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