SA Firefighter

the SES are running a vertical rescue course at the cfs state training center early next month after many months/years of fighting the cfs/ses have organised it. YA i hear that naracoorte and robe cfs brigades are happy to have some thing organised finally. lets hope it is the start of many more decisions that make sense. lets stop all the infighting with in the fire and rescue services.

Quote from: Bill Corcoran on May 31, 2009, 01:24:36 PM
Sorry FOX my information is correct...... if you think its wrong may be you should contact DGO 1.....

well im telling you that you are wrong

i dont work for the office but i do know what im talking about.

i have many friends in the brigade and have close contact with several of them and i have it from the officers that naracoorte did not pay for them. i suggest a call to the captain would prob sort it all out for you

As for air bags the Naracoorte brigade had to replace their two air bags  some 2 years ago  as they where bought by the community the brigade had to pay half the cost of replacing them and region paid the rest.


Bill as per usual your information is wrong please get your story full of facts and not full of crap

Quote from: Bill Corcoran on November 24, 2008, 12:25:19 PM
So once SACAD is running will we still have the ALERT'S?? as we are ment to be promoting triple 000 as the only number to call and if CFS wanted to save money then the alerts system would be removed as it has been in other state's.

The other issue I see with the system is that some captains need to remember it is the group who says who should get connected or removed from the system and that we need to make sure that those on it know a whole group area not just your small patch......

Jesus bill sounds like your having a stab at some one in particular. wouldnt be cause you are no longer a member there is it???
Sounds funny im sure i have been told that you were in favour of the how the alerts calls were processed when you were involved with said brigade. Whats changed??

third pump???
are they keeping the other truck
are they going to have 4 trucks

I believe Naracoorte is getting an auto 34P as its replacement truck. and all of the officers voted hands down for an auto.
Can any one confirm this. Bill??

R E C E O
and thats all ive got to say on this matter

Are they operational. Ie take part in a duty officer position within a region?

Quote from: bill - Hynam CFS on August 13, 2008, 06:33:09 AM
As PIP,has said the power is in the hand vote them out,You talk about aux members showing up at the AGM what about the so called paid staff that still hold brigade positions of LT'S or those staff that you never see at training and only show up at the brigade election to have a vote then you never see them again till next year.......Come on CFS wake up and sort this kind of crap out once and for all. When members of a brigade i used to belong to joined the paid staff they where asked to stand down as brigade officer's from the RC or H/Q but yet in other parts of the state staff still hold RANK in a volunteer brigade....

I belive that the rules are quite clear about who can and can't hold positions in brigades.
You cannot hold 2 ranks at the same time. Meaning if you hold a position of power up the food chain you cannot also hold a position lower in the food chain. If you hold no operational rank as a staff member then you can hold an operational position as a vollie.

Quote from: chook on July 31, 2008, 02:24:08 PM
Fox as Zippy said plus those organisations you mentioned help the community out. We are Professional Volunteer Emergency Responders - who if it was a slightly different world would get paid!
Now communities can do without those organisations, but they either have to have us or paid staff!
Finally I'm not sure where you are from, how long you ahve served or what you have been exposed to but from I know what I have done & experienced in my time in the service & I find being compared to those mentioned community service clubs insulting! (yes they do a great job but its not the same).
Up until recently our military reserves were not used for anything close to what they have been trained to do, but they get payed for every minute they spend in uniform, their employers also get very good compensation & they get brilliant support. And yet we face the "enemy" (Mother Nature/ Very stupid people)every day, have our lives disrupted, have our lives changed (not always for the best) & for some of us relive the real horrors that our service exposes us to for the rest of our lives. I don't think a little compensation for fuel is a big ask!
Finally when there are no volunteers left to fight the fires, Cut the people out there cars, pull the bodies/ bits of bodies out of all of the different situations we find them in, get out in the storms & floods when normal people are snugled up in their beds - then when you ask yourself why? You will already have the answer. Fair dinkum mate I'm sure you just say stuff just to stir filtered.
cheers

Currently served between 15 - 20 yrs in the CFS and yes a quite busy brigade. Have spent a lot of time away from family and my work, i might add when not at work no pay, and like i said i do it for the love of my community and not so the gov can pay me to travel to the station. The real reason you are not attracting vollies is that we now live in a time poor society where the average joe blow couldn't give the time of day let alone be bothered with the emergency services that just might inconvenience meal times. Military federally funded, CFS SES state funded. So lets raise our taxes so you can claim back some of your fuel costs. Be filtered. Do it cause you can and not cause you want financial assistance.

It comes back to are you in it for the right reasons if all you want is a tax break or the gov to help prop you up then i suggest that you are in it for the wrong reasons. Do the lions/rotary,probus clubs sponsor there vollies petrol when out helping to community i dont think so!!!! if you dont like it then dont filtered do it!!!

who do you think answers all of your complaints to the higher offices!
the cheif will talk to the region and often the region will talk with the group officers or captain to resolve issues. they are far to busy dealing with bull scheiße issues to acctually get thier real work done. Im not saying dont talk to the region but most of the time your captain or GO will know the answer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if you want to know some thing ask your captain and follow the chain of command that is what it is there for, the system wont work properly if you dont follow the chain of command. And as usual the people that want to email the cheif cause of some bull scheiße issue in their brigade or group are the biggest problem. USe the chain and see how well it acctually works

I will enlighten all of you to a fact. CFS pass on all important information, if you the fire fighter are not receiving thus information try looking into the chain of command one or two steps up the rung from you.. If you are not happy with the info flow to the vollies then it is prob time with some group elections coming up to perhaps change the peole that are not passing on the info.
And i say again i stop bucking the system it works quite well. It is more often than not the people who have the above mentiond positions not passing on the onfo

Quote from: Cameron Yelland on July 13, 2008, 03:21:18 PM

Quote from: SA- Private- Contractor on July 13, 2008, 03:09:24 PM
Hi all i'm new to this forum so play nice.

I have worked in the fire industry for a large company and we have installed a large number of booster, sprinkler and back up pump sets over the past 15 years, trains on site fire fighting teams, and teaches fire units all over Asia. We also conduct the flow testing on them through our own large fire truck. The CFS should receive comprehensive training on the use of booster, FIPs and installed systems to save time and peoples lives. Currently the idea of a untrained CFS crew using a booster at a site we own or service is not a good one. If the booster is linked to the sprinklers and is over pressurised it could result in the sprinklers blowing and a drastic drop in water pressure. At the moment only the MFS has enough training to be able to use boosters and installed systems to their advantage. I allowed a 34p and two people for CFS HQ and showed them how to use the boosters efficiently. We then set up a 100ft running fire told them they would need to use the boosters... they failed horribley, NOT!!! because they were stupid, not paying attention but because they don't get the oppotunity to practise on them enough to have that conditioned response.

If the CFS is to be able to operate effective in the built up areas where they may be needed in the event (fingers crosses, Touch wood) that a fire get to the edge of the suburbs where boosters are avaliable or where a large rural factory or distribution centre (monarto Big W?) catches fire the CFS MUST be able to use the boosters without hesitation.



Also i have attached a pic of the truck my company is about to buy, its got a Waterous 2 stage, PTO driven pump with 4 BA seats.

Im under the impression there will be a course being introduced to eligible brigades within the next 12 months to deal with these issues. Whether it covers what you have outlined completely im not sure but i agree with you completely.  The CFS has not upheld its obligation to train crews in the use of booster systems. 

Our brigade has 3 boosters (that i am aware of) in our area and we have not had any training in how to use these or an appliance to use on these.  Granted MFS also dual respond to these alarms but as has been said in a previous thread, we cant use them as an excuse to get a better truck, so why should they (HQ) be allowed to use the MFS as an excuse not to provide a sufficient truck?  But anyway thats another issue.

Have you eva thought that it may just be up to you to find out how these boosters in your own area work!!!
Don't keep looking to pass the buck. Maybe instead of scheiße canning the MFS in the mount all the time ( as it seems thats all your group is capable off) and asking them to show you how they work. Time we all started to work together and at the end of the day as long as the fire gets put out then who really cares

Quote from: bill - Hynam CFS on July 06, 2008, 04:18:44 PM
Look just wear it too anything till they make their mind up and then tell each region to do the same............. Bring back nomex level 3 gear.....

by the sound of that bill you have never worn it to any thing!!!
those that have worn it and acctually be active involved in any sort of rescue will understand that it is designed for structure fires and not MVA's(to filtered bulky and too filtered hot)
Those people that are saying im going to wear to evey thing should stop trying to make your self appear eletist by trying to stand out. The people that are wearing yellows are still CFS vollies and you are not better than them because you have a BA ticket and thus PBI gold
Pull your heads in!!!!!!

Quote from: bill - Hynam CFS on June 13, 2008, 02:38:25 PM
But when has CFS taken any notice of what the Volunteers want for the risk that the brigade has???

Because some vols are clueless to what they requie to acctually look after their area

Its not always a we want world, need to justify why you would like it, and not just sook and winge that we want one cause the brigade up the road has one

Hoorah finally some one that is willing to look at the reality. There are numerous stations CFS and SAMFS (prob drag SES in to this too) that need looking at and if the Cheifs and the SAFCOM board acctually sat down and looked at risks in the said communities and surrounding areas then we could prob change the names of certain stations and the colour of the trucks to better suit the community. Because at the end of the day it really doesn't matter who put sthe fire out/drags the dead people out of the cars/rescues the cat from the tree, etc etc as long as it gets done!!!
Time to put pride asise and look at whats best

Quote from: Cameron Yelland on June 11, 2008, 04:39:54 AM

Quote from: Fox Mulder on June 10, 2008, 07:45:55 PM

Quote from: bill - Hynam CFS on June 10, 2008, 04:19:14 PM
RCR gear for the pumper when the rescue was well out of town and other small gear.
You cant be every where all of the time and you cant have $5-$7K of gear just sitting around just in case your main rescue truck is out of town(would be nice if money grew on trees)

If thats the attitude you wish to take, then how about we sell all the usar equipment the SES has, as how often does that get used?  What about all the CBR equipment? how often do we have a terroist attack?  When was the last time some of the smaller, lesser known brigades had an entrapment? yet they still have a set of rescue gear.

Works both ways!

Just for the record, i know of a couple of times they have been caught out of town and had a second rescue.  and considering the nearest rescue appliances struggle for trained operators then i dont see how there can be such an arguement for not allowing a second set of gear.  Also i dont think they are asking for a full set, simply a combi tool and what ever that comes with (im not in a rescue brigade, so im not sure what is involved.)

[edit: fixed quoting]

now cam have just got off the phone with a long serving lt with ncte. he cann't remember of any occasion in the last 20yrs that ncte has benn caught out with there rescue truck out of town i guess your not as informed as you think

would love to have dates of said occasions

Quote from: Cameron Yelland on June 11, 2008, 04:39:42 PM
care to elaborate a bit more?  hard to agree with you when we dont know the full story.

Thats odd you say that, you seem willing to jump to conclusions illinformed on other occasions

Quote from: bill - Hynam CFS on June 11, 2008, 06:43:46 PM
May be FOX should come out and say if he is a staff member as it would only be staff members or Naracoorte briagde members who know the story....

Not a staff member and not with naracoorte. Do have some friends in ncte though.
Because i choose to hear both sides of a story before making a informed comment does not make me a staff member. I choose to listen when told all of the reasons that decisions are being made and not just the reasons that i dont like or are able to easilly bitch about. Far too much bashing of the system goes on, like i said before if you learn to work with the system and the staff then outcomes will more often fall your way

Quote from: bill - Hynam CFS on June 11, 2008, 06:50:12 PM
As I am no longer a member of the Naracoorte brigade I wont be discussing the RCR gear....

What happened with ncte did you move away?

Quote from: chook on June 11, 2008, 07:52:51 AM
All fair points - by the way USAR is mostly funded by the Feds as I said. And its not $5 - $7k for the tools, you need to factor in cost of hoses and a pump as well. Plus all of the other gear as well approx all up $20k - $30k! thats new of course.
And in some areas of the state 45 minutes is a short time, I know thats not right but we live in a real world.
Your backup would be from Penola (54kms),Bordertown (81 kms), thats not too bad considering one is to the North & one to the south would lessen travel time & you are covered to the west as well!
So sorry Bill & Cameron it's still "nice to have" not essential or if you think you really have a need, raise the money yourselves & buy your own set (we did that for a second set of cutters :wink: ).
As for the brigades or units that have the gear but don't do many jobs, you could take it off them for your just in case scenario - but what happens when they get their 1 in 10 year job?
Anyway I guess it's your problem & it will all sought itself out one day :wink:
cheers

Lucindale to the west 45 ks  Padthaway to the nth 48ks  edenhope across the border to the east 50ks surrounded by back up really

Quote from: bill - Hynam CFS on June 10, 2008, 04:19:14 PM
RCR gear for the pumper when the rescue was well out of town and other small gear.

The region actually have written a number of plans to eleviate that inc removing hazmat gear from the rescue truck. But the brigade is not keen on that. (not the regions fault) You cant be every where all of the time and you cant have $5-$7K of gear just sitting around just in case your main rescue truck is out of town(would be nice if money grew on trees)
The fact that since the brigade has had a stand alone rescue vehicle, quite some years, they have never been caught out on an rcr job. Some im told.
The fact of the matter is that if you use the system, and can justify the equipment, then often you will get what you want!!

what sort of stuff did they get nocked back on? was it trucks or equipment

I do believe that it is up to the brigade in question to put forward a business plan if they want different trucks. Engage the groups help, engage the regions help there are plenty of good people paid and vols that are willing to help your brigade get a different truck if you can justify it. Specific Risks etc. Instead of always bashing the system how about making it work for you, you might just be pleasantly supprised how it can work in your favour.

I believe that your old brigade NCTE have put forward plans and have received plenty of assistance from the region to get what they want.

perhaps some one from up that way can shed some light on it???

Quote from: bill - Hynam CFS on May 31, 2008, 02:03:09 PM
There has also been a problem with CFS members showing up at call outs(not in there area) taking photo's and getting in the way,some members have also taken it too far buy going out and buying tabards with CFS on it saying they are a CFS photograph when in fact they are members of the cfs just taking photo's...... As I undertsand it the only one's with the Tabards are those who are in the cfs promo unit,sure Pip will help me out there....

There has been issues in the past where people in the CFS have used there pager for all the wrong reasons and turned up inappropriately at incidents to take photos, some times arriving before the fire truck!!! Not on, if you can arrive to take photos then you can turn out with the brigade