COMMISSIONER’S BUSINESS
I am in New Zealand this week for the 2005 Australasian Fire Authorities
and Bushfire CRC Conference.
NSWFB Manager honoured with AFAC award
Strategic Information Services Manager Nick Nicolopoulos has been
selected as the AFAC ‘Laurie Lavelle Achiever of the Year’
for 2005. Nick joins two other NSWFB recipients of this award, Station
Officer Neal Jones, developer of the SABRE program (2005) and Station
Officer Terry Munsey, Community Fire Unit Program Coordinator (2000).
This prestigious award is a credit to Nick and the NSWFB. Congratulations
Nick.
OPERATIONAL UPDATE
All in a day’s work for USAR
USAR 1 joined Eastwood Rescue B platoon in the delicate exercise of
extracting a cat lodged in an underground drain pipe on Thursday.
The fading meows of Oscar could be heard from a 100mm stormwater pipe
where he had been found, four days after he went missing. Eastwood
Rescue called in USAR 1 who located the cat within five minutes using
a ‘search cam’, 1.3 metres underground and 6 metres to
the nearest opening. Crews dug down to the cat’s location, however
the animal took flight and lodged itself further into the pipe. Taking
appropriate safety precautions for pedestrians, crews left the pipe
open for the cat to climb out.
Oscar took advantage of the rescue crews’ hard work and extracted
himself during the night, much to the delight of his owners.
RUMOUR MILL
Rumour: How much money has the NSWFB spent on
the new voiceover turnout system? It must be in the millions. At stations
where it is piped to there are very little amenities for firefighters.
Wouldn't it have been better for the NSWFB to have spent the money
on proper amenities for the firefighters instead of on a system where
the voice speaks 4 minutes after the bells go off and reduces turnout
time if you stay and listen to the voice?
Response: Some time ago the Communications Unit was
asked to investigate the provision of voice turnout announcements
at stations. The dispatch system implemented at Alexandria around
1980 in fact had a voice announcement capability, however only some
stations in Sydney were able to receive these announcements. The announcement
facility fell into disuse due to technology issues and operational
difficulties encountered by ComCen operators.
The FireCAD/Fire Station Equipment (FSE) turnout system in use at
the time of the request did not have the functionality necessary to
support voice announcements. A solution would have been costly to
implement and would probably have involved an increased workload for
our ComCen operators and impacted on call answering times. FSEs are
presently being replaced as part of a routine asset maintenance program.
The next generation FSE includes voice turnout functionality as a
standard feature. Use is made of existing station Public Address (PA)
systems and ComCen - station turnout links. The incremental cost for
the provision of the voice turnout announcement is less than $300
per station.
At the time of a turnout the FSE will firstly initiate the alert
tone, this commences with a low volume which increases over a 23-second
period. Approximately four seconds after the completion of the alert
tone the FSE announces the fire type and appliances that have been
mobilised to the incident. A future enhancement may be the inclusion
of suburb details. The announcement is made automatically and involves
no intervention on the part of ComCen operators.
Please call the FireCAD Help Desk on 9318 4377 if you are experiencing
any problems with the voice turnout feature.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Total Fire Bans
The October fire safety calendar topic is Total Fire Bans. The NSWFB
and RFS have joined forces to promote greater awareness of Total Fire
Bans in the community.
Instead of providing a template media release for stations to use,
a media release from both services will be issued centrally early
next week. If your station is contacted by your local community, please
provide them with a copy of the Total Fire Ban fact sheet which is
available on the intranet. Please direct any media enquiries to your
Public Affairs Officer.
Emergency Services logos "Triple Zero launch"
The Commonwealth Attorney General formally handed over the new emergency
services logos (000 and 106) at an Adelaide launch last Thursday.
The logos were generated by the National Emergency Communications
Working Group (NECWG) and trademarked by Emergency Management Australia
(EMA). The NSWFB Fleet Steering Committee has approved the placement
of the new colour logos on all NSWFB vehicles. This is a further community
safety initiative resulting from collaboration between Fleet Steering
Committee, Risk Management Directorate and Operational Communications.
It should be noted that NSWFB now uses the words 'Triple Zero' rather
than the numerals '000' or Triple 'Oh' to avoid confusion with alpha-numeric
keypads on phones, especially important due to the massive increase
in SMS usage. The preferred way of writing this is 'Triple Zero (000)'.
Trial SABRE Taskforce
250 widowed Legatees will receive SABRE within 5 days, as part of
a NSWFB and FBEU SABRE Taskforce trial. The taskforce, in the St George
and Sutherland Shire area, will promote our involvement in assisting
at risk groups and help meet the legislative changes to domestic smoke
alarm requirements by 1 May 2006.
While the trial will be voluntary, all firefighters in the relevant
trial area are encouraged to participate. The trial will commence
on 10 October. More information on the trial is available on the intranet.
National Walk to Work Day 2005
The NSWFB were in action promoting a healthy workforce this morning
at Canada Bay, Lilyfield. About 30 Greenacre firefighters and staff
walked 7 kilometres around the bay to lend support to National Walk
to Work Day. The event was well attended, with the local MP Angela
D’Amore and regular walkers joining in the action.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Foot Health Week
The Australasian Podiatry Council is running Foot Health Week from
October 9 to 15. This is a community health promotion campaign offering
a range of activities and information for the public to assist them
to care for their feet, including free Foot Health Checks.
‘Get walking’ is the key message from the podiatrists.
Walking is a great form of exercise with a huge range of social, physical
and mental health benefits. Yet podiatrists, like many other health
professionals, are concerned that too few people do sufficient walking
to get a health benefit. For more information go to http://www.feet.org.au/fhw.htm
or contact NSWFB Health Services on 9265 2800 or 1800 425 282.
COMMISH'S CORNER
Commissioner's e-mail: Commissioner@fire.nsw.gov.au
Cora Sarmiento, Commish's PA: 9265 2930
PACSU: fax 9265 2882
Commish's Corner Rumour Mill: 9265 2627
To contribute a story, please contact Public Affairs Officers: (West)
9265 2613, (South) 9265 2802 or (North) 9265 2631
Cut off for submissions is 10:00am Thursday