SA Firefighter

Yep, the UBCD369XT works quite well on the GRN.

Freescan is a handy way to program it. I pretty quickly created a new file for local GRN coverage and over-wrote the preloaded data. A little bit of playing around to get offsets and so on correct was all that was required.

I'm happy to send you the freescan file if you would like. You'll need to change the talkgroups and local tower frequencies, but it'll tell you the setup info which does work.

I haven't any experience with that radio, but I have got a 3300xlt working without a discriminator tap.

It took a bit of stuffing about with the volumes to get pdw working happily - both radio output and computer input.

pdw seems to like a strong, clear feed from the radio with no distortion from high volume, and radio location to ensure a clear signal also impacted my setup.

I think I got it all plugged in, then spent some time working through the full volume range of the radio. When garbled text started appearing on the screen, I could fine tune the volume adjustment.

For memory there are test pages sent every minute or 30secs, so you have a fairly constant stream to let you tune the system.

Our group has an ops/support brigade.

They man the comms centre for all but the most basic calls and handle logistics & support for incidents.

Quote from: Mike on October 06, 2008, 04:20:38 PM
The only way to black out a fire is to get off the truck.

Unless of course there's nothing left to turn, move, scratch, itch, or trip over. Picture a bit of sandy country, the whispy grass has been burnt to nothing and there's not so much as a cow turd smouldering within 20m of the former fireline, and I reckon you can do if from the crew deck.

However, if there is a chance of a root, stick, vegetation, bug, etc then it most certainly requires proper attention from the rakehoe/boot.

Bugger me . . . . a relatively benign question doesn't take long to turn in to a bitch session, does it??

Another point to highlight the fact that you can't have a 'one design suits all' approach. By the same token, custom designing a truck for each brigade & their needs would be pretty inefficient too. Finding a balance between the two extremes would be pretty challenging.

Ideally you have three crew on the deck. One on each side, and a third to go where the work is (plus keep an eye on pump pressure, tank level & handle comms with the driver/OIC).

In some instances you're working on one side of the truck for some distance, say if the fire has a good head in open grass land and you're just working the flank. In that instance only two crew are really needed, as described by Cam above.

Other times you're needing to work on both sides of the truck. For instance, a fire is coming out of scrub into grassland. When you start chasing fingers and small spot fires, you can be forever alternating from side to side. Having an extra person to go where the work is needed can make quite a difference.

It is surprising how often that third person is used.

Quote from: KDOO_BTO on September 28, 2008, 07:11:51 PM
I know of several occasions where private units in the WRG have been first on the scene and had fires not only contained but extingused before the CFS crews arrive. Groups need to recognise private units, as they can be a great help.

No argument here Danny. Unfortunately our GOs aren't all that interested in building relationships with farmers. Fortunately a lot of groups are on good working terms, though it does seem that Pt Mac, Mt Gambier & Wattle Range don't seem to have as many farm units as the likes of Tatiara.

Quote from: 2468 on September 28, 2008, 10:40:40 AM
who handles that? the group of state?

State obviously handles vehicle registration, but they'd only care about it's clasification as a MR/HR vehicle, not whether it's a fire truck.

It would be up to the group as to whether or not they 'register' farm units. Some groups apparently do this before the fire season. Our group doesn't pay too much attention to farm units - farmers just rock up to a fire if they live near the incident.

Bill, you're drawing a long bow to suggest one SES crew's low number of RCR people is a statewide issue that should have been addressed by the state body.

Maybe combining CFS & SES in that town would fix the problem, but by the same token if say the CFS folk wanted to do RCR etc, wouldn't they have already joined the SES?

I imagine anyone responsible for ensuring the brigade's turnout would be interested in this sort of thing. It can be a tense few moments standing by the truck wondering if any more people are going to turn up.

Am I right in assuming that pagers no longer exist in this scenario - we just get a phone call?
Upside = ability for feedback (as you pointout)
Downside = I have my pager on me semi-permanenently (bedside table, in pocket on silent in meetings etc) so I know when it goes off something's up. I don't sleep with my phone, and I ignore it during meetings, dinner/when out etc, so I'd probably miss calls. 
But that's just me!!

I like the principle because I'm often the one wondering if more crew are going to turn up. I'm just not sure how many of our crew would take to it. Like most things, I guess if you introduce a new system, people will adapt.

Quote from: Alan (Big Al) on September 01, 2008, 04:40:09 PM
Perhaps a personal message would be a little more appropriate for that kind of post

True, though it does make it clear that the saga is not as simple as Robert portrays. I have a sneaking suspicion too, that a personal message would be like water off a duck's back.



How bored we must all be for this topic to get to its third page!!!

Quote from: Robert-Robert34 on August 29, 2008, 08:05:51 PM
Only time will tell 6739264 but personally i think its going to be a rather bad season as spring is gonna be rather warmer than average plus the really cold nights we had during winter would have surely set the grass up to dry off quickly 

Robert, once again your logic has done a masterful job of avoiding me.


I know a particular DGO who is no doubt making sacrifices to Vulcan, in the hope of a good fire season (just one of two decent fires would keep him happy).

It's just these pesky forestry companies with their towers, spotters & bombers that catch fires before they've got a chance to get going.
(I will now remove my tongue from its cheek)

Quote from: bill - Hynam CFS on August 28, 2008, 06:59:02 PM
So Katrina where is the old 34 going to??

The group would like to pass it on to Maaoupe, but no doubt its new home will be at the whim of someone in I&L.

The departing truck is a hazmat unit. There seems to be some question as to whether the new one will have room for forestry gear & hazmat too. We might have to invest in a couple of plastic tubs for the hazmat gear, and remember to grab them for the bi-annual hazmat jobs!

There's nothing wrong with the present truck - it's a good appliance, so it's a wonderful luxury to be getting a new one. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

We couldn't find any stowage lists for our trucks, so started by getting one group to pull everything out of the lockers on one side of the truck and document it.

That group would swap with a group who'd done the same on the other side, and check off items as they were repacked.

Someone had already taken photos of the packed lockers, laminated them and stuck them to the inside of the locker door which helped.

This proved to be a good way to teach new (and remind old) crew where things are stored.
By having an older hand floating about, they could explain what items were used for.

I would like to document a few more training sessions so that successful and productive sessions can be run by someone else later. If anyone has any they would be willing to share, I'd be grateful!!!

I've made a start, but am not very good at putting things is a succinct and clear format on paper. More practise required I guess. I could also benefit from some more ideas for training sessions (so again, any suggestions would be great!).

Quote from: 029 on August 06, 2008, 09:40:07 PM
SES have decided that we should have truck mounted RCR pumps but only have 2wd trucks we are lucky that most roads around here hold up ok in the rain but some roads dont also country roads have paddocks along the sides cars tend to end up out in them if its wet and boggy we cant get out there in the truck.

A friendly suggestion 029 - try using some punctuation! Fullstops and commas in appropriate places wouldn't go astray mate. Your posts can be a bit of a challenge to read.


Do you get plenty of hose with the mounted pumps? I can see it being handy for most jobs (not having to lug the pump about), but a pain on the odd occasion.

Congratulations Captain Cam!

It's great to see a young & enthusiastic person willing & keen to take on the job of captain.

Good luck Cam!



(And good luck to any people taking on new appointments this year!!)

Quote from: bittenyakka on July 29, 2008, 09:30:10 PM
where can we get screening/copy?

Received by post from CFSVA this week, sent to our admin officer with the latest newsletter.

Part B of the question might be 'is there anything region/hq can actually do?'

Is it simply up to the captains and leaders (if any) in those struggling brigades?  (including mine)

We have >20 people on the books, but only a small handful of truely active.
Is it the captain's responsiblilty to keep ringing/staying in touch with all members and encouraging them? What else should they do?
Continued appeals to the community don't yield much. Do you target people to approach, and if so how do you figure out who (which type of person) to approach?

Sure, it's important to provide a welcoming & encouraging brigade, but if you feel that's being done and it's still hard to motivate crew, what further things should be done?

(Someone will say 'get the inactive ones off your books', which is quite appropriate, but there aren't people lining up to join & we'd rather try and get them active again.)

I'm looking forward to the (constructive) responses to this thread!

Quote from: JC on July 13, 2008, 08:52:45 PM
I cant believe there sending that DH. :roll:

They asked for an expert in controlled burns.

Doesn't take long for the slinging match to start, does it?

If it's outside the fire season, suggest they grow up and return to station

There are some new (to me!) pagers floating about our group comms department.

Are the grn pagers changing?
They may be the orange pagers referred to in other threads (Link brand, I think).

Quote from: Jason  Carroll on April 18, 2008, 06:33:54 AM
FRED WILKEY HAS ISSUED A PERMIT TO BURN A DEAD COW TO ROSS HEDGES AT ROSINA RD KENTON VALLEY BETWEEN 1500 AND 2000 TODAY - ROSINA RD IS OFF LIHOU RD CFS Gumeracha Group Info :?

It's code for "BBQ at Ross's tonight".

Quote from: Hicksflat14 on April 09, 2008, 03:15:21 PM
Actually if it's done by the book it should not be spent as they wish as snr1 suggests. Since Angaston have used the "CFS" name (look at Venue Tix ) to promote this fundraising event, they have to give all the money raised back to the state whether they know it or not.

. . . . which is why 'the book' is sometimes used to prop a door open, and judiciously ignored.