SA Firefighter

Good on them for sorting that one out! Wonders whether it is just the SE that are getting them or all border brigades (eg Pinnaroo).

No different to the comms problems between CFS & SES who use the same GRN network but with different allocated frequencies/chipsets...... Been struggling to get that one fixed on a local level for years and finally M/B SES have had the CFS frequencies opened up on their GRN.

Came up at last nights R3 RVMC about the on-road performance. The update is that following some work on the suspension (the quote was it had the 'springs reset'), that the on road performance is much improved and those that have driven it are much happier with it now.

Good job as the list I saw showed 12-15 more of them about to be built.

Not as uncommon as you may think - many house owners report tingling from taps and showers which can be caused by bad earthing and copper pipes not cross-bonded. 
Of course it can also be something far more serious such as a broken cable/wire or electric tracking through a water leak etc - normally these would cause the trip to go but there are still plenty of houses out there with fuses rather then breakers which take a lot more to make them cut the circuit!

Not sure what if anything CFS/MFS/SES would do in this instance - hopefully just isolate the power at the fuse board and leave for a professional to investigate.

Isn't that one based on numbers of BA qualified crews - no point having the sets if you don't have the crew????

Not sure about that though but we have had to argue a couple of similar situations in Swanport Group brigades.......

18-06-13 16:45:56   LYND: *CFSRES: STATION OPEN FOR RCR INCINDENT 18-06-13 16:45 - CFS Lyndoch Response

Spelling check required - somebody send them a page to tell them??

(Incindent if anyone can't see it)

:-D

17:59:53 24-05-13 GRHL: very disappointing turn out to this mornings call out. 3 officers and a FF is not good enough, don't judge the job by the pager message, capt - CFS Greenhill Info

Had to snigger when I saw this - three guys arguing over who's in charge and one firefighter to do all the work......

However - isn't four a crew?????  Out here in the sticks four would be a good crew never mind complaining about not enough people??

That's what the prototype doing the rounds has, yes.

Am I serious - yes I am deadly serious.

I don't know what part of the state you chaps are from but where I am, we have farmhouses with driveways that take 10 minutes to get from the road to the house, never mind the travel from the fire shed to the gate.  We have trucks that carry 2 BA sets - even if you have got 2 operators, you can't send them in, who will back them up?

We have brigades that may not have been to a structure fire for many years (if ever), we have many trucks with no BA sets or operators even if they had the sets.

Isn't it a good idea to prepare them and give them some thinking material on what to do when they arrive even if it is in prep for following crews?

Or should we stick our head in the sand and think that all brigades will respond in a timely manner with 4 or 6 BA operators (and sets!)??

I don't see any suggestions in either of the posts in reply to mine - let's hear your ideas that's the whole point of a forum isn't it??????

Perhaps that person who's house might be alight at some point in the future should be thinking about rocking up to their local brigade and becoming a member so that there is a better chance of a truck getting out of the door?

Some rural brigades only have enough active members to fill one truck - what if they are already out on another call?  What if they have just got back from 12-hours on another job - would you want them to risk their fatigued body and mind by going to another job?

It is easy to take a single viewpoint and make a case that stands up but try looking outside the square.

As for sufficient BA - have you heard or seen of the new Defensive Fire Suppression course - even the system is recognising that it is more likely now that the first arriving appliance (whether the local brigade or not) will be unable to provide any useful service to the burning structure but may be able to protect surrounding assets etc.

Nobody wants to see a house burn down but neither are we always able to respond or turn out a crew from the local station and as I said in my original post, that's why we have systems to deal with that but it depends on how those systems are used.

Quote from: Bagyassfirey on March 15, 2013, 07:55:14 PM
15-03-13 21:18:32   TO ALL MEMBERS - VERY POOR TURNOUT BY BRIGADE MEMBERS TO THIS JEFFERIES JOB. IM NOT IMPRESSED. CAPT. - CFS Virginia Info

Nothing wrong with defaulting occasionally - that's why we have the systems we do to allow for it - just do it early, don't keep waiting another couple of minutes just in case someone else turns up.........

Then express your dissatisfaction at training or a brigade meeting NOT on the paging system!

While easy access to send a page is needed and greatly appreciated by most, any open system is open to abuse not just proper use. The ability to send them from phones and iPads etc just makes it worse as you can send something in the heat of the moment that will bite you later.

Have been some very very poor behaviour seen lately!

Some info on Preamimma fire (Monarto/Rockleigh area) in this weeks local Murray Bridge rag, see below:

http://www.murrayvalleystandard.com.au/story/1309483/murraylands-heats-up/?cs=1275

Main issue was the country (sheep country!), fire on both sides of deep and steep gully with the eastern side having blue stone/granite rock (razor sharp) making access really difficult.  Lots of old trees and wood which continued to burn over the weekend with several break outs with the mossy type ground cover on the south-western facing ground also giving issues where the wind would re-ignite areas that had been drowned hours before.

The gully winds made it more interesting also!

Everyone worked really hard including crews that came in from out of the area to assist (specifically mention our friends from Woodchester! and other crews from Lofty, Onka, Ridley and apols if I missed anyone).

Overall I think we did the right thing keeping crews there with the repeated breakouts and it took much consideration before we finally handed back to the landowner approx 21:00 last night.

Sad to hear about the fire near Cygnet River on KI which if the radio report this morning was corect was a flare up from a lightning strike from Friday which yesterday claimed a couple of sheds, a car and the local Telstra Exchange.

Jervois34 just left with a crew of 6. Travel today, two 12 hour day shifts and travel home Saturday.

I'd like to see a long wheelbase Iveco van carry 9 ton of water! :lol:

Not just about purchase cost, what about lifetime costs of service, tyres etc etc

What is the problem with multi-functional vehicles that get more use than having 5 vehicles sitting doing nothing for 99% of the time.

Hook pod system is used world wide and even though not perfect for every task what is really wrong with it?

"not my truck, so i dont care".....


Unfortunately there are those that also follow the philosophy that:

"it is our truck, so i don't care"....

You should also not ack if you are not in the brigades primary response area (not saying this was the case here) in case there are issues with the paging system.....

And what about the environmental impact of sending chlorinated water down a storm drain or into a paddock?  You could end up with an issue much bigger than the slab of beer you took for it!

But the east-west pump mounting means the truck is 300mm shorter which should make it better off road?

In my area, M/Bridge SES now have access on GRN to the CFS/MFS talk groups.

Still working on it but have seen it work on a number of occasions.

Only issue so far is that the GRN's that the SES have can only be changed channel one at a time (so it takes ages) rather than inputting the channel you want to go to like the CFS hand-helds.

We also now have access to the duty-officer mobile number to ease the comms difficulties.

Risk Assessment anyone????

Quote from: adizz131 on April 17, 2012, 03:00:11 PM
Can anyone shed any light on what this is???

17-04-12 13:44:19 MENG: UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS ANY MEMBER TO GIVE INFO REGARDING INCIDENT ON 22/11/2010 AT MENINGIE WEST. IF YOU NEED CLARIFICATION CONTACT CAPTAIN 0408087695. - CFS Meningie Info

Sorry but are you really serious????
You want to discuss on a public forum what the local members have just been asked not to discuss????

If you're that interested, give Adam a call on the number and ask him!!!!!

Never seen one, never used one, but have wondered on occasion how we could/should be recording the hours and hours of volunteers time clocked up on non-response type matters!

Will keep an eye on this thread in case something comes up seeing as region hasn't been able to assist.......

What's one of those then Adam??

Just remember that the general road user is very concerned about what has happened and is really interested in and supportive of any safety related matter UNTIL they find out they may be inconvenienced or delayed for more than a nano-second, then they turn into a completely different beast!

Some of the reasons I've been quoted over the years as to why I should let someone through a crash scene are unbelievable!

I would guess to assist SAPOL as only ever one unit on duty at Normanville covering the whole of this area - take a while to get another either from Christies Beach or Victor Harbor??

What if a ferry arrived and there was a whole 30 cars in a 10 minute period??  :wink: