from a victorian

[6739264]

A Leyland P76 was still running? And someone still owned it BY CHOICE?

Good grief, it's like the twilight zone up there in the sticks.

[Crownie24]

As far as fires? Put the wet stuff on the red stuff. Nah, I'm not a firey. Too many factors I can't control. I've got a lot of respect for firemen. I love a log fire, but when a fire's out of control... I won't be there! Too dangerous for me!

The people in the CFS are so good at what they do, that you will never come to harm, and the technology on the old trucks and the new ones (more so) will keep you safe from burnovers.

On KI the CFA trucks that I saw had no burnover curtains, did anyone else notice this.

[uniden]

the most interesting thing we have had in the last few weeks was a car fire not sure why we were called but we were it was a nice layland P76 belonged to one of the MFS guys here

About time for a pay rise for the retained firies I would reckon.

[sesroadcrashrescue]

more school kiddies coudnt get to school he is a bus driver not to bad as it was on the first day of school and all oh its ok he has another and is paling on getting it on the road   

[vr_driver]

Hi guys and girls,
Thanks for all the help recently about Kapunda. I've learnt a bit about how things work in SA. However, I've since accepted a job in Broken Hill, so will probably end up with the NSWSES up there at some stage.
Cheers,
Steve.

[bajdas]

Congrats on your new job. You might still do some emergency volunteer work on the SA side of the border. I believe a SASES Unit has closed & thus Broken Hill SES has expanded their area to include some of South Australia.

[chook]

good onya mate! Yep one of members is ex Broken Hill & Cockburn(sadly closed) and he loved it!
Anyway best of luck & cheers (you can always give us the goss from the silver city when you get there )

[vr_driver]

Thanks for the kind words.

I also just read in the local Barrier Miner (Broken Hill local newspaper):

SA Country Fire Server / SA State Emergency Service NOTICE OF MEETING In relation to Cockburn SES Unit and CFS Brigade Notice is given that a metting of SASES /SACFS personal Cockburn SES / CFS members, community members and other interested parties. To make the final arrangements for closure of Cockburn SES Unit and CFS Brigade.


So does this mean that that region will be without fire suppression then?

[chook]

no mate - you guys will provide it
Seriously there are other brigades/Units up that way - just not close. Cockburn is a very small place & have run out of people, Manna Hill & Olary are down the road a bit & of course there is Broken Hill.
Apparently there has been some sought of cross border arrangement for years.
Anyway cheers

[Pipster]

Sorry to burst the bubble, but neither Olary, nor Mannahill have a CFS brigade - for a while, one of the Yunta trucks was based at Mannahill - not sure if this is still the case.

One could argue that since Cockburn have an extremely low call rate (around 1 call a year) you could do without them being there.....but when something does happen in their area, it is a long way for other brigades to travel to assist.  I suppose with Broken Hill doing OK, there is some fire service / rescue coverage able to assist.

I suppose Cockburn is like many other small country towns - very few people left in the town, and even less to assist with CFS / SES...

Pip

[chook]

Thanks Pip wasn't sure about brigades up that way still
So the CFS isn't concerned about the closure? or its a case of there is nothing to be done.
A member of ours is ex Cockburn ahd he said it was touch and go 5 years ago (he actually thought it was closed already).
Anyway not much you can do I guess, it is a real pity though.
cheers

[Pipster]

You can't do much if there is simply no-one left in the town to do the job.   

Unfortunately, in the next 5 years, I believe there will be more stations closed for the same reason - not because the bean counters decide it is better financially, but the community decides that it can no longer support a brigade.

Pip

[chook]

Yep sadly I think you are right, it will be people to man them or no one to put their hand up to be the boss.
Anyway cheers Pip

[jaff]

Don,t worry chook, David Place has some exciteing things he and the government are going to announce,to help ease the situation and remember he can do anything,like change the amount of years since Ash Wednesday.
Maybe they have some "magical" firefighter beans, you could just take to a town that no longer has the capacity to man an appliance, plant them and water them and hey presto, instant community member firefighters..................No sorry that will never work,what was I thinking,we dont have any water .
Seriously though for some out lying communities the situation is going to steadily become worse, perhaps retained farm firefighting appliances?.

Cheers Jaff

[Pipster]

Having some farm fire fighting units is a good idea...but in many areas, that is proving very difficult.

In many rural communities, each farm would have its own farm unit - so in the event of a fire, there were many useful farm units, able to assist.

However, with the drought in the last few years, many of the farms have been sold to large companies, who have the funds to buy up the farm, ride out the drought, and then make a packet with the farm producing again. 

In the mean time, instead of having one fire unit per farm, there are perhaps one or two caretakers / overseers for 10 farms....thereby reducing the number of available units.....

Pip

[jaff]

Your right Pipster,insensitive corporations are taking over massive tracts of once smallish privately owned ,community minded, community involved farms ,we need to find some water for the "magic" firefighter beans,problem solved.

Cheers Jaff