we supplying 25-30 sets of PPE and pagers to a single appliance station.

Mmm.. no wonder our police checks keep taking 12 months to come back, they have been holding our membership back by stealth..... :|

Actually the the stats relate to fire call outs only relate to fire  call outs only, not MVA or trees down. Further more its the total area we cover with the two appliances the response area - keep in mind this was the merger of two brigades thus the area relates to such.  The other thing is over 50% of the call outs are fire and unlike a lot of brigades we don't have the luxury of mains water.

The new station was a result of a merger of two brigades.  This is fairly common, to allow for extra members and appliances, actually you can blame us for the low cost colourbond option compared to the high cost brick option.

Keep in mind we are not asking for a new appliance we are just asking to keep STATUS QUO, I am sure any brigade would do the same for their community.  Anyhow their are many rural and rural/urban brigades which could be next.

Another point is if we are made a single appliance station - what do we do with the existing volunteers as 1 appliance = 15 to 19 members max. Who do we kick?



   

Yeah - your thoughts are being carried out as I type, however the comment

"When you get down to tin tacks, you are losing your second appliance because there is no money to buy one for the brigade which is getting yours."

Is possibly the actual reason however the reasons we have heard - its 1/ Deployment in a higher fire risk area or 2/ Added to the pool for a replacement vehicle.

You input is greatly appreciated, thanks :-)

SOME STATS

OF 68 call outs in the last 5 years RHF 24 has been responded 23 times, more importantly in the last 2 years we have had 14 call outs for fires of witch RHF 24 responded to 9 that over 60% of the time.  It also shows the need for increased protection as in some cases this is due to RHF 34 being tasked elsewhere.

The official response is "The Brigade meets standards for a 1 appliance station, and it will (the 24 appliance) be more valueable in a higher fire risk area" Lets see where this is.

Yes it was used by the Southern Training Centre - however remained badged RHF 24 NOT Southern Training Center, it was part of the condition of the two brigades accepting the agreement to merge.

If what you say is correct then the CFS has additional work to do - why isn't this brigade or their community saying any thing about it. 

Futher more our 34 is often part of a Strike team at times its away when we have fires in our area - lucky for us we have a crew and the 24 to fill this situation.

Quote from: Darius on March 09, 2010, 08:47:50 AM
and: what does the SFEC say for your brigade? (I know it's out of date etc but is a starting point at least)

Good point already on it, yes in the most basic form we do come under the single appliance guidelines however under section 2.4 "RURAL BRIGADE TYPE DESCRIPTION" there are exemptions and provisions for additional appliances may be provided if no mains water is available and or terrain ,rural threat or activity levels all theses apply.

Terrain - the elevations of 150m+ < 1000m
Rural Threat - Due to high levels of intensive Ag major tractor movements, slashers, gas guns.
Activity levels - as the suburbs move south - hoon driving has caused fire and increased threat of accident.

Also note the SFEC for Rural/Urban also states the Standard Appliance requirement of 1 (ONE)appliance.

No secret, the powers to be know about it now, it was on the channel 10 news today. As mentioned Range / Hope Forest, as the name suggests they have already merged two brigades in to one.

Quote "The term Rural Area has several definitions, however, in the context of CFS coverage area, can be defined as large areas of a country, outside a township boundary, often with low population, and may include areas of grasslands, bushland and crops".

Based on this 3 of the first 8 brigades I checked were rural all with 2 or more vehicles, this puts allot of brigades in the same position.

Completely rural - however explain how this is different to the land owners who have had fires on their properties this year, last year etc in one case 2 fires in the last 12 months . Keep in mind we are their in a second for our local towns, and strike team, why we always have a second crew and truck to cover our area.

Take away our redundancy and leave our property owners with no back up, that's forward planning.

Lets pull out the stats, don't use the South Australian Country Fire Service Promotions Unit stats, have no idea where they come from.

We realise the stats and graphs will be pulled out, we are ready. The official response re sending the 24 to a higher risk area..mmm let me see  a rural brigade, located on top of an escarpment(the same location the Ash Wednesday fires began), a pine forest, a conservation park, no mains water, 100+ ha of new farm Foresty and more on the way, can't wait to see their, higher risk area

Yep now the word is out... and the response well now its official.

We are destined to become a single truck station, so they start with us, which 2 truck rural brigade loses their truck next.

Watch this space, we will make sure we stick up for all rural brigades. :wink:

Great an election is looming - good timing to get some press - one side (of politics) offers 9M the others 13M.  Well lets see what happens when these pollies find out that while they are chasing brownie points to encourage new members the bureaucrats in the CFS want to take one of our trucks.

The thing is its over 12 years old - is in good condition and owes knowone anything (some diesel and a service now and then) and its damn reliable, something which is comforting considering its role. This is getting personal, and its only just begun.

Oh yeah I have heard it could be the activation of the minimum fire cover thing -you know "Rural Brigades on need one truck" - mmm, well I guess we don't need so many members that's easy.

I have tried my best and succeeded to get 2 new members others have brought in another 6 in the last 2 years, why  :?, it the rural brigades that have the members on tap 24 / 7 because we work where we live.

No offence intended to the town based brigades - we are all brothers (and sisters) in arms, we do what we do for our community not for fame or fortune.