NSWFB Rescue Champions
Congratulations to S/O Clayton Allison, S/O Tony Waller,
SF Dean Broadwood, QF Paul Hughes, QF John Styles and QF John Robertson
who represented the NSWFB at the Australasian Rescue Challenge in
Perth recently. The team finished third overall, with first place
going to Curragh Mines Rescue (Qld) and second to Queensland Fire
& Rescue - Toowoomba. In all, 20 teams from Australia, New Zealand,
Hong Kong and Singapore competed in three complex rescue simulations.
Legends retire
Two NSWFB 'legends' are retiring over the next week. Chief
Superintendent Roger Bucholtz AFSM, Area Commander Metro East, will
hang up his helmet next week after a distinguished 41 year career,
and I will miss his enthusiasm, wisdom and cool competence. Last night
numerous friends farewelled Inspector Bill Powell AFSM, who has been
a nationally renowned and respected Fire Investigator for the last
16 years.
Letter of thanks from the SES
This week I received a letter of sincere thanks from Brigadier
Philip McNamara, Director General of the SES, thanking all personnel
who were involved in the response and recovery operations during last
month's devastating storms in the Hunter and Central Coast areas.
I saw first hand the devastation in the region and was proud of the
work carried out by firefighters and support staff, all of whom really
went the extra mile. Well done to all, and thank you.
Hazmat incident - Kooragang Island shipping terminal
On Wednesday, the NSWFB was again on hand to help the people
of Newcastle, preventing a potential disaster after hydraulic fluid
from a crane on board a ship leaked into a hull that contained around
350 bags of ammonium nitrate weighing 1.2 tonnes each. Crews from
the Newcastle area worked closely with the NSWFB scientific advisor,
hazmat specialists, personnel from the shipping company and the Port
Authority to bring the incident to a speedy and safe conclusion. It
was a great team effort. In 1947 Texas City in the USA was devastated
by an explosion aboard a ship carrying ammonium nitrate. Follow the
link to read about that incident.
Broadband roll out
The rollout of broadband to Regional Fire Stations across
the state will begin this month. NSWFB IT is committed to the continuous
improvement of infrastructureStations will start to receive throughout
the organisation. As part of this improvement, Regional Fire Stations
will start to receive their 512/128k ADSL broadband connection from
the 23rd July, with most stations connected by year-end. This is an
important improvement to infrastructure which will provide regional
firefighters with much faster access to web based computer applications.
The rollout to the gSa metropolitan stations was a great success and
we expect the regional rollout to be an equally smooth transition
from Satellite to Broadband. All Broadband technicians will provide
a letter of introduction to the Station Officers/Captains on arrival.
A schedule of the rollout is now available on the intranet under the
OIS section. Whenever I visit country stations, the slowness of computers
is raised as a major issue. My thanks to Director IT Richard Host
and his team who applied their minds to finding a solution.
Station visits and 'Emu's' send off
Last Friday was a busy day, with visits to crews at six fire
stations in the Blue Mountains and Central West, as well as a visit
to 361 Leura to look at the nearly completed renovations. The 'lightning
visits' were at 102 Regentville, 343 Katoomba, 363 Lithgow, 216 Bathurst,
412 Orange and 280 Dubbo. That night I had the pleasure of paying
tribute to Station Officer Bill 'Emu' Clifford AFSM at his Dubbo retirement
function.
Inspector Promotions
Congratulations to Stuart Mitchell and Kim Simpson who were
promoted to the rank of Inspector last Friday. I wish them well in
their new positions. For further information see the intranet story.
Brigade Automatic Retained Time sheet system (BART)
It's all systems go with the rollout of the new Brigade Automatic
Retained Timesheet (BART) system beginning this month. The system
went live on 11 July at Mortdale and Rhodes fire stations. A further
63 fire stations are scheduled to undergo BART training this month
in time for them to be using the new system by 1 August. BART, which
replaces the old paper based time sheet, is an easier and more timely
way for Retained Firefighters to lodge their work hours and also allows
them to view previously submitted timesheets through the system. Zone
management and staff will also undertake the BART training in the
near future. The training will be delivered by Zone IT Trainers and
IT Trainers, as well as Insp Bob McGowan and SF Andrew Grimwood from
OIS. The training schedule is available on the Intranet. For more
details contact Andrew Grimwood via your Captain.
Improving AIRS reporting
Accuracy of the information entered into AIRS incident reports
is crucial for planning and is used in the annual report, by other
government departments, insurance companies, fire alarm monitoring
companies and others needing information on fires and the NSWFB. Incident
information should be expressed clearly and should include an easy
to read description of incident details. In particular with automatic
fire alarms (AFAs) it's important to remember that further details
should be entered into the 'Description of Incident' field which is
found on all reports. For example, if an AFA (false alarms in particular)
involves a specific unit in a block, details should be entered. Likewise,
if there are several buildings or factory units involved in a fire,
information identifying each premises is beneficial to allow business
managers and body corporates to apportion costs accordingly.
Fire Ed champions
It's important we continue to get the key fire safety messages
out to primary school children in NSW. With winter being the most
dangerous times for fires in the home, I encourage all stations to
be active with Fire Ed and make contact with the primary schools in
your local area. The new term starts on 17 July so it's a good time
to lock in a date for a Fire Ed session before the end of the year.
It always makes me proud to hear about or read Fire Ed success stories
and other community education initiatives being undertaken by stations
across NSW.
Triple Zero phone stickers
A great NSWFB initiative has been endorsed by the national
regulator of Triple Zero. Thanks to the work of Chief Superintendent
Mark Whybro and his team at Operational Communications, we may soon
see a Triple Zero sticker placed on every phone in Australia. There
is more work to be done in organising the funding and getting all
the other emergency services agencies to support the initiative but
the first step - approval - has been achieved. Also to be explored
as part of this process is the possibility of Triple Zero bumper stickers
- so watch this space! For more information about the NSWFB's involvement
in raising awareness about Triple Zero through government and industry
channels see the intranet story.
NSWFB donates 12 Oxy-Vivas to Thai surf lifesaving project
Last week the NSWFB donated 12 redundant Oxy-Vivas to the
Avoca Beach Surf Lifesaving Club to assist with the establishment
of a surf life saving club in Thailand. This week a team of 12 volunteers
flew to Thailand to work with Thai Marine Police, lifeguards, school
children, tour operators and the wider community to introduce surf
awareness and the culture of surf life saving. For further information
see the intranet story.
Variety Bash - Base to (HMAS) Bathurst
From 5-17 August, the NSW Fire Brigades and the NSW Rural
Fire Service will be participating in the 2007 NSW Variety Bash Base
(Garden Island, Sydney) to Bathurst (HMAS Bathurst Darwin). Both services
are supplying support vehicles to Variety to undertake official duties
as part of the Variety Bash management structure. Three more cars,
crewed by members of both the NSWFB and the RFS, will be participating
in the Bash. This event provides us with a unique opportunity to promote
community safety initiatives in remote and isolated communities, and
as such NSWFB and RFS personnel participating in the Bash will be
undertaking community safety initiatives and education along the Bash
route in towns such as Dubbo, Haddon Rigg and Brewarrina. The NSWFB
and RFS will also be working in conjunction with the Queensland and
Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Services in towns such as Longreach,
Burketown and Borroloola.
Fire Australia articles
The Winter edition of the Australasian Fire Authorities Council's
(AFAC) quarterly magazine, Fire Australia, contains two articles about
the NSW Fire Brigades. There is a four page story on the Cootamundra
silo fire, which helped the NSWFB further refine pre-incident planning
for complex incidents and review standard operational guidelines for
silos and other specialised incidents. There is also a three-page
story on the NSWFB's pioneering of the Community Fire Unit program
to raise awareness about bushfires and build an army of volunteers
along the urban/bushland interface to assist firefighters. PDFs of
the articles can be found on the intranet and a copy of Fire Australia
will be available shortly in the Library. If you have any story suggestions
for future editions of the AFAC magazine or other industry publications
please contact the NSWFB's Public Affairs and Communications Strategy
Unit on 9265 2907.
2007 City 2 Surf
The 2007 City 2 Surf is on 12 August. The competition for
the John Host Memorial Shield will be on again this year with the
Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade preparing to send a strong and
determined team to win the shield back from the NSWFB. For further
information about competing in the NSWFB team see the intranet story
or contact Inspector Ron Sinclair on 0417 549 546.
RUMOUR MILL
Rumour: Is it true that off-duty retained firefighters
will be paid for the time taken to receive a chest x-ray and doctor's
consultation but an off-duty permanent firefighter will not?
Response: It was agreed that permanent firefighters
would attend the Dust Diseases Board - Asbestos Screening Lung Bus,
whilst on duty. Arrangements are continually being made to locate
the lung bus at stations where other nearby stations and crews can
attend, whilst on duty. In other words, permanent firefighters are
being paid whilst attending the screening. Permanent firefighters
who elect to attend either the DDB Head Office for screening, or a
lung bus location for screening, while off duty, will not be paid.
Retained firefighters- kilometres and hourly rate costs are paid when
attending the location of the lung bus (located within their Zone
or Region), which is fair and reasonable given that screening of permanent
firefighters has been arranged during work (paid) time.
Rumour: Is it true that now 66 Rhodes
has a new type 2 appliance they are finally going to build a fire
station?
Response: At this time there is no plan to construct
a new fire station for 66 Rhodes
INCIDENTS
NSWFB assists with the retrieval of 60 cars illegally dumped in the
Georges River
Family loses everything in Kurri Kurri house fire
Hay rocked by early morning explosion
Deliberately lit fires in Bradbury
EVENTS
Farewell to the Emu
A Platoon reunion a success
APEC update and Precinct Commander training
Waterways boom drill and evaluation
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 to the intranet, please contact Public
Affairs Officers: (West) 9265 2613, (South) 9265 2802 or
(North) 9265 2631