COMMISH’S CORNER

Friday 14 November 2008 Number 451
The Rumour Mill No (02) 9265 2627

CURRENT NATIONAL SECURITY ALERT LEVEL : MEDIUM

 

Mini‑budget

This week the State government handed down a mini-budget.  The next 18 months will be difficult due to rising costs, the effect of wage increases that have to be internally funded, and increasing demands on our services. As previously advised, the Fire Brigades' front-line services will not be affected and the NSWFB budget has not been cut. Part of the announcement is to streamline and simplify back-office administrative processes to produce efficiencies and cost savings.  Efficiencies will be achieved over time through natural attrition, the Government staff freeze and voluntary redundancies.  Recruitment for firefighters and retained firefighters continues, and is not impacted by the staff freeze.

 

Update on NSWFB Rescue Services

A bulletin, which is available on the intranet, has been produced to update staff on developments regarding NSWFB rescue services and provide an opportunity for ongoing consultation and feedback from staff. I encourage you to consider the proposals around rescue services made in the bulletin and to provide feedback, through the chain of command, to Chief Superintendent John Denny, Assistant Director Specialised Operations on john.denny@fire.nsw.gov.au or 9265 2763. The NSWFB Rescue Working Group will meet in the last week of November at which feedback will be considered and final recommendations made for a submission to the State Rescue Board. A further written update will be issued in December.

 

Premier’s Public Sector Awards

On Thursday 13 November DCom Ken Thompson and Dawn Easton, Director of Strategy and Planning, and attended the NSW Premier’s Public Sector Awards where they accepted with the Bronze Award for the NSWFB’s 2006/07 Annual Report. Two of the NSWFB’s community safety programs – the Adopt a School program and the Community Fire Safety Volunteers program – were also nominated for awards which highlights just some of the unique work being undertaken by the NSWFB in the area of fire prevention. Congratulations to all staff involved in the production of the annual report and to the Community Education and Development Unit on these great achievements.

 

2008 Australian Safer Communities Awards

On Tuesday 11 November, the NSWFB was presented with a 2008 Australian Safer Communities Award at Parliament House in Canberra for the 2007 national Triple Zero (000) awareness campaign.  Deputy Commissioner John Benson attended and Superintendent Paul McGuiggan accepted the award on behalf of the NSWFB, NSW Police, Ambulance Service of NSW, Telstra, Optus, the Australian Communications and Media Authority and other Emergency Services from across Australia .  The national award follows on from the state award the campaign received in September at the 2008 Australian Safer Communities Awards. Congratulations to Chief Superintendent Mark Whybro for being the driving force behind increasing levels of public awareness of this vitally important and life saving service.  Read the full intranet story here.

 

Twenty new firefighters to protect NSW communities

On Thursday 6 November, I had the pleasure of presenting twenty new recruit firefighters with their graduation certificates at the NSWFB State Training College in Alexandria . As part of the ceremony, Station Officer Rod Chetwynd also received a National Medal, recognising 15 years of exemplary service. Read the full intranet story here.

 

Courage recognised following fatal house fire

On Wednesday 12 November, firefighters Peter Grose, Nathan Napper, Nathan McDonough, Ross Wilton, Shane Day, Mitchell Tappenden and Station Officers Quentin Johnson and Gregory Lawrence received Unit Commendations for Meritorious Service for their efforts in locating and rescuing a woman from a house fire at Wentworthville earlier this year. Unfortunately she was unable to be revived. These firefighters are a credit to the NSWFB and to the wider NSW community and exemplify why firefighters are amongst the most trusted professions. As part of the ceremony, a member of the public was also presented with a Commissioner's Commendation for his efforts in entering the burning house with a neighbour (who will also receive a commendation but was unable to attend the ceremony) and attempting to locate and rescue the woman prior to arrival of firefighters.

 

New class 3 pumper for Regentville Fire Station

On Tuesday 4 November the Local Member for Mulgoa, Diane Beamer, officially handed over the keys of the new Class 3 urban pumper to SO Phillip Marsh from 102 Regentville.  New Class 3 Scania appliances will be delivered at a rate of two to three per month from now on. For more information see the intranet story.

 

New CFU maps

The Bushland Urban Interface Section has produced over 1200 maps which are designed to facilitate an exchange of geographical knowledge between Areas, Zones, local stations, the Bushland Urban Interface Section and Community Fire Unit (CFU) members. The maps have been produced to provide a snap shot of current bushfire risk ratings, topography, static water supplies and CFU locations, and to enable staff to take a pro-active approach in identifying and mitigating bushfire risk. The maps are currently available on the intranet and will soon be available on the CFU portal. The maps will be updated regularly using local knowledge and feedback. All feedback is welcomed and can be provided directly to the Bushland Urban Interface Section on CFU.NSWFB@fire.nsw.gov.au

 

RS2 Station Commander’s Conference and Partner’s Forum

Supt Gary Picken recently hosted the inaugural partner’s forum in conjunction with the annual RS2 Station Commander’s Conference. The forum, which was facilitated by SO Terry Kirkpatrick (EAP Coordinator) and NSWFB Chaplin Lindsay Smith, provided the partners of Captains in RS2 with the opportunity to learn more about a range of topics including EAP, Critical Incident Support Program, the Chaplaincy service and key contacts in the organisation. It was also a chance for Terry and Lindsay to learn more about the impact of a Captain’s job on their partners and families. Feedback has been very positive and the information gathered at the forum with enable us to better understand and support both our retained firefighters and their families. Area and Zone Commanders interested in hosting a Partner’s Forum can contact Terry Kirkpatrick on 9949 1613 or terry.kirkpatrick@fire.nsw.gov.au

 

Relief & Welfare Fund AGM

The Relief & Welfare Fund will hold its Annual General Meeting at the City of Sydney Fire Station on Wednesday 10 December 2008 commencing at midday . The term of office for seven committee member positions will become vacant and elections will be held on that day.  If you would like to nominate to be on the committee please send your nomination by COB on 3 December to julia.simonides@fire.nsw.gov.au There will be a sausage sizzle following the meeting. For catering purposes, please contact SO Rod Chetwynd (9318 4305), SO Chris Murtagh (9913 8620) or Tamryn Russell (9265 2632) if you will be attending the meeting.

 

3rd Alarm factory fire at Greenacre

On Sunday 2 November crews from 62 Bankstown , 64 Lakemba, 47 Revesby, 34 Riverwood, 27 Parramatta , 52 Campsie, 16 Concord , 55 Guildford responded to a fire in an automotive workshop in Brunker Road , Greenacre. The first crew arrived within five minutes to find the building well alight and flames through the roof. Firefighters were hampered by the collapse of the roof and a wall. Two aerial appliances were used ‑ one as an observation tower, the other to access the seat of the fire, with firefighting operations continuing for nearly two hours to contain and extinguish the fire. The building and contents of the workshop suffered extensive damage.

 

Serious MVA in Pymble

At around 1620 hours on Thursday 6 November rescue crews from 37 Gordon, 59 Eastwood, 36 Crows Nest and firefighters from 40 Willoughby responded to a multi‑vehicle MVA on West Street , Pymble. Crews were on the scene within four minutes and reported a four‑vehicle accident with four people severely trapped. In consultation with Ambulance Paramedics the trapped people were triaged and prioritised, and firefighters began the process of extricating them from the vehicles. Two people were released within half an hour with the remaining two released a further 15 minutes later. All of the occupants were transported to hospital with one person taken by helicopter.

 

Maitland shop fire

In the early hours of Tuesday 11 November, crews from 373 East Maitland, 455 Telarah,  374 Maitland, 382 Morpeth, 349 Kurri Kurri,  and Hazmat specialists from 260 Newcastle responded to a fire in a shopping mall in High Street, Maitland. On arrival, firefighters reported smoke issuing from the building and that several windows had blown out. Crews used a power saw to gain access and BA crews began an offensive attack on the fire. The fire was located in a shoe store and while firefighters removed the smouldering stock, other crews checked adjoining shops to ensure that there was no fire extension. It took around two and half hours to contain and totally extinguish the fire. Both the structure and contents of the store were extensively damaged.

 

RUMOURS

Rumour: Is it true that a senior officer in the west region will not approve transfers for firefighters out of region?

Response: No.  The NSWFB has Brigade-wide transfer policies for both permanent and retained firefighters.  Permanent firefighters when applying for Regional positions are placed on transfer lists which may be viewed on the internet at any time and is managed by Personnel.  Retained firefighters when applying to transfer to another Region/Zone are dependant upon their ability to identify permanent residency within the station fire district to which they intend joining and an existing vacancy at that nominated station.  The Zone Commander in charge of the nominated station/zone approves the transfer and applies the relevant Brigade policies. This is supported by attendance/performance data provided by the firefighter's current Station Commander and Zone Commander.  

 

Rumour: Is it true that Bathurst may go 10/14 in the next 12 months to cover for retained shortages at Kelso?

Response: No. There are currently no plans or funding to introduce additional permanent staff at 216 Bathurst in the near future. While there have been some retained shortages at 105 Kelso, this is being closely monitored by Zone management. In this year’s budget the Government funded 10/14 crewing for Queanbeyan, Coffs Harbour , Narellan, and a planned new station at Kincumber.

 

Rumour: Is it true that funds for the new Kincumber fire station were lost as part of the Government’s min-budget?

Response: No. The project remains funded. However there have been more delays due to a requirement to conduct additional environmental impact studies due to legislation that came into effect earlier this year. The outcome of the studies should be known before Christmas.

 

EVENTS

362 Lismore and 316 Goonellabah wins awards at North Coast National

Fire investigators hone skills with wildfire investigation course


INCIDENTS

Hard-wired smoke alarm alerts woman to house fire

Crane topples over in Port Kembla

Smoke emergency in multi level Government building
20 new recruits join the firefighting frontline


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