brigade autumn 2004

Clifftop rescuePLUS:PLUS: New youth page

Clifftop rescue

Autumn Edition

Brigade Magazine

ContentsC O L U M N S3 CEO - Neil Bibby

4 Chief Officer - Russell Rees

5 Board Report - Len Foster

L E A D S T O R Y6-9 Bogong truck rescue

Alex Twomey reports

F E A T U R E10-11 Wulgulmerang fights back

Peter Philp reports

A R O U N D T H E C F A12 Safety story

13 Maps Online

14 Quirk & Smirk

15 Review

I N B R I E F16-17 In brief

M E M B E R L I N K18-21 The benefits

G E N E R A L N E W S22 Forrest Sawmill fire

23 New uniforms trialled

24 Rally off to Firey start

25 Latest Challenge graduates

26 Incident Spotlight

27 Environment

C F A I N F O C U S24 CFA logo explained

25 Marketing or sponsorship?

O U R P E O P L E30 Gordon Honour Board

31 Sebastopol Auxillary

32 Recruitment

33 A salute to Gavin Maguire

34 YOUTH FOCUS: Jenny Gehring

35 In Profile

36 Letters

37 Wordback

38-39 Smoko

C O M M U N I T Y C H E S T40 IGA update

10 22

CFA Members Approx. 60,000

Brigades 1,240

Total vehicles: (fire trucks, support vehicles, etc) 2,664

Aerial appliances: 7

Boats: 1

CFA is responsible for: 2.5 million (including 1 million Melbourne residents) people

150,182 square kms land

980,000 homes

C FA AT A G L A N C E

PatronThe Governor, John LandyAC. MBE

ChairmanLen Foster, LLB. BA. BEd

Chief Executive OfficerNeil Bibby

Executive Manager, Public AffairsDarren Grevis-James

Publications ManagerAnthony [email protected]

WritersPeter PhilpJodie GuestIan MajorAlex Twomey

PO Box 701Mt.Waverley Vic 3149

Telephone: 9262 8300Facsimile: 9262 8352 [email protected]

Distribution enquiriesFIRS RMS Project OfficerMarianne Jopling1800 62 88 44

Design by Arena Graphics9809 2073

Print by Hannanprint Victoria9213 3111

Deadline for next edition:01 June 2004

Please note for print quality we canonly accept original photos or digitalphotos in the format 300 dpi at100% (actual size to be used).Articles reflect the personal opinionof the author and not necessarilythat of CFA. Editors have the rightto refuse and edit articles.Photographs are sent at the sender’srisk and the CFA cannot acceptresponsibility for loss or damage,however all photographs will bereturned to sender.

This week in our cover story:

ALEX TWOMEY reveals an amazingrescue story, on how CFA helpedsave one man’s life after his truckdrove off a cliff on the road to Falls Creek.Cover picture: courtesy of Mt Beauty CFA.

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Feature: Wulgulmerang - the road backLead story: Bogong rescue Feature: Wulgulmerang - the road back News: Forrest Sawmill FireNews: Forrest Sawmill FireLead story: Bogong rescue

Brigade Magazine

C E O ’ s C O L U M N – N E I L B I B B Y A u t u m n e d i t i o n

“We recognise theimportance of the

Championships”

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Review will shape future Championships

An injury recently at Mildura again demonstrated the need to look at thefuture of the current mode of the annual fire brigade Championships. As weare nearing the end of the season, it is timely that I mention where the

future lies with these historic and traditional events.

But before I do, let me say that during my recent attendance at Mildura, I was yetagain left with a deep understanding of the great opportunities they provide formeeting volunteers and discussing all matters concerning CFA.

The networking that goes on between volunteers is so beneficial to CFA andreflects the strong bonding and camaraderie within the organisation - it is a truefamily affair.

With that said and in consultation and working closely with the volunteerassociations, we intend to review the current mode of the Championships and howwe can best improve them for the years ahead.

This review will hopefully address a number of matters around the way theChampionships are conducted and address attendance levels, relevancy to firefighting training and importantly, safety issues.

There is no doubt that the number of brigades competing and general attendanceat the Championships has declined in recent years, with the exception of thejunior Championships.

It is encouraging to see the juniors hold their own in attendance, as they areclearly the future of our organisation.

It is recognized that the Championship events can build on and improve the basicskills involved in firefighting, however, some urban events do not reflect the use ofmodern day appliances.

Whilst competition training and higher levels of fitness help us to be betterfirefighters and great camaraderie is engendered at State Championships, we needto examine the inclusion of events more relevant to today's firefighting techniques.

The issue is not “will the Championships survive”, but rather in “what form” theywill be organised and assured for the future.

Safety is of course our paramount concern and our obligations under occupationalhealth and safety requirements mean that this is high on the agenda for the review.

Brigades will have plenty of opportunity to comment and discuss options throughtheir Associations.

One possible opportunity I see for future Championships is to deliver more skillenhancement programs and forums for volunteers in an even greater effort tototally inform them of everything happening in the organisation.

In the meantime, congratulations to all those brigades that have competed this yearand good luck to those competing in the rural championships in Bairnsdale in April.

Neill Bibby

Chief Executive Officer

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C H I E F O F F I C E R ’ S C O L U M N – R U S S E L L R E E S A u t u m n e d i t i o n

“The CFA firefighterof today is not

the rider of a bigred chariot.”

Community education is not something CFA neither does exclusively duringthe Summer Fire Season nor is it something properly understood from onequick radio or TV grab.

And good community education must result in people understanding what to doso that they can work in partnership with CFA. Too often we as firefighters thinkonly about response actions and not the bigger picture.

As we all know emergencies are not restricted to a particular season. As we enterthe Winter Fire Season, the community must be equally as vigilant because therisk is more sinister than in summer.

Therefore our community education must always be in place throughout the yearso that the community can adopt a ‘multi-hazard approach’ to safety.

Great credit must be given to those involved in the set up and operations of theBushfire Information Line which was a successful proactive initiative to keep thecommunity aware of bushfires. Winter demands different, but equally as effective, mechanisms.

It is important to make certain that our ‘fire plan’ promotions are alwaysachievable and easily understood. Sometimes the quick media grab over simplifiesthe message. An example of this is CFA’s advice about ‘staying and defendingproperty or leaving early’. We understand the message but how well do wetranslate that to the community?

When a community reaches the understanding that it does have a role to play,only then can it become a truly effective partner with the fire service.

A well-informed community quickly realises that fire prevention is not the soledomain of technical experts in the fire brigade, but a shared responsibility. Localresidents should exercise the most effective protection.

This is when the community starts to think and behave in harmony with its firefighters.

Doing the person-to-person stuff, whether it is at a meeting or when dad brings thekids into the station to see the red truck, will not only help convince thecommunity about the importance of fire safety, but also equip people to carry itout if they are threatened.

The CFA firefighter of today is not the rider of a big red chariot. One could arguethat whenever we have to send out the truck, things have gone seriously wrongwith our community communication.

A competent fire safe community was beautifully illustrated last year in Geelongwhen eight-year-old Kisha Hutchinson went to the aid of her younger brother whohad set himself alight at their home. Kisha saved her brother from more seriousburns when she got him to ‘stop, drop and roll’ - resulting from a visit to herschool by CFA firefighters.

(See page 14 for Kisha’s story.)

Let us use every opportunity to reinforce the message that prevention is alwaysbetter than cure.

Russell Rees

Director of Operations/Chief Officer

Brigade Magazine

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B O A R D R E P O R T – w i t h L E N F O S T E R A u t u m n e d i t i o n

“Integration ofvolunteers and

career staff is tobe encouraged

across CFA”

Charity Status

Advocacy over three years has headed off the threat to CFA tax benefits anddonations to brigades. As I reported to you in the October Brigade, the Boardgave the go ahead for CFA to put its submission to the Board of Taxation.

In addition I had meetings with a senior advisor to the Federal Treasurer PeterCostello and a Deputy Commissioner of Taxation. Also a wider campaign was ledby the Australasian Fire Authorities Council (AFAC) on behalf of member agenciesand emergency service volunteers. As a result CFA will have recognition as acharitable organisation for the purpose of tax deductibility for donations receivedand various GST benefits under the Income Taxation Assessment Act.

Fire Stations

The Board considered a report on the design and use of CFA’s future fire stations.The report advised that CFA now gets good value for money under the presentmethods of designing and constructing fire stations. It identified areas where CFAcan improve the processes used in design and maintenance. The Board has set outguidance for the Executive Management Team:• A fire station is a powerful symbol of CFA as an active, essential part of the

local community;• Integration of volunteers and career staff is to be encouraged across CFA;• CFA fire stations are to continue to be available for community activities

associated with supporting and strengthening CFA’s volunteer culture.

Private Equipment

“Mutual cooperation” and a Code of Practice are proposed for CFA management ofprivate equipment at fires. Following the Board’s consideration, CFA is talking withinterested parties including the Victorian Farmers Federation, Victorian WorkcoverAuthority and Department of Primary Industries. The use of private equipment wasraised in investigations of the fatal fires at Linton and Rockbank.

Fire Refuges

The Board reviewed various recommendations on CFA policy on fire refuges andcommunity education. CFA is working with the Office of the Emergency ServicesCommissioner (OESC) on a State Government draft policy and practice guide. AlsoCFA has been working locally with councils and community groups on preparation,options and safe actions for residents during wildfire.

CFA Act

A complete rewrite of the Country Fire Authority Act is underway. The Board hasappointed a Steering Committee to identify the changes. The task will take two years.

Workshop

A combined Board-Executive Management Team workshop has given us a clearerdefinition of CFA’s growing role as an emergency management agency; a preview ofCFA’s future structure; and ways to achieve the full integration of CFA people andthe organisation structure under the Board’s priority of One CFA.

Len Foster

Chairman

Brigade Magazine6

A u t u m n e d i t i o n

Aline marking truck is heading in the direction of Falls Creek,along the Bogong High Plains Road when the driver losescontrol. It disappears down the side of the mountain, rolling

many times, leaving a trail of debris behind it. It comes to rest130m below the road on a 70deg slope, a fallen log and two giantboulders preventing it from falling any further. Luckily the driverlies underneath the truck, which rests on the log 3-4m above him.The cabin itself is completely smashed. As the driver lies there, witha fractured clavicle and scapular, a fractured C4 (spine), broken ribs,a deflated lung, internal bleeding and a fractured femur, he couldhear a beeping sound coming from the cabin reminding him that heleft his keys in the car.

Two brothers are out on an early morning ride when they discoversome paint and equipment strewn across the road. It’s obvious thatit had fallen off the back of a truck, so they stop and move it to theside of the road. By chance they look over the edge of the road andnotice a trail of destruction. It looks like an accident but they can’tsee a vehicle. They try yelling out and a voice responds. Withdifficulty they clamber down and find the driver in a bad way. Oneheads off to raise the alarm while the other comforts the driver.

Its now just past seven in the morning and the day is heating upquickly. Mt. Beauty CFA Captain Craig Brown arrives at theaccident scene and sends 1st Lieutenant Steven Barbour andFirefighter Paul Macklan down the slope to see what needs to bedone. From the roadside he can’t even see the truck, instead thereis just destruction. Later Macklan describes the scene as “lookinglike a bomb has exploded, there was debris hanging 20 feet high intrees.”

By now MICA-Paramedic Ian Martin has arrived and made his waydown the slope to the patient. Mt. Beauty CFA begins to clear rocksfrom above the patient. If any of these large rocks become dislodgedthey could hit those below or worse unsettle the truck, which doesn’tappear at all stable.

Mt. Beauty CFA road rescue arrives along with brigades from FallsCreek and Tawonga. Barbour and Macklan join Martin down at thepatient. Upon seeing the crushed cabin Barbour remarks, “I hopethere’s nobody in there.” It’s lucky that there isn’t although there isserious concern that the truck could pivot forward onto the patient.

Back up at the roadside Mt. Beauty 2nd Lieutenant Robert O’Connoris beginning to set up for a rope rescue. The downside for him isthat he can’t even see the truck and the guys working below inform

him that the most obvious route risks dislodging logs and rocks ontothe patient. Eventually he manages to drop the ropes 70m down theslope and then redirect them to the patient.

Using the ropes it is now possible to pass equipment down to thosebelow. Martin, a paramedic for 28 years, is busily trying to stabilizethe patient. Macklan begins to work on the truck. A couple of propssecure it as it hangs like a canopy above the patient.

An air ambulance arrives carrying two paramedics. The slope is sosteep that the idea of dragging the patient up on a litter is consideredto be extremely difficult. An idea is considered that the tray of thetruck is used as a platform and the helicopter will then winch thepatient out. After a quick check the pilot decides that nearbypowerlines make it far too dangerous. The helicopter lands by the roadside.

Bogong truck triumphA routine bike ride for two brothers on Bogong High Plains Road turned into a full scale emergency after they leanedover an edge and noticed a trail of destruction. ALEX TWOMEY reports on a tricky rescue that saved one man’s life.

Teamwork saves the day in…

Story continued Page 8

RESCUE: It was all hands on deck after a truck drove off a cliff on the way to Falls Creek. CFA and other emergency services worked as a team to save a Geelong man’s life.

7Brigade Magazine


“There is no way that it would havegone as smoothly as it did if we hadn’t

done the right training.”Mt Beauty CFA 2nd Lieutenant Robert O’Connor

By now there are about 30 people working at the accident site. Thetwo paramedics from the air ambulance are already wearingharnesses, so they are simply attached to the ropes and sent downto the patient.

It takes an hour for the paramedics to prepare the patient forremoval.

The patient is then placed on a spine board and then onto a litter.Fourteen people are at roadside pulling on the ropes, while six carrythe litter. It is slow going. The mountainside is so steep its almostimpossible to lift the litter. The ground is also so uneven andcovered in rocks and logs that Macklan describes it as “a bloodynightmare.”

The journey up the slope is stop start.

The litter is moved a few feet, then lifted over a log or rock. Thenall the litter bearers have to reposition themselves before it can be

9Brigade Magazine


Tactical timeline continued

7:44: Mt. Beauty CFA Rescue arrives. They begin toprepare for retrieval by rope of the patient. Martinworks on stabilizing the patient while CFAmembers secure the truck.

8:39: Helicopter arrives carrying two paramedics. Theyare taken down to the accident site. The twoparamedics and Martin take an hour to ready thepatient to be moved, due to the seriousness of hisinjuries. In this time Tawonga and Falls Creekbrigades have arrived to provide assistance. Theday is extremely hot and the ropes are used tolower water, oxygen, plasma replacement andother vital items.

9:37: The patient is placed on a litter and is ready to bemoved. Six people carry the litter with severalothers helping. About 14 people are on the roadpulling on the ropes.

10:11: Patient reaches roadside. Paramedics work onpatient for another 20 minutes to stabilize himagain.

10:31: Patient is evacuated on the helicopter to AlfredHospital.

Training pays off

For Mt. Beauty CFA road rescue, this was by far the hardestrescue they had ever done. “We’ve used the ropes before, inearlier rescues,” said O’Connor, “but it’s been a case of, yes

the ropes made it easier but it would have been possible to do itwithout them. In this one you couldn’t have done it without the ropes.”

CFA training played a vital role in the rescue. “There is no waythat it would have gone as smoothly as it did,” O’Connor said, “ifwe hadn’t done the right training.” The brigade also trained withFalls Creek and Tawonga brigades on a regular basis. “The supportwe got from Falls Creek and Tawonga was invaluable,” said Brown.

The result was that the patient is expected to recover with no longterm or permanent disability. “The father came up to look at theaccident site a few weeks later,” Brown said, “he couldn’t believewe got him up.”

The brigade also received praise from Martin, the paramedic, whowrote in to the local paper expressing his appreciation of theirefforts. “The helipilot was also rapt with the job we did,” saidMacklan, “and coming from a bloke who does this as a job andwere just volunteers, it makes you feel pretty good.”

Brigade Magazine10


Wulgulmerang may have been a lonely place on a hot summer’s day last year, but as PETER PHILP found out on a recent visit to the area, their communityspirit has never been stronger. He talks to some of the people who are getting their lives back on track after last year’s devastating Campaign Fires.

REVIVAL: Members of the Wulgulmerang community are fighting back after the devastation caused by last year’s CampaignFires which caused widespread damage to the area. PHOTOS: Peter Philp.

It’s been a rocky road but….

Wulgulmerang’s fighting back

When I mentioned Wulgulmerang,the CFA officer replied; “That’swhere our people really got hurt.”

I hadn’t heard a phrase with that degree ofpassion since the Linton tragedy. And theofficer was right. Standing in the ruins of theonce conspicuous landmark of the highcountry - the Seldom Seen Service Station, Ilistened to the experiences of our people.Many are still grieving their losses; most areangry about what didn’t happen when theyfaced the adversary alone, but all werehonest and displaying the determinationthat has fashioned generations of CFA volunteers.

Wulgulmerang was devastated by last year’sCampaign Fires on Thursday, 30, January 2003.

You don’t find better than Blue Minchin -scarred by drought, bushfire and sheer hardwork. He’s been a CFA volunteer since hewas 16 - that’s 52 years. His dad was CFAcaptain at Bonang.

“I saw the fire coming from behind myhome. My brother said ‘shouldn’t you ringup and tell somebody.’ I said ‘there’ssomebody up in the tower’ - they’ll knowmore than me. But there was no one in thetower. Then I was told there was a fire inthe Wire Paddock, (the first paddock in thedistrict fenced in wire) and it was comingtowards me in a big way. It was said I wasbest to get out as the brigade could not get alocal crew because they were all defendingtheir own properties,” Blue said.

All Blue had was a small pump and fewdrums of water. So he hurried over to theneighbouring property. Later the two fires joined.

“My house burned down - lost everybuilding on the property. It was

defendable,” he insisted. “ There weretracks around the place and the coldest firewas around my house. I say that with onefire truck there I could have saved my house.”

Despite losing everything including stock,Blue was not prepared to give up.

“I’ve been knocked down so many timesbefore but I got up again and I’ll do itagain,” he said.

Twelve months later Blue has rebuilt hishome, sheds, stockyards and most fences.

Former DSE dog trapper and CFAvolunteer, Gordon Moon, knew the fire wascoming because he’d heard it was jumpingevery control line. After a 10-day wait, it arrived.

“It went pitch dark. It was frightening. Spotfires began and then came in therehundreds. When the wind with the force ofthe fire came, we had to go into the house.A pump spraying into the fire gradually gotslower and slower and stopped. We hadburned the bush around our home inSpring. Even so, I saw balls of flamescoming over that bush,” Gordon recalled.

The Moons lost two hay sheds and 900sheep and 40 cattle. Had the family notstayed and defended their home, Gordon iscertain it would have been destroyed. Butthere were moments when he thought thehouse would go.

“When shrubs, with a hose trained on them,began crackling and burned, I thought thisis it,” Gordon said.


Brigade Magazine 11

If there is a next time, Gordon would like to see fire trucks stay in the area and in

the meantime more fuel reduction burns.

Gelantipy firefighter Bill Livingstone knew he could not be in two places at once.

He had spent a couple of days making fire breaks at his Wulgulmerang farm. His wife

rang from their property in Buchan saying embers were falling around that area and

wanted him to return. Embers were also falling in Wulgulmerang so he decided to

stay put.

“I started to put them out. But it got worse. Then the wind came and it was just like a

hail storm of embers. It got out of hand - the front was coming through,” Bill recalled.

He took shelter inside his house. He looked out the window - the place was

surrounded by fire. He said that when the windows started exploding ‘I knew

I was in the shit.’

“The flames came in and were licking the ceiling. By that stage I couldn’t breathe.

I thought I might make a beeline for another house about 100 metres away.

I grabbed a blanket. The decking outside was all on fire. It just turned to coals.

I could see the other house just going up in flames. The flames were pouring out of

the wool shed. There was no going back or forward,” he said.

Bill’s grader was in the centre of the yard and he ran to it and sheltered behind the

vehicle’s wheels until the front went through. According to Bill, it seemed like hours

but it was probably only 20 minutes. The embers were blowing under the grader,

while above him, a 2000-gallon iron tank flew over about 50-feet in the air before

crashing into a shed.

Bill lost everything - including his stock.

Firefighter David Woodburn did not have a chance to save his shop, garage or house

at Seldom Seen that his father had carved out of the bush in the 1960s.

“The fire came in so quickly, driven by 100 ‘k’ winds. I just bolted with my little

Whippet, Dasher. The fire hit my house almost straight away. I thought I might lose

one or the other but never the shop, garage and house too,” David recalled.

A water pump was going and the gutters were full of water but it didn’t help.

“The roar of the fire was terrible. I was by myself. My brother Michael was

over the road trying to save his home,” he said.

Surrounded by fire, David poured water over himself, put a tea-towel on his head

and jumped into the dam with Dasher.

“I knew that I’d get through it - that was always my plan. I had to think positive,”

he said. “When I got out of the dam and nothing was left, I felt pretty emotional.”

A year later David is just surviving in makeshift accommodation. Full recovery could

be a lifetime away. The ruins of the Seldom Seen service station are still the centre

of the community. There is an urgent need for reconciliation between these

firefighters and the wider CFA family. But as local, Bob Boys, reminded me:

“I don’t think the spirit of this community has ever been stronger - it has brought

us together.”

“I got out of the dam and nothing was left, I felt prettyemotional. I thought I might lose

one or the other, but never the shop, garage and house too”

David Woodburn

CFA injury rate continues to decline

The rate of serious injuries thatrequire medical attention orother attention continues to

decline in CFA members. There hasbeen a three per cent reduction inserious injuries in 02/03 compared tothe previous five-year average. Itneeds to be considered that the figuresfor 02/03 include the injuriessustained during the major campaignfires that occurred last summer. This positive trend has also continued.

Improvements can still be made.Reporting of injuries and near misses(an incident which had the potentialto cause harm) is just one area whereour performance can improve. AllCFA brigades should have a personalinjury/near miss report book thatshould be in a location, accessible to everyone.

Release of Manual HandlingTraining CD

After 18 months, CFA's ManualHandling Training CD has beenreleased. It aims to provide memberswith skill and knowledge to decreasetheir risk of injuries. The interactiveCD covers areas such as the definitionof manual handling, the structure andthe function of the human body,through to strategies you can use todecrease your risk of injury.

Currently the Areas and the AreaOHS Committees are considering themost effective method of releasingthis CD Rom to suit theirenvironment. You will be able to playit at home, or if you have access to alaptop and a large TV/ data projector,it could be run as a training sessionwith your Brigade.

Working with MFB to decrease theirManual Handling injuries.

CFA OHS Officer Jacqui Wood wasasked to provide training to MFB'sWestern Zone stations.

Towards the end of the training, oneMFB station had to respond to anincident and applied the principlespresented and practiced during thesession.

Manual Handling Risk Assessments

Manual Handling Risk Assessmentsaim to identify the key factors thatcontribute to a person suffering aManual Handling Injury.

Recently, two members of GrovedaleFire Brigade, Captain Keith Ross and

Stewart Constable, in conjunctionwith Mark Harvey (Instructor), wereinvolved in undertaking manualhandling risk assessments of twotraining trailers used within theBarwon Corangamite Area.

The process involved videotaping andthen using the Code of Practice toanalyse each task undertaken by thegroup. The risk assessments are goingto form part of a database to providesupport to regions and brigades andto identify methods of improvingtheir equipment.

Brigade Magazine12


Safety culture is workingThe good news is there has been a three per cent reduction in serious injuries in the CFA during 02/03. However, Manual Handlingcontinues to be the largest cause of injury involving CFA members. OHS Officer, JACQUI WOOD, explains the details in full.

Man

ual H

andli

ng

13Brigade Magazine


Mapping for the futureManager of GIS Services, MARK GARVEY, explains to Brigade Magazine, some bright new initiatives like updating andproviding topographic maps, as well as providing access to quality local maps in Alpine fires.

Arecent Victorian forum to address the issue of the

accuracy, currency and availability of hardcopy

maps has demonstrated the widespread problem

of outdated hardcopy maps.

It highlighted 39 per cent of the state's current hardcopy

topographic maps are over 20-years old.

The Victorian Government have extensive electronic

data bases housing the data that goes into the creation of

topographic maps, therefore it is possible to create new

digital or paper maps.

The Fire Management Branch of the Department of

Sustainability and Environment (DSE) wanted to create

a series of digital maps that could be easily read on all

computers, without requiring expensive software.

The Fire map CD was originally developed by DSE Fire

Management to provide staff with an up-to-date,

searchable topographic map base.

Fire Map CD is a mapping product that allows users

access to 1:25,000 and 1:100,000 scale topographic

maps for the state.

Following its successful adoption by DSE staff, the

broader emergency management community has

expanded the latest Fire Map CD for use.

New features of the Fire Map CD include the addition of

ESO data (i.e. office and station locations) and an

enhanced user interface.

The Fire Map CD product is also available as a series of

geo-referenced images for incorporation into Region and

Area GIS software to provide a seamless statewide

topographic map base.

Maps Online

The development of the CFA Website (Brigades Online)

presented a great opportunity to distribute digital maps

to a much wider CFA audience.

Maps Online, an extension of Brigades Online, was

developed in 2003 to provide the vehicle to share these

new products with all CFA Volunteers and staff.Maps

Online is a collection of thousands of different maps

covering all of Victoria that can be accessed via Brigades

Online and the new staff intranet.

All CFA Staff and Volunteers with access to the website

can download and manipulate digital maps. A brigade

area can be searched for, and then a range of maps for

each area opened.

Maps can be 'exported' into a Microsoft Word template.

Using the template will mean that your map can be

printed with important information included on the

page, including scale, a legend of features, a title and

copyright statements. Templates are available for fires,

floods and search and rescue operations.

All maps on the site will open in a PDF format that can

be saved to local computers or printed.

The range of maps you can choose from includes CFA

Map book pages, ESMAP pages and all of the Fire Map

CD topographic maps. Every brigade is covered by this

service.

'Commonly Requested Maps' like Total Fire Ban District

maps, Electoral Boundary/CFA Area Maps and many

others, are also available.

To access the digital maps all you need is access to

Brigades Online and Acrobat, a free web viewer.

If you wish to manipulate the maps (i.e. adding notes or

information such as fire location) this can be done using

Microsoft Word.

Brigade Magazine14


If you’re heading down Geelong-way these days, you’ll have a constantreminder that littering can be a very dangerous business. New signs in Januaryurging motorists not to litter are about getting the message across that thosewho fling cigarette butts out their car-windows can cause damage to theenvironment and ultimately the community. PHOTO: Courtesy of Reg Ryan; Echo

Pointing the finger right at littering

Auction night plannedMetropolitan Ambulance Service iscontinuing its care.

The tragic loss of Healesville paramedicsRob Bland and Phil Oakley, who died aftertheir ambulance ran off the road andcrashed into a tree on the MaroondahHighway in early January, is still being feltby fellow workers.

A special auction night is being planned toraise money for their families but a venue isyet to be found. Lindsay Fox has offered hisvintage car museum but it may not be largeenough, so the search continues.

In the meantime, the organising team islooking for items of value that can beauctioned on the night.

Any CFA members who would like todonate something should contact AndyWatson 0412 980 408 or [email protected]

Chairlift rescue recognisedCFA’s leading part in the rescue operation at the Arthur’s Seat Chairlift,

more than a year ago, has been recognised. IAN MAJOR reports.

The CFA has been given a big tick for its part in the rescue

operation at the Arthur’s Seat Chairlift.

Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Andre’ Haermeyer,

presented Victorian Unit Meritorious Service Awards to

representatives of 11 organisations who played their part in the

operation, on 3 January 2003, when 83 stranded passengers were

rescued from the chairlift.

CFA’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO),

Neil Bibby, had the honour of accepting the award from Minister

Haermeyer on behalf of all CFA members who took part in the

rescue operation.

CFA was the controlling body in the major incident. The

presentation took place, Wednesday, February 11, at the

Mornington Peninsula Shire Council Offices in Rosebud.

Emergency Services Commissioner, Bruce Esplin, conducted the

event and also representing CFA were Operations Officers, Graeme

Kirk and Trevor Owen, Group Officer of Peninsula Region, Graeme

Hind, Operations Manager, Steve Warrington, and Captain of

Dromana Urban Fire Brigade, Charles King.

Rewarded for braveryChief Officer Russell Rees presentedGeelong girl, Kisha Hutchinson, 8, with abravery certificate in December.

Russell and Barwon Corangamite AreaOperations Manager, Bob Barry, went toKisha’s school, Corio West Primary, topresent her with a certificate for helping herthree-year-old brother when he set himselfalight at their home.

Kisha saved her brother from more severeabdominal burns when she got him to ‘stop,drop and roll’, as she’d learned at school,last year.

Russell said to Kisha’s classmates, teachersand family, when presenting her with thecertificate: “Kisha is a very special girl whohelped her brother and we’re proud ofKisha. She did a wonderful thing for her brother.”

He said CFA had nominated Kisha for aRoyal Humane Society bravery award.

Pet food factory fireFirefighters recently attended a blaze atUncle Ben’s, a pet food factory, in Wodonga.Three fire crews attended the fire that wasconfined to a high voltage sub-station.

Fire Officer, Graeme Neil, said the mainconcern was cutting power to the room.

“The fire started at 3pm and was containedby 3.37 pm,” Neil said.

“Most of this time was (spent) waiting forthe power to be shut off.”

The fire was then quickly extinguished.

“Once the power was out it became anormal situation,” Neil said.

He said there was no sign of a short circuit,with a possible cause being a build up ofdust or lint.

The fire was costly for Uncle Ben’s with(approx) $250,000 worth of product havingto be thrown out and production stoppedwhile damage was repaired.


Brigade Magazine 15

CFA’s Safety First culture is spreading to theanimal kingdom. In regions 23 and 24,(Wangaratta and Wodonga), pony clubs andhorse enthusiasts have been included in theBushfire Blitz program.

“Most horses are extremely loved membersof the family and live in bushfire pronearea’s,” Glenn Wilson, a volunteer withTallangatta Valley CFA, said.

Wilson explained often during a bushfirehorses panic, resulting in injuries that couldhave been avoided with a bushfire plan.

He said horses exposed to the radiant heatof a bushfire rarely survive.

“I thought, ‘as we volunteers dress ourselvesup in Proban-treated, high visibilityoveralls’, then why not dress a horsesimilarly?” Wilson said.

Enough material for a full set of protectivehorse rugs was then secured, before Wilsonmade the set. The end result is fireresistant, high visibility overalls for a 15.5hands horse. Alex Twomey

Nothing horsy about safety

Sights set on 2006Former Commonwealth Games trapshooting Gold Medallist Nessa Jenkins, avolunteer with CFA’s Buangor-Middle CreekFire Brigade, has missed out on selection forthe Athens Olympics later this year.

However, her mum, Rosie, said Nessa hopedto make the team for the CommonwealthGames, to be held in Melbourne in 2006.

“It was a bit disappointing that she missedout by only a few points, Nessa will now aimfor the Commonwealth team,” Rosie said.

Jodie Guest

Chemical fireprompts CFA warningCFA has again warned people of theneed to follow instructions regardingchemical storage after a chemical firein Sunbury.

The which may have been prevented ifthe right measures had have beenadhered to, smouldered for a daybefore burning after breaking out fromoil-soaked rags in a shed.

The fire, caused $6000 damageaccording to Sunbury CFA captain,Steve Riley.

It broke out early on January 29 andRiley re-iterated the fact that peoplemust be aware that they should followinstructions regarding chemicals andthe storage, clean up and disposal ofthe contents.

Charity Bed RaceOn Sunday 8 February five CFA memberstook part in a Charity Bed Race to helpraise money for Scope Victoria. The race,which was staged at the St Kilda Festival,consisted of a range of obstacles includingpushing a hospital trolley down the race track.

Whilst neither CFA nor MFB made it to thegrand final heat, a friendly race between thetwo services ensued. Sadly though MFBwere the winners on this occasion.However, the CFA team did win a prize inthe ‘Best Dressed Category’ (and clearlyhave superior uniforms). Amber Johnston

WARNING: Sunbury CFA put out a chemical fire in a shed, thatcould have been prevented with correct measures in place.PHOTO: Courtesy of Ray Fleming; Macedon Ranges-Sunbury Telegraph.

Price is Right for CFAIn early February Grundy’s Televisionapproached several of the emergencyservices to participate in a special screeningof The Price Is Right.

Fifty CFA members took part with thechance at winning the showcase and overfive episodes six were told to ‘come on down’.

Shaun McRoberts of Boronia won gardenmachinery and tyres totalling $3900. KellieCarpenter of Lara, Jayde Lovell, and DaveCooper of Lower Yarra were also called ascontestants. Michael O’Dwyer of Warragulwon a $5,000 holiday and a $500 vacuum,but perhaps the biggest star of the CFAshow was Max Dunn; a volunteer fromTaggerty, who won a car valued at $21,080!Congratulations to Max and the rest of theCFA winners.

Brigade Magazine


16

Pubs with no beer

The old story of the pub with no beeroccurred for short periods at twoestablishments around the

Christmas/New Year period.

The first to have the taps turned off for abrief period was Kelly’s Hotel inCranbourne, after a blaze ripped throughthe top floor of the hotel on December 15.

But Manager Michael Goldie didn’t let thepunters down and had the pub backoperating in 24 hours. He said it couldn’thave happened without the quick thinkingof Cranbourne CFA, who arrived at thescene within 15 minutes of the fire breakingout.

Goldie wasn’t the only publican singing theCFA’s praises, so too was Brett Malseed, ofthe George Hotel in Hamilton, who was alsoleft without cold beer when the electricitywent out after a fire started in a power boxoutside the hotel. CFA and SES volunteersworked to quickly put smiles back on thefaces of all thirsty patrons.

CFA comes up sweet again

What started at a local level two yearsago has grown to a major operationsupplying lollies across the state.

The original idea was to seek corporatesponsorship from a lolly manufacturer toassist brigades and save them the hard workand money in chasing donations every year.Once again Cadbury Schweppes offered tosupport CFA by donating 40,000 bags ofPascal Jelly Babies worth an estimated$22,000.

Brigades who missed out on this year’sprogram but would like to take part nextyear are encouraged [email protected].

Age shall not weary him

Colin Silcock-Delaney reckons thatsince he “doesn’t drink, smoke or goout with women”, athletics is his

only vice – to the point where he’scompeted in runs on most continents.

The Cobden brigade (Region 7) member andpresident of the Ex-Fireman’s Association,who will turn 72 later this year, almost diedfrom a twisted bowel two years ago, and hassince had a “couple of spots of cancer”removed from his shoulders.

The spry athlete, who joined CFA in 1958,was CFA’s most senior participant in thePolice and Emergency Services Games heldat venues throughout the state from 21-29 February.

He began running 50 years ago duringNational Service, after a childhood spent inorphanages and homes, and since 1979, hastravelled the world running – in places likeGermany, England, New Zealand, North andSouth America, Europe, Scandinavia, Japanand of course, Australia.

“I’ve done 24 Melbourne marathons and amplanning to do my last one this year – get 25and then retire,” he said. “ I’ve always beenfitness-minded and I think you just gethooked on it – the adrenaline.”

Colin said in addition to running, cycling

and going for a walk each day, taking care of

Ex-Fireman’s Association and CFA business,

he also does volunteer work for the Port

Campbell Art and Craft Group and the

Cobden branch of the St Vincent De Paul

Society.

More on Colin in next edition’s SMOKO.

Black panther was really a possum

When a modern day damsel is in

distress, call CFA.

South Gippsland Councillor, Diane

Casbolth, was awoken in the early hours of

the morning by a crashing noise so she went

to the bathroom to investigate. A broken

skylight was lying on the floor. Returning to

her bedroom, Diane saw this huge animal

prowling around her darkened lounge room.

“I quickly slammed the bedroom door,

wondering what I was going to do. I wasn’t

prepared to go out and find the phone book

so I rang 000 and asked for CFA,” she said.

Fish Creek members Mick Dorling and

Neville Pulham were quickly on scene. The

only way they could get in was through the

Councillor’s bedroom window.

“They went into the lounge to investigate.

There was Captain Mick Dorling saying to

this huge animal ‘Come on mate’ and it

followed him outside. They told me it was a

friendly brush-tail possum. I still think it

was a big black tiger.”

Councillor Diane Casbolt told the story at

the recent opening of the new Fish Creek

and District Fire Brigade station at Sandy

Point to demonstrate the commitment

volunteers have to their community.

“It’s magic how they put themselves out to

serve the community,” South Gippsland

Councillor Casbolt said.

CFA volunteers came out at 2 am, as happy

as Larry. They didn’t make me feel like a

stupid female who had a possum in her

house. They helped me and made me

feel okay.”

SmirkQuirk The CFA is about a lot more than fighting fires, and every day in its ever-

expanding role as a Broader Emergency Service members are called to allsorts of incidents. Here, we profile just some of the diversity of roles theCFA plays within the community.&

Can’t get enough about fires, firees andwhat makes them tick?This book could be for you. Author

Keith Bailey has put together a solidbackground on the fire service inmetropolitan Adelaide and the charactersthat helped make it a great work place.

There are many wonderful anecdotes andwhile some of the details will be superfluousto many, I suspect the author isdocumenting information for historicalpurposes as well as producing a book ofinterest to firees everywhere as well asmembers of the public.

You’ll get a chuckle from many pranksplayed. An officer growing tomatoes within aglass-enclosed watchtower has his prizedproduce surprisingly attacked by snails! A

night when a generous meal of birds didn’thave a happy ending and there’s anotherincident where a deputy ‘s wife’s budgie‘lost’ its whistle! The antics of George Haguealso deserve special mention.

Learn how Fred Kerr started moves for aunion. Fred originally worked a regular 126hours a week, then later took a downgradingto First Grade Senior Fireman so he wasn’tworking 112 hours a week and he and hiswife wouldn’t be compelled to live at Brigade HQ.

The final chapter involves details of big jobsthe brigades handled, including six menheading out to a ship on fire that was loadedwith 120 tons of gelignite and dynamite.They make films out of tales like this one. One obvious erroneous claim; Don Newton,

a S.A. fireman, footballer and boxer, wholater became secretary of the SAFB wasn’tfirst, in 1954, to present a night footballmatch in Australia. That honour goes to theMCG, Melbourne v Carlton, August 1879.

When The Bells Drop is a hard cover bookwith quality paper, providing interesting andentertaining stories, facts and photographs.


Brigade Magazine 17

Review by IAN MAJOROur desks are regularly filled with fascinating material that all firefighterswould enjoy surveying. We rate the best of these in this review section.

Name: When the Bells Drop

Author: Keith Bailey (former firefighter)

Price: $30 (plus $8 postage)

Summary: 224 page hard cover of recollections

from the former SA fire Brigade

Rating: ★★★

★ Poor ★★ Average ★★★ Good

★★★★ VGood ★★★★★ Excellent

Equipment Update

The new Brontos will becommissioned for full service assoon as training of qualified

operators is complete, and are likely tobe fully operational by May.

The platform boom is 37 metres whenfully-extended, compared to the 22metres offered by the Abbeys they’rereplacing. The arm can also go fivemetres below the body of the truck,giving a total range of 42 metres.

The Brontos weigh 26.9 tonnes each, are11.8 metres long, and are the biggestfiretrucks ever commissioned by CFA.The bodies were made by Scania inFinland and the fitout was finished bySkilled Engineering’s Ballarat workshops.

The Brontos’ stabilising units can beoperated in manual or automatic modes,or a combination of both, and allow forthree “flight paths” – full jacking, narrowjacking and one-sided jacking.

Leading Firefighter John Griffiths, ofBendigo Fire Station, said theirtechnology and advanced features madeit possible for the Brontos to “go wherethey otherwise wouldn’t be able to” –for example, into alleys or against hillsides.

John said the new platforms were assetsto the CFA fleet: “The features are moreadvanced. With the Abbeys, it’s likecomparing a CD to a gramophone.”

He said in comparision to the Abbeys, the Brontos featured extremelyfluid movement and were easier to manoeuver.

“They’re smooth and have stability andease of operation. There’s automatic ormanual leveling (of the ‘cage’) – theAbbeys were all manual. And with threeflight paths, they’re so versatile. For fulljacking, it needs 5.7 metres; for one-sided 4.4 metres, and for narrow jacking 3.1 metres.”

Brontos set to operateTwo new Bronto Skylift platforms, worth $1.2 million each, are about to go into full service atBallarat City and Bendigo fire stations. JODIE GUEST reports on some new CFA equipment.

Brigade Magazine18

Experience ‘Lions on the Edge’ at Werribee OpenRange Zoo The new walking trail promises a sense of personal discovery, withvisitors experiencing an audio/visual presentation while following thepath of a lion as he tracks down lunch, avoids the local farmers,sneaks up on Kudu at a waterhole and finally takes over a ranger'struck for an afternoon nap.This exciting new visitor experience complements the Zoo's popularAfrican Walking Trail by taking visitors on a journey of tantalisingdiscovery, coming face to face with Cheetah, Serval Cats, VervetMonkeys and Meerkats, culminating in amazing close views of apride of lions in a savannah landscape. Safari tours are included inthe admission price and allow visitors to view Rhinoceros, Giraffe,Hippopotamus and Waterbuck co-existing in large natural exhibits.Open every day of the year from 9.00am to 5.00pm. Safari tours depart from 10.30am with the last tour at3.40pm.Adults admission $18.00,Children $9.00, Family $45.00 (2A+2C). Members receive 10% Discount off Admission.

FOR MORE INFORMATIONCall 9731 9600 or visit www.zoo.org.auMelways ref p201 D1

Thanks for yourcontribution!All CFA and VICSES membersare invited to takeadvantage of thesespecially negotiatedoffers from a rangeof providers across Victoria.

We’ve got something for everyone – special offers and discountsthat all members can use, a variety for the whole family.Emergency Memberlink is looking at ways in which we can make adifference in your daily life. We hope you find the savings throughMemberlink rewarding, relevant and substantial.Full details on all of the benefits are available from the EmergencyMemberlink Website at www.emergencymemberlink.com.au

NEED A CARD? Call 1800 232 636 or fill in our Card Request form onlineat the Memberlink Website. Alternatively email [email protected] andwe’ll get one out to you.PLEASE NOTE: Memberlink cards can only be issued to memberswho have passed their probationary period. If you’re an Auxiliarymember, we need written confirmation of your status from yourBrigade Secretary or Captain (email or letter).

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Brigade Magazine 19

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Brigade Magazine20

Emergency Memberlink offers

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Brigade Magazine 21

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Special pricing on the entire range of Bridgestone and Firestone passenger and Statewide ✆ 131 229light truck tyres. View the full special pricing list on the Memberlink Website.

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Brigade Magazine22


Major save at Forrest SawmillCLEAN-UP: Members of the CFA clean-up after the Forrest Sawmill fire which had the makings of a dangerous situation. PHOTO: Courtesy of Peter Edwards; The Warrnambool Standard.

One CFA Operations Officer said it was the best save he’d seen in 13 years, IAN MAJOR reports on a tricky rescue at the Forrest Sawmill by CFA crews.

“ I’ve been 13 years in major stationsand I’ve never seen a better save.They did really well and believe me, I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.”

CFA Operations Officer Nick Brown.

Considering where the fire wassituated and the material that wasburning, this was a great save in

anyone’s language.

With a kiln alight at the Forrest (32km southof Colac) Sawmill, exposing the rest of themill, as well as a caravan park to the north,nearby forest to the east, and township closeby on the west, it had the makings of anextremely dangerous situation.

What confronted the first crews was a firethat had taken hold of the kiln with thewalls already breached and the flamessoaring from the roof.

After receiving details from the Forrestcrew, upon his arrival, Incident Controllerand Gerangamete Captain, Chris Curragh,stationed a tanker down near a small damclose to the mill.

He deducted it was going to be the quickestand surest way to keep a constant supply ofwater flowing. Then, crews zeroed in on the

kiln and nearby wood stacks to prevent anyspread of the fire.

Curragh remarked: “fortunately we didn’thave winds to contend with”.

The fire occurred only hours after theprevious Total Fire Ban (TFB) ended – afterwinds had been blowing steadily.

High temperatures, a windy day and a fire inthe sawmill could have had repercussionsthe township wouldn’t want to think about.

The Forrest crew had already hooked up tothe ‘mains’ as trucks from Gerangamete andBarwon Downs arrived. Other CFA trucksfrom Yeo, Yeodene and Colac responded tothe call just after 7am, January 21.

Also attending, early on was a tanker andslip-on from DSE.

Tankers were situated at all four corners ofthe kiln and Colac’s pumper replaced thetanker at the dam to speed up water supplyto all units. A hose on the ‘mains’, which

stretched across the road, had beendisconnected earlier.

‘Thank heavens for that dam’, was thegeneral thought from all involved.

A water board official said if they continuedto use town water supply it would be shutdown and trucks would need a secondsupply area some three kilometres away.

The quick and efficient action by firefighterskept the blaze to the kiln. It could havebeen vastly different if it had got into theother stacks of timber, some “only a footaway”, according to Curragh.

Around 10am the fire was under control butthere was a full day’s work ahead with theexcavator stripping the burning debris apartand the crews sitting on it all day until thearson squad arrived around 6pm.

Final damage was listed as $320,000, mainlydue to the loss of Tasmanian Oak timbersthat had been pre-dried and neatly racked.

Trials for CFA’s roll-out of newuniforms for structural firefighterswere held at Fiskville in January.

Five volunteers from throughout the stateparticipated in the trials, held over two daysat the CFA training college.

The volunteers were: Rohan Gordon ofCreswick brigade, George Pantazis, KangarooFlat, Matt Taranto of Bayswater, CraigHooper, Traralgon, and Peter Bishop (aformer Board member) from Mildura.

Safety and information briefings were heldbefore the two-day assessment process gotunderway. All data was independentlycollected and analysed by representativesfrom the National Safety Council of Australia.

The drills consisted of construction and

assembly of the new ensemble; vehicle

access and driving; ladder use; confined

space with BA; BA search and rescue;

structural fire; radiation – gas flange; water

penetration; and construction and assembly

(phase 2). The intention was to expose each

design feature of the ensembles to those

extremes encountered on the fireground.

The Fiskville program was the final in thisdata collection series, the results of whichwill be considered along with the previouslycommissioned Wollongong University Bio-Medical Faulty heat stress testing and willinfluence the final specification.

The final step in the selection process to

develop new structural uniforms is to

proceed with a regional evaluation of the

preferred ensemble, with 80 sets to be

distributed to high activity personnel

throughout the state as part of the

consultative process.

Once the 80 sets have had approximately

two months operational activity in the field,

feedback will be considered by the

Structural Ensemble Consultative

Committee and a final specification

recommendation made to CFA.

• PPC Technical Advisor Don Williams

retired on 27 February, after almost 12 years

with CFA. Structural Ensemble committee

chairman John McCarthy said Don’s work

had ensured CFA people would have the

“best product possible” once the new urban

ensemble was finalised. Jodie Guest


Brigade Magazine 23

Battle in BlightyThe 8th World Firefighters’ Games will beheld in England from August 28 toSeptember 4 this year.

Hosted by South Yorkshire andHumberside brigades, the games will seefire service representatives from aroundthe world compete in 60 events.

To be eligible to compete, interestedpeople must be full-time, part-time,volunteer, retired, industrial or militaryfirefighters, emergency medical staff orfull-time fire service employees, orspouses of the previous categories.

For more information, check the websiteat www.worldfirefightersgames.co.uk.

Open day at DereelAn open day was held at Dereel FireBrigade Station on February 14. Peter Eganfrom Ballarat City Fire Station, brought outthe new Bronto sky lift for the day andbrigade members experienced going up inthe bucket. Kim Stanley- Eyles conductedBushfire Blitz and Community Fireguardsessions with many of the public becominginterested in learning about living in thebush. Junior Brigade members from Dereeland Mannerim put on junior developmentprogram, fire fighting, competition andsafety and survival displays as well as a tugof war event. There was also a display ofDereel's floating collar tank.

Newuniformstrialled

TRIALS: Tests for new uniforms for structural fires were held at Fiskville recently. PHOTOS: Jodie Guest.

Free day at the footballCFA and the emergency services have onceagain been offered free tickets to thefootball in 2004.

While details are still to be confirmed it islikely that the ‘Day of Thanks’ will takeplace on 17 April this year.

Watch for further details on BrigadesOnline, or to register your interest contactPublic Affairs on 9262 8266 or [email protected].

Dependent upon the number of ticketsavailable it will be a case of first in, best dressed.

Brigade Magazine24


Prime mover flips On Wednesday, January 28, a truck carryinga load of timber flipped on its side and slid30m before coming to rest at Burnbank.

CFA personnel were on scene to assess thedamage done to the prime mover and whilethe good news was the driver escapeduninjured, he was taken to hospital for aprecautionary check-up.

A lucky escapeIt was the ultimate case of lady luck playingher part in a big way for a driver whose carfinished up on the top of a three-car pile-upon January 31. The car was left balancing ametre from the Monash Freeway overpassguardrail in Endeavour Hills. Rescue crewsfrom Dandenong Fire Brigade were calledout to the crash and admitted to beingamazed at how lucky the driver of the topcar was, especially considering how easilyhave fallen onto the freeway.

One year on…On the Australia Day long weekend

following last year’s campaign fires, the

people of the Omeo valley held the

inaugural “revival weekend”.

The revival weekend featured pioneer

skills workshops, a bushfire photo and art

display, an ‘old time high country dance’

organised by Omeo CFA brigade, ride-on

lawnmower races and bands playing live.

Organisers said the weekend aimed to

encourage unity with people in bushfire-

affected areas. It also gave locals the

chance to thank firefighters and visitors

the opportunity to learn unique skills and

share stories and memories.

Premier Steve Bracks commends the

Campaign Fires book

- Letters page 36.

The Grand Prix Rally got off to a ‘firey’start for Michael Chapman and GarryVoges recently.

Driving a Porsche in the rally, the crew,became the heroes of the day after comingto the rescue of a local farmer whose tractorhad caught fire.

It wasn’t so much the pair’s speed during thefour competitive tests throughout the day’scompetition, but more their speed in puttingout the fire that had everyone talking.

After noticing the tractor was on fire, the

quick-thinking duo rapidly extinguished theblaze with their on-board safety equipment.

Navigator Michael Chapman, who is firstlieutenant of the Arthur’s Creek CFAbrigade, explained the tractor was actuallyburning diesel and was right next to ahayshed, so there was some real danger there.

“We spotted the fire from the road andrealised they were in a fair bit of trouble,”Chapman said.

The heroic pair took more than three-

quarters of an hour to extinguish the fireand that, unfortunately, put them well downthe order in the competition.

Not that it worried them too much – theyadmitted helping to put out the fire wasenough satisfaction in itself.

“We weren’t going to just go past the fire andnot do anything about it,” Chapman said.

‘Firey’ start to rallyAs teams were trying to outdo themselves to get the fastest times in the recent Grand Prix Rally, oneteam was more interested in helping out a local farmer whose tractor had caught fire.

HEROIC: Michael Chapman and Garry Voges put out atractor fire on the first day of the Grand Prix rally.

Three honouredThree CFA members were granted AustralianFire Service Medals (AFSMs) in the AustraliaDay honours list. Regional Officer David Gray,of Highton, Robert (Bob) Horner, of Sassafras,and Norman Bowen, of Eaglehawk, receivedthe honour. Norman’s AFSM is believed to bethe first such honour given in recognition ofCritical Incident Stress (CIS) programinvolvement. The medals will be presented atGovernment House later this year. More on Australia Day Honours - page 31

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Brigade Magazine 25

Training exerciseForty members from Beechworth Rural,Beechworth Urban and Wooragee firebrigades took part in an exercise designedto ensure all members brushed up onessential skills in mid-January.

Beechworth Rural Brigade CommunicationsOfficer, Julie Witherow, said participantsdid five different activities throughout theexercise – pumping, driving, running fires,tyre-changing and map reading/radio.

“Many found the tyre-changing exerciseinteresting because it showed how to getthe trucks to a safe place, where to find thejack, and how to change the tyre,”Witherow said.

“One lesson learnt was to make sure atruck has a jack on it, as many peopleforget that in the bush, a tyre could go flatat any time.

“At pumping, they learnt how to fill thetanks using a stand-pipe.”

What is it? A 10-day leadership development, personaltest and adventure program offered by CFAto 40 people each year.

What does it involve? Three days of team and personal leadershipexercises at Fiskville Training College,followed by a seven day Outward Boundsurvival course in the Victorian wilderness.

What do participants get out of it? The Challenge program pushes people totheir limits both physically and emotionally.Along the way they discover more aboutthemselves, develop leadership andteamwork skills and become more self-reliant and resourceful. Participants oftendevelop lasting friendships with fellowVolunteers from across the state.

How long has it been running? This year was the 12th time the program hasbeen run. The Challenge program isdesigned to develop future leaders in CFA.As a result, applicants should have clearleadership potential. They should also bephysically fit, as it is quite demanding.

How do people get selected? The application process commences in April

each year and interested volunteers send anapplication form to their Training Manager.

Who is Challenge’s patron? CFA Chairman Len Foster is the patron ofthe Challenge program and has emphasisedhis ongoing commitment to its conduct.

How can I find out more? Contact your Training Manager or checkBrigades Online.

Blaze at golf course contained quicklyFirefighters worked to contain a blaze thatburnt about 1.6ha of grassland close to theShepparton Golf Club On Tuesday,January 20.

The fire occurred in bushland between thegolf course and the Goulburn River, but

was helped by a northerly breeze, whichforced the fire to push towards the river.

Five fire units battled the blaze that was ofsome concern mainly because it started inan area with high, dry undergrowth -something CFA are always careful with.

BLAZE: Firefighters contain the blaze near Shepparton Golf Club. PHOTO: Courtesy of Ray Sizer; Shepparton News.

Taking up a mighty ChallengeCFA journalist JODIE GUEST recently observedthe latest group of 40 Challenge graduatesfinish their 10-day development program.

Brigade Magazine26

In this new section of BrigadeMagazine, we summarize CFAincidents for the last twoquarters and examine the totalnumber of incidents for each Region. All statistical information hasbeen extracted from CFA’s Fire and Incident ReportingSystem (FIRS).

Indicates the number of incidents for each Region from Oct-Dec 03

Brigades are reminded to submit theirfire/incident report details as soon as possibleafter their attendance at an incident.

FIRS Call Centre (open) 8am - 11pm 7 days

1800 628844

Summary Date range Oct-Dec 03Estimated loss Estimated ha burnt Incident count

Bush and Forest 2,142 121

Car Fires and MVA 1,218

False Alarms 2,040

Grass Fires 601 417

Hazardous Materials 558

House Fires $7,431,310 252

Industrial Fires $11,950,400 74

$19,381,710 2,743 4,680

Summary Date range Jul-Sept 03Estimated loss Estimated ha burnt Incident count

Bush and Forest 7,323 29

Car Fires and MVA 1,034

False Alarms 1,714

Grass Fires 17 93

Hazardous Materials 421

House Fires $8,390,530 320

Industrial Fires $2,554,655 56

$10,945,185 7,340 3,667

* Figures for all values and areas burnt are estimates only.

Indicates the number of incidents for each Region from Jul-Sep 03


Brigade Magazine 27

Brigades from across the state havebeen sharing their ideas on ‘things wecan do now’ to minimise our impact

on the environment. These ideas haveformed the Brigade Environment ActionGuidelines.

These guidelines include quotations, photosand case studies from brigades.

Questions you should ask yourself are, howmany of these things is your brigade doing?Could you do one or two more?

Instructor Steve Riley and the team ofinstructors in Region 14 have estimatedthat 60,000 litres of water is lost duringtraining and assessment of pumping skills.

Concerned about the loss of valuable watersupplies, they created a technique whichsaves 59,900 of those 60,000 litres!

“The instructors at Region 14 created thewater recirculation concept. The SunburyFire Brigade and its members have assistedwith testing and improving the system,”said Instructor Steve Riley.

Maiden Gully Fire Brigade has installedmotion sensors on lights at the station anduse flood lights which use up to 90% lessenergy and last 10 times longer than otherflood lights.

Let the Environment Team know aboutyour good case-study ideas. Your ideas can provide inspiration and informationand motivate others to improve theenvironment as they deliver CFA services.

Brigades share environment ideasThere are many ways that brigades are meeting the challenge to build environment into everyday practice.

For more ideas on what your brigadecould do:Request your copy of the Brigade EnvironmentAction Guidelines – available on CD.

Visit Brigades Online (Community Risk –Natural Environment – Environment Section).

Check the ‘Environmental Notes’ within ourStandard Operating Procedures.

Call the Environment Team on 03 9262 8469.

Limit water use: mop up and use appropriate diameter hose.

Use brooms and spot clean with mops to clean engine bay.

Absorb spills withabsorbentsubstance insteadof washing awaywith water.

Wash CFA vehiclesonly as requiredand using minimalwater.

Instructor SteveRiley working tosave 1000s oflitres of water.

Wallan Fire Brigadeinstalled rainwatertank at station tocollect water fortraining andwashing vehicles.

Maiden Gully Fire Brigade has installed sensors on lightsto reduce energy bills.

Publicise when using non-drinking water for training.

Brigade Magazine28


How it worksThe logo plays an important part in theAustralian emergency services culture.Therefore we must protect itsunauthorised use by outside companies.

Procedures for correct use of the CFAlogo should always be followed exactlyas specified in the Corporate IdentityManual. If another company wouldlike access to the logo, make sure youcheck with Public Affairs first.

Its benefitsThe logo is a quick and clear wayto identify our organisation; itshows that we are present in ourcommunity. Businesses are noweager to align themselves with theCFA logo through corporatesponsorship, because ourreputation is so powerful.

This means that we can bring inmore money for things like trucks,hats and boots.

Its valueStudies show that CFA is 98 percent known and loved in thecommunity. Because the logo is asymbol of who we are and ourreputation, as time goes on, the logobecomes more and more a valuable,commercial source for CFA.

Corporate organisations pay largesums of money to associatethemselves with other logos andother reputations. Corporateassociation with CFA’s logo hasbeen valued at being worth up to$500,000 per year. For this reason,we must make sure that we protectour logo from misuse.

What is it?The CFA logo depicts the red checkssynonymous with emergency services.It is identifiable throughout Australiaand is known as a respected andtrusted brand, especially during timesof trouble. The logo is a symbol of ourreputation, of hours of training andcommitment by our 60,000 members.

Logo explained The CFA logo is one of the most identifiable and trusted brands in the country. In this edition of CFA Focus,BRIGADE MAGAZINE examines its history, benefits, and the role it will play in the organisation’s long-term future.

The historyApproximately 12 years ago, the current CFAlogo was developed in an effort to build amodern, easily-recognisable identity for CFA.

The logo has now developed into a widely-known representation of CFA throughout thecommunity and the media.

The futureAs CFA grows, the futureneeds and demands of thepublic and corporate worldwill place more emphasis andvalue on using the logo andutilising CFA’s reputation.

Whilst the use of our logo canattract large donations andextra money for our brigades,we have to be careful that weonly associate ourselves with companies that stand forthe same morals we do. By doing this we are protectingour reputation within the community.


Brigade Magazine 29

Key to protecting CFA’s brand

A donation may be in the form ofmoney or goods and services, but it isgiven expecting nothing in return. It may be an individual, a family, alocal business or a large corporationmaking the donation. Provided theyexpect nothing in return, it is a donation.

Fundraising is similar in that theperson giving money isn’t expectinganything beyond the fundraising event.They simply buy a raffle ticket or asausage, for example, but don’t expectanything more for their donation.

Once a company starts negotiating for something in return for their donation, it becomes sponsorship.

They may request their donation to be recognised in the press or the right to use CFAfirefighters, equipment or the logo in their advertising.

It really doesn’t matter what they require, the minute a company starts negotiating overa donation, it becomes sponsorship.

The job to protect CFA’s brand is becoming more important by the day. ALEX TWOMEY examines the difference between SPONSORSHIP and DONATION.

During the campaign fires last year,CFA received enormous goodwillfrom the Victorian community and a

large amount of positive press coverage.

Basically, the people of Victoria gave theorganisation the big thumbs-up for theirhard-working efforts.

This followed a survey a couple of years agothat revealed 99.5 per cent of Victorians seeCFA as providing an excellent service.

These are all impressive results for theorganisation and reflects the training andlong hours put in by everyone.

Due to this hard work and these successesand because CFA has such a proud historyof many people working together to protecttheir communities, several companies haveattempted to use this good image for theirown benefit.

CFA is not the first organisation in whichthis has occurred, and it will not be the last.

Unfortunately, several companies haveattempted to cash in on this fact by usingCFA’s image in their advertising.

According to the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of CFA, Mr Neil Bibby, this has beendone without permission or a contributionto the brigades.

In other words, they were making moneyfrom the efforts of others, while ironicallygoing to great lengths to protect the use oftheir own brand.

Mr Bibby explains others attempted to usethe image by offering to pay anunrealistically low price.

One example was of a major car companyoffering $500 to photograph their new modelwith a brigade in the background, despite itobviously being worth lots more – possiblyas much as $50,000.

The brigade found out that this was the caseand requested to be paid a fair amount, butthe company then went to another brigadein a different area and completed the dealfor the cheaper rate.

“These actions show a total disregard forthe contribution CFA volunteers make tothis state,” Mr Bibby said.

This attempt to utilise the strength of the

CFA brand comes at a time when the ability

to raise funds is becoming increasingly

tougher.

Equipment is getting more expensive and

more time is needed for training.

Mr Bibby says the good news is that there

are many companies willing to do the right

thing and sponsor CFA.

“IGA provided $331,000 last year, directly

to local brigades.

“There is a chance to develop similar

sponsorships but only if other companies

cannot hijack our image."

Mr Bibby explains a corporate sponsorship

policy and a corporate identity policy have

been developed, but are in no way meant

to inhibit the ability to run

fundraising events.

“In the end we are stopping people stealing

our reputation,” he said.

Donation/Fundraising Corporate Sponsorship

"IGA is an example of a corporate sponsorship that benefits both CFA and IGA,"

Chief Executive Officer Mr Neil Bibby

Brigade Magazine30


Honouring the GordoniansGordon Fire Brigade now has an Honour Boardin the engineroom.

Its launch was a great opportunity to bringtogether generations of members includingformer captains.

Gordon’s second Captain was Lou Gleeson.When he joined the brigade there was no truckor station. If there was a call to a big fire, thefirefighters used his Bedford farm truck.

“You’d come and collect the tank and pump,screw then down on the truck and go. The tankand pump were kept on a stand in the street,”Lou recalled.

Gordon’s captains (left to right in photo are)Frank Conroy, Lou Gleeson, Bill Barry, HenryHume, Don McKell and Paul Camilleri.

The first captain was Pat Barry’s father, Bill Winter. Peter Philp P

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John Hutchinson found a job atCFA headquarters, and 40 yearslater he is still with CFA.

Headquarters was then locatedacross the road from FitzroyGardens.

“It was just a two storey house,”explains John, “the personnelofficer had a tiny office under the stairs.”

John was employed as an officejunior. The job involved sorting themail, taking things to the bank andgetting everybody’s lunches.

“Once I put the lunches in the ovenand forgot about it. The paper bagsall caught alight.”

He eventually began to move intothe finance and administrationdepartment and then into HR,where he is now a project officer.

In his forty years with CFA, Ash

Wednesday is still fresh in his mind.

At the time he was handling

insurance and compensation.

He remembers the aftermath as

“the busiest and most hectic time.”

“It was frustrating and worrying but

you knew you were helping people

and a lot rang to say thanks,”

Hutchinson said.

John has also been heavily involved

in the championships.

A highlight for him is “the visits to

the local committees, getting to

know the people.” John has himself

been a volunteer at South

Warrandyte and Wandong and has

led a very active life outside of CFA.

A lifetime in CFAIn 1964, JOHN HUTCHINSON, then 16, left school, telling his fourth form teacher ‘I’llbe back if I can’t find a job.’ So started a lifetime working at CFA. By Alex Twomey.

31Brigade Magazine


The auxiliary has six or sevenmembers who are the mainstay, “twomore about to join, and up to 15 we

can call upon when we need all members.”

Apart from putting on an amazing spread ofmain meal, desserts and homemade lolliesand other sweets for the “Cops’n’kids” campput on by Ballarat policefor children living withcancer and their carerseach year, the auxiliaryalso caters forchampionships, the Good Friday Appeal,brigade dinners, parties and other functions,and emergency events.

Donations to the brigade are made fromproceeds from catering. Over the years,donations have included firefightingapparatus, chairs for the station, andcooking and kitchen equipment.

The auxiliary also fulfils a support purpose,the women said: “It’s a social thing,supporting the brigade by being here to helpgive them something nice when they getback to the station. We like to look after ourhusbands.”

And, of course, there’s always opportunityto talk among themselves: “As a group of ladies we like to get together,have bit of a natter and catch-up!” they all agree.

More seriously, the women say it isreassuring to share friendships with others

who have been throughsimilar experiences: “Ithelps if the other womenknow what you’ve gonethrough because with a

family, whenever the pager goes off, it’salways during dinner or at night…yourhusband goes and you’re there with the kidsat home.”

All three agreed they got enoughrecognition, from the brigade and generally.

“They can’t ignore us; they know howinvaluable we are!” they laughed.

Interviewed: President Anne Maloney,officially a member since 1987, unofficiallysince about ’76; Secretary Mandi Noether(joined ’98) and Supply Officer (“Shopper”)Helen Parker. Helen, a member for “six orseven years”, also belongs to the brigadeand attends turnouts.

Like most municipalities, Macedon RangesShire Council presents Australia Day awards to worthy citizens and groups. This year, recipients in three categoriescame from CFA.

Categories were: Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen of the Year, and CommunityAchievement.

The winners were: Citizen of the Year; Val Vallance. Val joined the Langley-BarfoldFire Brigade in 1989, and held the positionof president from 1993 to 1997. The awardcitation said Val’s community workincluded:“working tirelessly to raise moneyfor the brigade”.

Young Citizen of the Year (joint winner);Nicole Conway (Healy). The citation said:“Nicole joined the Woodend Junior FireBrigade in October 1996 and was theyoungest officer elected to the senior brigadein July 1997. She has been an outstandingmember of the CFA team, particularly in herpromotion of volunteerism for CFA andthrough a TV documentary aired recently…”

Community Achievement; Barry Barnett,Bob Williams and Lancefield Junior FireBrigade. According to the citation: “TheLancefield brigade has undertaken anextremely beneficial project to take 10members of the junior fire brigade tofirefighting championships in Kapfenburg,Austria – a first for a fire brigade inAustralia. The project required $60,000 tobe raised to finance the travel,accommodation and uniforms.” Jodie Guest

Backbone of the brigadeMost brigades throughout the state have an auxiliary working quietly behind the scenes and generally(and generously) supporting personnel. Here, in the first of a series on auxiliaries and theircontribution to CFA life, members of Sebastopol’s backbone speak with JODIE GUEST.

“They can’t ignore us; they know howinvaluable we are!”

Sebastopol Auxillary

REWARDED: Barry Barnett, Bob Williams and members ofthe Lancefield junior brigade, and Nicole Conway (Healy).

Australia Day honoursMacedon Ranges Shire

Anne Maloney Mandi Noether Helen Parker

Brigade Magazine32


Anew volunteer firefighter says shewas strongly motivated to join CFAbecause it might have an influence

on her children.

“Because it is a community based effort, Ithink it sets mile-stones and principles forthem to follow and that will do a lot toaffect their upbringing and maybe they willbecome our future CFA members,” Fiona Pilmore said.

Fiona, now a member of Stawell Urban FireBrigade, is one of 63 new recruits who hasjoined brigades in the local Ararat-Stawellcatchment.

“CFA has also been part of my husband

Ted’s life for 23 years - it is very importantto him so I wanted to make it a family thingto do,” Fiona said.

Fiona’s brother, Luke St Claire, 16, is also avolunteer and her eight-year-old daughter isitching to join.

This highly successful recruitmentcampaign was driven by Region 16's JeniTaylor. However, she refuses to take creditfor this excellent result.

“At a series of catchment planning meetingswe found out what brigades wanted and hadthem set targets. After that the brigadesowned the campaign. I was the arms andlegs for them.

she said once the plans were set, it was amatter of using every medium possible;street banners, open days, informationnights, shop windows, school newsletters,newspapers and radio.

“And it was important to follow up themedia, not just sent them a release. It wasalso important to get support from CFACorporate. Its help was vital in thiscampaign. All of this was built onto a longtime use of the media - almost every week,having something in the local newspaper,”Jeni explained.

Kerri Evans became involved with Stawell rurals after a fire at Frews Abattoirs recently.

“I heard it was heading towards town and Iwanted to do something about it but I felthelpless,” Kerri said.

“Afterwards I thought, right, this is it, I’mgoing to join CFA. I rang the Captain JulieBoord, and came to the next meeting.”

While she prepares to do her minimumskills, the brigade has signed up Kerri forthe Stawell Rural running team.

“They just picked me - how could I letthem down,” she said.

The next regional Victoria volunteerrecruitment and awareness campaign ‘Doesthe hat fit’ will be conducted during May,taking advantage of Volunteer Week 10-16May. For further information please contactMember Services on 1800 232 636.

Double joy for communityThere was a double celebration for the Fish Creek and District FireBrigade recently. It was an opportunity for the local Sandy Pointcommunity to meet its new wider fire brigade family following itsformal merger with Fish Creek and also time to celebrate the openingof a new station at Sandy Point. Last year Sandy Point officiallymerged with Fish Creek because it faced a serious decline inmembership. Twelve months later, life is turning around for the newbrigade. “We welcomed the merger and there is already a new spiritaround the place. There’s more training drills and we are invited toFish Creek to be part of their functions. This has brought newinterest to Sandy Point in the fire brigade,” Jim Stevenson said. Jimhas been a firefighter at Sandy Point for 11 years. The new station ismuch larger and provides greater facilities such as a modern meetingroom and kitchen. Peter Philp OPENING: Mick Dorling and Jim Stevenson are all smiles at the opening. PHOTO: Peter Philp

Taylor-made recruiting

Region 16’s JENI TAYLOR has driven an extremely successful recruiting campaign. Peter Philp reports.

Kerri Evans, Jeni Taylor and Fiona Pilmore PHOTO: Peter Philp


Brigade Magazine 33

On Saturday 13 December last yearone of CFA’s greatest leaders, GavinMaguire, died. He was 70.

Chief Officer, Russell Rees, described Gavinas a CFA officer who was not in the game tobe liked but to make certain that CFA wasthe best fire service in the world.

“Gavin Maguire was respected by all CFAfirefighters, career and volunteer,” RussellRees said. “He was strong and a toughdisciplinarian, but he was also a leaderwith a soft heart, ready to care for peopleunder him. You really earned your stripesunder Gavin,” Russell continued.

And the Chief Officer should know. Hestudied under Gavin at Fiskville in 1978when he attempted to teach Russell howto march. Russell served under GavinMaguire later at Colac.

The sign of a great leader is surely whenyour people pay tribute to you when you arestill at helm.

These are some of the tributes paid to Gavinover the years by CFA firefighters:

Peter Barr admits Gavin was tough “But Irespected him. He put himself out to help

us.” Peter called him “a fantastic guy.”

Dale Stemmer said Gavin did an excellentjob instilling discipline into his recruits. “You know, if I met him today, I’d still callhim Mr Maguire.”

Glen Ravenhall said that Gavin would putthe fear of God into you but it was peoplelike him “who turned out good firefighters.”

To Greg Chapman, he was a legend. In hisSMOKO story Greg Chapman said of Gavin:“He was one hell of a man. He was the kindof bloke that if he said to me ‘Let’s take onthe gates of hell, ‘ I’d say to him ‘Okay -which nozzle will I take?’ There’s nobodyaround like him anymore - they’re all gone,”said Chappy.The Editor of The Fireman, Alan King, knew

Gavin as ayoungster atBoronia. “Hewas a strongleader whoseskills weregained asvolunteer andwho brought

these skills into the career service.Gavin really had the service at heart,”Alan King said.

Gavin Maguire began his CFA serviceas a volunteer at Boronia where hisfather, Laurie, was captain. He servedat Ballarat City as a career officer, hadtwo terms as an instructor at Fiskville,the second as senior instructor, OIC

at Springvale Fire Station, a Regional Officerin Region 6 and later a member of the ChiefOfficer’s Audit Team.

What firefighters might not realize is thatGavin also had a ‘real’ sense of humour: hecould laugh at himself. Following hisretirement, Gavin Maguire would have a goodlaugh over the comments his former studentsmade about him in Brigade Magazine.

Maguire meant so much to manyLate last year, one of CFA’s most respected and revered leaders, GAVIN MAGUIRE, passed away. Peter Philp salutes him.

Gavin Maguire

He was the kind of bloke that if he said to me‘Let’s take on the gates of hell, ‘ I’d say to him

‘Okay - which nozzle will I take?’

Greg Chapman

Info line up and runningAs a result of the Emergency ServicesCommissioner’s inquiry into the 2003 North Eastand East Gippsland bushfires, CFA and DSE haveset up the Victorian Bushfire Information Line(VBIL). Staffed and managed from a DSE callcentre in Ballarat, the line is open each day from8am to 8pm and also offers an after hoursanswering and e-mail service. VBIL staff answer arange of queries every day relating to fires andother CFA business. Campaign Co-ordinatorJennifer O’Beirne is very sympathetic and has alot of empathy for people experiencing bushfires:her family home burned down during wildfirewhen she was a child.

*The VBIL phone number is 1800 240 667. (The info line is activated on weekends in theevent of Total Fire Ban declarations.) Jodie Guest

Brigade Magazine34

Youth Focus

Why did you join CFA?

When the Sydney fires were happening twoyears ago, I felt really helpless. I wasagitated and frustrated that I couldn't help.There were a lot of people in dire situations.So later, I looked CFA up in the phone book,rang them up and said I want to be avolunteer, and they said 'sure'.

What do you think of CFA?

They're great, it's an organisation that youcan really belong to, that you can be proudof and you can get involved in a reallydiverse range of jobs for the greater good. I can't wait to work with them full time,hopefully.

How many work at your station?

We have about 30 volunteers and 30permanents, and that's just in thefirefighting section. There's not many girls,only three volunteers and two on staff. We

love the guys, they treat us really well andwe all work as one.

Do you enjoy the social side of beingpart of CFA?

Oh yes, every sixth Monday we have a socialnight. We might watch videos, or play poolor play football or cricket - and that's withvolunteers and staff. Personally, I've madefriends with a couple of staff and volunteersthat I see outside brigade hours. We mightgo for runs or cycling, or see a movie or gofor coffee. I've met people from otherbrigades and become friends, you know, metthem at functions or on courses. I've madelots of friends.

Would you recommend it to others?

Totally, you get to learn a lot of life skillsand it really is just so enjoyable in so manyways. However, you have to be dedicatedand really want to join up. Don’t join up justbecause your friends are. CFA is great

because the people involved are passionateabout it - you have to love the job. Itinvolves a lot of things that are physicallyand psychologically challenging, but it'samazingly satisfying.

What’s your level of commitment to CFA?

I’m a really active member, I have a pagerthat tells me where the jobs are, and wehave thousands of calls a year (we're one ofthe busiest). I’m on call 24 hours a day andcan have between 10-15 calls a month.

You’re studying at the moment?

I'm studying Fire Technology at TAFE, it’s acourse that leads you into the fire industry -but not necessarily just firefighting. BecauseI want to be a professional firefighter I wanta certain level of knowledge before I get intothe job. Hopefully it will give me some extrapoints as I try to get in. I’ll do whatever ittakes to get a job as a firefighter.

QA&In the first edition of a new section in Brigade Magazine, Grant Quarry profiles new CFA member JENNY GEHRING who tells uswhy she loves being part of CFA, what her favourite part of the job is, and why she was so eager to join in the first place.

JENNY GEHRING

Age: 22

Brigade: Dandenong

Time in CFA: Two years

Favourite part of CFA:Far and away: the teamwork,the camaraderie

Most memorable incident:There are so many…

HAPPY: Jenny Gehring says she learns many life skills from her work in CFA. PHOTO: Courtesy of Leader Newspapers.


Brigade Magazine 35

In Profile

What is the future for CFA?My vision is for CFA to be pre-eminent inholistic community safety coordination andemergency management by 2010.

This will be based on our fundamentalstrengths: volunteerism, communitylinkages and the integrated volunteer-careerservice model.

How will brigades be affected?CFA already serves about half the

population of metropolitan Melbourne andthe rest of Victoria. Under the StateGovernment’s 2030 strategy, an extra onemillion people will be living around outerMelbourne in the next 25 years and therewill also be rapid growth in the Geelong,Ballarat, Bendigo and Latrobe Valley regions.

This will put heavier workloads on ourbrigades. Communities will have higherexpectations and will want more say in howtheir safety needs are met by governmentand government agencies.

So CFA will have to bring in new ways ofmanaging risks and encouragingcommunities to share responsibility for theirown safety.

Brigades will have to keep up high levels inoperational skills and brigade management,the equivalent of running a small or mediumbusiness. The CFA will have to do everythingpossible to support and sustain Volunteers.

How will the volunteer-career systemwork?More brigades will need the support of paidstaff such as career firefighters, trainers,

community educators or administrators.

I ask everyone to understand and respectthe different contributions and motivationsof their fellow CFA people and take pride inhow we make it work. The CFA is a veryspecial Victorian organisation.

Can volunteerism survive?Yes, provided we make individuals,employers and government aware of thebenefits and rewards they receive throughour volunteer brigades.

We must make sure that they understandhow CFA contributes to the cohesion ofcommunities around the state.

How will the organisation change?The organisation will be more flexible andour internal boundaries will change so wecan respond better to changing demands

CFA will need to build closer partnershipswith communities and other agencies.

Inside CFA we need more sharing of effortbetween brigades and parts of ourorganisation to reduce the burden.

It would be interesting to have a guessing competition on theoriginal trade qualification obtained by CFA’s newest DeputyChief Officer, Graham “Spout” Fountain.

Graham became a junior firefighter at Edithvale, following in hisfather’s footsteps who had also been a volunteer before taking onthe challenge full time. The young Fountain enjoyed the trainingand competition with this strong brigade and that assisted hiscareer path. His work kept him away from friends and Grahamdecided there was a new vocational ladder he wanted to climband “CFA was my passion”.

Progress has been obvious. In recent times Executive Manager-Training and Development, Graham then headed the hugeOrganisation Recovery Project and immediately after that taskwas concluded it was off to London for business study.

The course was one of leadership development rather thanmanagement and could be broken into three categories;leadership, strategy and transformation. According to Graham, allthe arrows were pointing the way of CFA, or as he says ‘to give our

people on the ground greater flexibility inmeeting the day’s challenges.

His elevation to Deputy Chief Officer wasn’t asurprise however, he did have to compete forthe position and doesn’t believe his RecoveryProject work gained him the job.

“No, I think this position is recognition of the need to provideadditional support to the ‘Chief’ at the executive level and for CFAto have a greater presence within the broader emergencymanagement field.”

His role is to “paint the picture of how we do business”. That entails CFA actions at incidents, our relationship with otheremergency services and the government, as well as extensions ofCFA workings. He believes for CFA to keep attracting youngpeople, we must aim to be welcoming, tolerant and open togender balance and ethnicity mix. With such a recipe for success,you may have guessed he was a chef!

We interview members of CFA, whether it be volunteers, headquarter staff,executives or members of the Board. In this edition, Ian Hamilton profiles re-elected Chairman LEN FOSTER who outlines his vision for CFA.

A natural progression Ian Major speaks to the new Deputy Chief Officer, GRAHAM FOUNTAIN

Chairman’s vision for CFA

Brigade Magazine36


More incidents- A couple of pages eachedition could be for photos ofincidents, nearly every truckhas a camera on it.

Too corporate- Change the emphasis fromBoard/Chairman reports.- Less CFA HQ. More localbrigade stories.

More youth content- Please provide a junior’s page.- Stories about youth takingpart in the Championships.- Please include a kids’section.

Survey resultsThe feedback to our recent Brigade Magazine survey hasbeen overwhelming and we’d like to thank everyone who hastaken part in this very important process. This feedback willhelp us provide you, the readers, with more of what youwant to see in the magazine, and we appreciate the fact thatso much of the feedback has been positive – showing us thatyou highly value it. Below is a small selection from some ofthe more than 1550 responses we have received so far.

More from Rural brigades- More on small brigades inthe middle of nowhere.

Not technical enough- Needs more operationalinfo and news. - More technical articlesof practical firemanshiptactics and training.- Articles about newmethods and equipment.

The Winner is…Your comments have been heard and we have started tomake the changes you want, like a youth and incidentspotlight page. Meanwhile…

• The winner of the $300 gift voucher to spend on anyEmergency Memberlink product or service is LACHLANGALES, a Captain from Region 23.

• Lachlan said “Brigade Magazine is well produced andaddresses my need for a broad input of informationregarding the CFA”, but believes it needs “technical tipsfor the better use of equipment and tankers”.

• Congratulations Lachlan.

You value your magazine…

- Keep it up – you tell it as it is and how it evolves.- The magazine is awesome – keep it up guys.- Informative. Relatively straight to the point. Direct updateon key important issues.- I feel part of it when I read the mag. Enjoy the stories.

But you have your criticisms too…

Letters to the Editor should be sent to email [email protected] and kept to a maximum of300 words. The Editor reserves the right to edit the letters for space requirements.

Your feedback is highly valued and we encourage any letters you mayhave regarding CFA.

Our first letter (below) comes direct from the office of Premier Steve Bracks commending CFA on the Campaign Fires Book.

LETTERS


Brigade Magazine 37

Alan King’s first job at The Fireman was writing subscribers’names and addresses on the newspaper’s wrappers. He wasstill a kid going to school.

Les King purchased the newspaper from Norman H.Tosh, thenCaptain of Warracknabeal, in 1953.

“When dad bought the business he encouraged brigades to make abigger contribution to the paper, particularly the rural volunteers,”Alan said.

During the 1950s-60s, rural brigades were the poor relations in CFA.Alan said hundreds of rural brigades did not own a truck.

“At their meetings, the rurals were really asking for a better dealfrom CFA regarding equipment. They had some great leaders thenlike Sam Burson, Pat Lang and Colin Diffey. They had to battle hardthen to get a better share of CFA’s funding. The Fireman supportedtheir cause,” he continued.

According to Alan, CFA came of age under the leadership ofChairman Dick Eason and Chief Officer Arthur Pitfield.

“Following a series of fires in 1960s, the government gave morefunds to CFA, with strong encouragement from Dick Eason. He wasnever frightened to stand on people’s toes.”

Traditionally, it has run few editorials, preferring to report stories

and let the readers make up their own minds on issues. However,

some of its rare editorials appeared in the 1970s when the

newspaper gave additional voice to the volunteers during the

amalgamation debate.

“The government of the day wanted to merge MFB and CFA. There

were some strong volunteer leaders during this period, which believed

that a marriage between the two fire services would not be beneficial

to CFA.

“Ed Baynes was the President of the rural association. He led the

whole campaign and probably thumped on the minister’s desk a few

times. He received support from the urban association. That strong

leadership and determination won the day. The government had to

back off,” Alan said.

The Fireman has been part of the huge technology revolution in

printing and today its operation is fully computerised.

And the newspaper has had a number of addresses over its time -

one was in St.Kilda Rd, near the junction.

“Sounds fancy - but the rent was cheap,” Alan concluded.

Allan family tradition continues in CFA

The Allan family has anotheraddition to their long-runningconnection with CFA.

For graduate Leigh Allan, 31, whotook part in Fiskville’s first evertwilight graduation ceremonyrecently, it was a chance to join thefamily business, so to speak.

His brothers are firefighters - Steve,an Operations Officer in Region 22,Barry, a Fire Officer 2 in Region 15.

Leigh’s father, Colin, was also afirefighter. He joined CFA in 1950and was Station Officer in Shepparton from1966 till his retirement in 1980.

In a special part of the graduation ceremony,Colin was able to present Leigh with his epaulets.

“It was a proud moment for me,” Colin said.

Asked if the boy were a handful growing uphe laughs: “I had them under control.”

Colin explained all the boys were involved as juniors, with Leigh starting at 17.

“I was more into the running sideof things,” Leigh said.

“I then became a senior volunteerfor three years at Shepparton.”

Leigh then went overseas and uponhis return entered the course,which was a great experience, buthe admits it was tough being awayfrom his wife Karen and young son Ethan.

“The course is very hard,” he said.

“But you expect that - we had a great bunchof guys and we all pulled together to helpeach other.”

Leigh will be posted to Bendigo as aFirefighter - Level One.

WORDBACK Peter Philp profiles The Fireman’s ALAN KING in conversations with people in the field.

The Allan family has a long tradition in the CFA and that continued recently when Leigh Allan graduated from Fiskville. ALEX TWOMEY reports on a family affair.

TRADITION: The Allan family has a proud connection with CFA. PHOTO: Alex Twomey

Brigade Magazine38

S t o r y o n e A u t u m n e d i t i o n

There have been Armstrongs at Somerville Fire Brigade sincethe day it opened in 1942. However, it is ex-Captain RodArmstrong who holds the rolling record. It happened during

the dramatic moments of Ash Wednesday. He and his crew were in apaddock with a fire bearing down. Suddenly over he goes and startsrolling down the hill, the hose still attached and blowing full bore.The firetruck was moving ahead of him but by the time Rod stoppedrolling the firetruck was behind him.

The Armstrongs owned one of the many fruit orchards in Somerville.Rod’s dad and Rod’s uncles worked three properties. After a fewyears with the family business, Rod took a job at the BP Oil Refineryat Hastings.

“Dad was a volunteer and I joined the brigade because I wanted tohelp the local community. I have always made Somerville a priority.If you have the manpower to join a strike team, good and well, butSomerville must come first,” Rod said.

He doesn’t talk about the good old days; in fact he seriously doubtsthat the early days at Somerville were all that crash hot.

“It was more of a social club than a fire brigade, but things changed.When I joined, the station was a single fibro shed with woodendoors. The brigade had an old blanket truck from the Army withballoon tyres. We extended the tray and put a tank on the back. It was an old Dodge, probably from the 40s. It was a bit of a bomb,” he recounted. “It was replaced when it broke an axle during a grass fire.”

Somerville had both rurals and urbans housed in same fibro. FinallyCFA gave the brigade another hand-me-down,an Austin pumper. The only place to housethe new arrival was in the lean-to meetingroom attached to the station. To get it in, thetruck’s aerial had to be detached.

The day that Henry Crow from Crib Pointasked Rod to accompany him to Ballarat to collect that brigade’s newtruck was a time of mixed fortunes.

“On arrival at Ballarat, Henry was told that the new pumper wasgoing to Somerville and Crib Point was to be given our hand-me-down. I won’t repeat Henry’s reaction,” Rod said.

During the early days, casual firefighters were common. They werepeople who walked in off the street.

“You could be out shopping, hear the alarm, enquire if the brigadeneeded assistance, get the all clear from the officer-in-charge and be

off to a fire. We also had a Cardiva trailer that was towed by thetruck. It was a monster of a thing to pull. It would wonder all overthe road,” he continued.

The highlight of his life - meeting Bev.

“A mate asked me to make up the numbers in his squash team. Bev was part of team. During the match we sort of formed an association.”

And that has lasted 34 years. In 1980, Bev joined the brigade.

Rod tells the story of Bev on Ash Wednesday. She had been drivingaround all day and was busting to go to the toilet.

“Bev said to the fellas: ‘you stay that side, I’ll gothis side’. She got the overalls down and wascomfortably squatting when all of a sudden abloody helicopter circled over head.”

In Bev words: “I got out of there real quick.”

One of Rod’s great attributes is his ability to accept change. Like anumber of firees, he didn’t think CFA would ever be the same againwith charges to the group system, training and introducing female firefighters.

“Now I’m teaching minimum skills. They called me a bit of a malechauvinist but I didn’t stop Bev becoming a firefighter. We now have a standard and if women can reach it, good luck to them,” Rod concluded.

Everybody needs history. This section is about stories or records of pastevents and a signpost for the future. It is about human endeavours -courageous, innovative, humorous and sometimes ordinary.

Rod & Bev Armstrong

“We now have a standard and if women can reach it, good luck to them.”

Rod Armstrong

SMOKOBY PETER PHILP

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39Brigade Magazine

A u t u m n e d i t i o n S t o r y t w o

Peter Brown remembers the morning that somebody rang theBendigo Fire Station and said ‘tailor here.’ He put the callthrough to Station Officer Vin Lapsley explaining that the

tailor was on the blower.

“Lappo takes the call and bellows down the phone ‘where are thosebloody trousers I ordered. I’m sick of waiting for them’. There was abrief silence before the voice at the other end responded, ‘It’s ACOTaylor here’,” Peter Brown recalled.

Brownie is a Bendigo boy, born in 1948, and can picture the bigwheels and the cage going up and down at Central Deborah - stilloperating as a working mine.

“We lived near the Ordnance Factory tram line. One passed at fiveto seven each morning. It was our alarm clock. As it went aroundthe corner, its wheels could rattle. And we had some fun with the oldtrams. We’d seek up behind them and pull the power pole down,”Brownie said.

A 16 he was a volunteer at Bendigo working with George Ellis,Ronnie Wee Hee and Les Rodder. Sixty-four years later that trio isstill there.

Vin Lapsley was then both Station Officer and brigade chairman.According to Peter, Lappo was a tough leader who would not hesitategiving you a kick up the bum but he would always listen and if hehad misjudged you he’d always say sorry.

Lappo senior was a legend at Bendigo, according to Brownie.

“ You’d sometimes get him going about an incident and three hourslater he’d still be going.”

Peter Brown made two applications to becomea career firefoghter. It was soon after thesecond application that Vin Lapsley called him.

“He said to me: ‘What are you doing next Monday’? I said, ‘why?’. Hesaid ‘You start at Fiskville at 8 am. Be here on time and I‘ll drive youdown - I was in the service’,” Peter recalled.

Fiskville was then in its early days. The classroom was what is nowthe front lounge and down the back was the old AWA transmitterbuilding where training was done.

“In those days to pass your driver training, you had to take the truckdown the road, do a U turn and come back. I finished at Fiskvlle ona Friday, commenced at Ballarat City on the Monday and two hourslater I was at an oven fire at the Ballarat Hotel in Peel St withofficers Peter Shaw and Lester Maddocks,” he said.

After two years at Ballarat City, Peter returned to Bendigo and Vin Lapsley.

“We were in the old station. In winter there was woodfire in thewatchroom. Sometimes we would stuff paper up the chimney andstrike a match. One day somebody sees smoke and says ‘shivesthat’s a decent fire in the city’. He then realises it’s pouring out ofthe fire station. Paper stuffed in the chimney,” he said.

One of the biggest fires Peter attended was atBennett’s Arcade near the Beehive building.

“I was called back to the station and saw thiswhopper of a glow in the sky and thought ‘ohmy god’. They were rushing BA cylinders infrom Fiskville and rushing them to the fire in

the station ute. Later Lappo said to me: ‘Walk, don’t run, down to thefire and bring back the ute.’

“When I got to the fire I walked around but could not find it. Twohours later somebody discovers the thing parked in the fire stationyard. Years later people were still saying to Lappo: ‘Did you ever findthe ute...remember the arcade fire? And he’d reply: ‘It’s in the bloody backyard’

Peter Brown loves his footy. He’s a mad South Bendigo and St Kilda supporter. He watched the Saints win their one and onlypremiership or, as he puts it: “I was there the day St Kilda lost its virginity.”

Born and bred a Bendigo boy, PETER BROWN has some fascinating storiesto tell regarding Fiskville in its early days and characters like Vin Lapsley.

“One day somebody sees smoke and says‘shives that’s a decent fire in the city’. He then

realises it’s pouring out of the fire station.”Peter Brown

Peter BrownSMOKOBY PETER PHILP

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IGA and CFA the partnership continues…

IGA’s Community ChestAndré Haermeyer

The IGA Community Chest program recentlydonated $331, 891 to CFA brigades. Chequepresentations were held in Bendigo, Shepparton,

Wangaratta, Warrnambool, Geelong and at Leongathafor their surrounding area. The money was raised byIGA donating one cent from specially marked productssold in their stores.Storeowners, IGA staff and local brigades attended thepresentations. In Bendigo, Minister for Police andEmergency Services, André Haermeyer (above),attended, praising the program as an example of“communities working together for fire prevention.”

The events gave brigades a chance to thank IGA for their contribution. As the money is donated toindividual brigades, it is used to meet their individual requirements.

Some brigades use the money to buy torches or radioequipment, while others put the money towards majorprojects such as a new vehicle.

The media attended all events, helping to raise theprofile of the relationship between CFA and IGA,which has grown rapidly since it began in 2000. Thereare currently 209 brigades involved in the program.Many of these brigades have strengthened theirrelationship beyond the Community Chest program byholding sausage sizzles and information days outsidetheir local IGA store.

Brigades not involved in the program can becomeinvolved by contacting either Lyndel Hunter, AmberJohnston or Ann Moodie of CFA Public Affairs on 9262 8300.

brigade autumn 2004

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