COMMISSIONER'S BUSINESS
Civil unrest
Thankfully, the NSWFB has had limited operational involvement with the recent instances of civil unrest in southern Sydney, however a great deal of time and effort has gone into planning, with the NSW Police keeping Region South and State Operations “in the loop”. Earlier this week I spoke with the Union Secretary Craig Harris, who shares my concerns for firefighters safety. On Tuesday we issued a joint statement reiterating the need to be conversant with SOG 8.13 Civil Disturbances. I sincerely hope that no member of the NSWFB whilst off duty succumbs to the worrying mob mentality which is so alien to our Australian way of life, which values and respects the rights of everybody in the community – violence and hatred solves nothing.
21 new Station Officers
Congratulations to the 21 new Station Officers who graduated from the Station Officer Promotional Program at the Training College on Thursday. View the full list of graduates on the intranet . Congratulations on your achievement.
OPERATIONAL UPDATE
4 th Alarm church fire at Auburn
At 0144 hours on Wednesday morning crews responded to an AFA in Auburn Rd, Auburn. On arrival they were confronted with a large weatherboard church hall well alight in Helena St, Auburn adjacent to the building where the AFA originated. The radiant heat generated by the fire had activated the external sprinkler system protecting a two level school building directly behind the church. This early alarm served to prevent the fire from spreading to involve the school building.
The advanced nature of the fire prompted crews to request a 3rd alarm which was later escalated to a 4 th alarm. Crews in attendance were 30 Lidcombe, 19 Silverwater, 85 Chester Hill, 27 Parramatta, 65 Rydalmere, 16 Concord and 73 Fairfield, with 43 Seven Hills, 49 Cabramatta and 55 Guildford assigned to initial fire duty.
The initial objective was exposure protection, using an aerial appliance and 70mm jets. It took firefighters an hour and a half to contain the fire which destroyed about 90% of the building. The adjacent structures were saved.
Storm Damage
The past week has seen severe storms hit the south-west corner of NSW. Crews from 278 Deniliquin and 293 Finley assisted the SES to clean up the town of Deniliquin after a severe storm swept through on Monday 13 December. Winds of 130 kilometres/hour wreaked havoc on the town with over 78 houses needing re-roofing. Zone Commander Col Holmes and Inspector Mick Curtis supervised operations overnight, and an Incident Management Team was flown from Sydney to assist in the multi-agency response.
RUMOUR MILL
Rumour: Is it true that due to problems with Escat each zone will be appointed a Uniform Officer who will be redistributing near-new gear as per the latest procedures in some areas?
Response: The budgetary impact of PPE allocation to firefighters has been of some concern for some time. The ordering system under ESCAT has identified some issues in regards to ordering that are being looked at. The NSWFB is in discussion with the FBEU along the lines of reissue of some items of PPE that can be sanitised and reallocated to new recruit Retained Firefighters but nothing has been agreed as yet.
Rumour: Is it true that each gSa (greater Sydney area) region will get a Senior Instructor Metropolitan (SIM)? This will allow for back-to-basics firefighting to be reinforced. Will this occur, or is it merely a dim SIM?
Response: There is no position of Senior Instructor Metropolitan but trainers and co-ordinators of training for both the metropolitan and country areas will be considered following the restructure of the executive in early 2006.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Smoke alarms advertising campaign
From next week, the NSWFB's Community Risk Management section will distribute a series of smoke alarm and fire safety awareness community service announcements, borrowed from the UK and redubbed, to TV networks throughout NSW. The dramatic commercials will bring fire safety messages into people's lounge rooms in a powerful way and promote the need for smoke alarms, escape plans, calling 000 and kitchen fires.
As a result, fire stations may receive more calls about general fire safety as well as specific issues such as installing smoke alarms and creating home escape plans. Where possible, direct people who have internet access to the NSWFB community safety web site www.fire.nsw.gov.au/community for a range of fact sheets and information on safety topics. You can also print off the community safety fact sheets from the web site or the intranet and hand them out. Stations which haven't issued the new smoke alarm media release may want to release it to their local media to coincide with the campaign. There's also a media release template on smoke alarms as a Christmas gift (see following story). If your local media contact the fire station about the community service announcements, contact your regional Public Affairs Officer for advice.
This Christmas stocking gift could save your life
Retained Firefighter Paul Dorin from 269 Corrimal was looking for a way to encourage Christmas shoppers to consider purchasing a smoke alarm, fire blanket or fire extinguisher for loved ones this Christmas. He was keen to promote the idea using local media, and with a hand from PACSU, we now have a template media release ready for all stations to use. Please support Paul's initiative by sending the template media release out to your local media. You can access the template media release on the intranet . Thank you for driving this idea Paul – it is a valuable message.
NSWFB talks to the world about reduced fire risk cigarettes
Chief Superintendent Jim Smith, Assistant Director Community and Corporate Risk Management, was up early on Saturday 10 December to present a paper on the Australian position to the first ever conference on fire safe cigarettes. The conference was held at the Harvard School of Medicine in Boston and Jim presented this paper by video conference to a live audience from Sydney University at 6am.
The NSWFB is the lead agency in a push to introduce an Australian Standard for Reduced Fire Risk Cigarettes. The new Standards Committee is due to meet in January and is hoping to get a draft standard in place by the end of March 2006.
Griffith community working together to solve grass fire problem
Congratulations to new Zone Commander West 7, Superintendent Gary Galwey who joined representatives from Community Risk Management and local community leaders to develop strategies to reduce the incidence of grass fires in Griffith after several fires late last month.
Some of the outcomes of the meeting include regular hazard reductions with the Rural Fire Service, the installation of a CFU static hose cabinet on a nearby property and increased community interaction with local firefighters.
According to Superintendent Galwey, the community is committed to successfully implementing the outcomes of the meeting and he is confident this approach will lead to a significant reduction in the number of grass fires, and improved relations with the local community.
Cultural Diversity on show
NSWFB representatives attended the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity (HREOC) awards in Sydney to support our award nominees, Anglicare in Coffs Harbour and the Australian New Muslims Association (ANMA), Lakemba, on 9 December. These agencies have been instrumental in promoting to their respective community groups the introduction on 1 May 2006 of mandatory smoke alarm legislation. Their proactive work assisting the NSWFB with spreading this key fire safety awareness information has given NSWFB real in-roads into local CALD communities.
NSWFB representatives at the HREOC awards were Assistant Commissioner Ken Thompson, Assistant Director Community and Corporate Risk Management Jim Smith, Station Officer Nat LaMacchia from 257 Coffs Harbour, Station Officer Craig Davies from 64 Lakemba, Fiona Hardy NSWFB web publishing coodinator, and David Weir CALD Coordinator.
Look out for Flaming Santa
43 Seven Hills B platoon has been busy putting up their Christmas lights to celebrate the festive season and would like to encourage other stations to do the same. The main feature of their display is a Flaming Santa with his rear end on fire. Luckily for Santa there is a reindeer on standby with an extinguisher.
Email any photos of your station with Christmas decorations to your Public Affairs Officer (see below for details) and they'll ensure they are posted to the intranet.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Salvation Army Christmas Appeal
Earlier in the month donation boxes were placed under the Christmas tree at Head Office for donations of tinned food and toys to the needy. At 3pm on Tuesday 20 December I will present all donations to the Salvation Army.
Any toys and tinned food donated at Alexandria, Greenacre and Regional Offices should be delivered to Head Office before close of business Monday 19 December 2005. Thank you for your support.
Firefighters take over Pitt Street to spread some Christmas spirit
Firefighters from City of Sydney ‘A' platoon, organised by SO Jason Woods, Darlinghurst and The Rocks Fire Stations, will fire up the barbecue and spread some Christmas cheer, along with serious fire safety messages, in Pitt Street mall tomorrow, 17 December at midday. Crews will use the opportunity to speak with families about home and holiday fire safety. Kids will be treated to a ride on the NSWFB interactive mini-fire engine and enjoy a sausage sizzle to raise money for The Children's Hospital at Westmead Burns Unit. Last minute Christmas shoppers will be encouraged to purchase a smoke alarm as a practical, and possibly a lifesaving present for loved ones.
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