Whiteman Park discussion

philby · Post by **philby** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:08 pm

just heard whiteman park returning to station.
Never heard of them before.
anyone got any info on them
are they bushies or vfrs?

Fastlane · Post by **Fastlane** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:28 pm

philby wrote:just heard whiteman park returning to station.
Never heard of them before.
anyone got any info on them
are they bushies or vfrs?

Neither. Fire appliances used by the rangers @ Whiteman Park. They only attend fires on land under the care of Whiteman Park.

philby · Post by **philby** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:38 pm

thanks fastlane,
do they ever get mobilzed to other gigs or just whiteman park

WPXZBP · Post by **WPXZBP** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:48 pm

Just Whiteman Park.

wasaint · Post by **wasaint** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:51 pm

Hey Wp have been to a cpl of jobs that whiteman park have attended that were out side of there are <Whitemanpark> but they were very close to there area i think it was because of the close proximity to whiteman park , this was 2- to 3 years ago though

Fastlane · Post by **Fastlane** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 9:17 pm

wasaint wrote:Hey Wp have been to a cpl of jobs that whiteman park have attended that were out side of there are <Whitemanpark> but they were very close to there area i think it was because of the close proximity to whiteman park , this was 2- to 3 years ago though

Alot of the surrounding area of the park is managed by Whiteman Park (some formerly being water corp). Includes stuff in behind Ballajura and Bennett Brook.

Post by **Zebedee** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 11:06 am

This information is several years out of date, but there was a time when the WP units would attend outside the boundaries of the park - into other land that was under the control of the State Planning Commission / Dept Planning and Urban Development, etc. For example, the land around Cullacabardee, and behind Ballajura etc.

They have also attended fires that weren't in WP, or on SPC/DPUD land, but had the potential to impact the park itself. And there have been other occasions when a WP unit has attended other fires in the Swan region.

But ... all that was some years ago (5-10) so things have no doubt changed since then. I know from that long ago that the general guidelines were that the WP units were primarily for protecting Whiteman Park itself, and would generally only go outside the park if they were specifically asked to and/or if the fire had the chance of jumping into the park.

rambler318 · Post by **rambler318** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:30 pm

Zebedee wrote:This information is several years out of date, but there was a time when the WP units would attend outside the boundaries of the park - into other land that was under the control of the State Planning Commission / Dept Planning and Urban Development, etc. For example, the land around Cullacabardee, and behind Ballajura etc.

They have also attended fires that weren't in WP, or on SPC/DPUD land, but had the potential to impact the park itself. And there have been other occasions when a WP unit has attended other fires in the Swan region.

But ... all that was some years ago (5-10) so things have no doubt changed since then. I know from that long ago that the general guidelines were that the WP units were primarily for protecting Whiteman Park itself, and would generally only go outside the park if they were specifically asked to and/or if the fire had the chance of jumping into the park.

Whiteman Park appliances attended the Ballajura fires a few months back.

kylep · Post by **kylep** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:24 pm

rambler, as somone else commented, that land is connected with/managed by Whiteman Park, as is most of the scrub and bushland in the area, except the pine plantation.

Post by **Zebedee** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 9:46 am

Yep, as I understand it, all the land on the western side of Beechboro Road was transferred under the control of Whiteman Park some years ago.

I think it has something to do with some land being taken from the eastern side of the park in the future for the Perth - Darwin Highway, should that ever get built

Fastlane · Post by **Fastlane** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:25 pm

Zebedee wrote:Yep, as I understand it, all the land on the western side of Beechboro Road was transferred under the control of Whiteman Park some years ago.

I think it has something to do with some land being taken from the eastern side of the park in the future for the Perth - Darwin Highway, should that ever get built

Used to be Water Corp land. Runs right through to Alexander Drive, behind PITC.

Hembo · Post by **Hembo** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 6:42 pm

HI All just my 2 cents worth in regards to Whiteman Park.........

Whiteman park is soly a Land owner/manager not a HMA. They are responsable for Whiteman Park its self, The Bushland west of Beechboro Rd (Not the Cullacarbardee Village) and Bennett Brook reserve.

Currently they are a strong 'private' brigade. Back in the old day's they would be turning out in a time period of an hour or so to now they are almost the inital daytime turnout. They have offically 6 modern 'slip-on' light tankers with 4 based at the 'fire shed' near the administration, 1 at the Keith Maine Center and 1 at the shooting complex. All with Red/Blues, sirens, FESA communications equipment etc etc. They also have a number of 'Spraying units' that can be modified into a fire unit. These are manned by WP staff (Rangers, Admin, Tour Guides, Maintenance etc) who have been trained to the BFS modules 1-8. The crews that attend are a bit 'dad's army' when trying to extinguish a running fire (lack fire ground knowlage- ICS, attack methods, how to turn the pump on...) but not scared of mopping-up for hours on end ( well, their are gettin paid for it!) and wear the appropriate PPE.

Their mobilsation to scrub fires is the same a Kings and Bold Parks (ComCen phone the Park Manager or Duty Officer and sometimes over the HMA) however at times they have extinguished fires within the park and not reported the incident to ComCen. (This was the case prior to the Dec 2006 WP Fire)

Numerous times NO HMA's (West Swan [75% of the Park] or Malaga/Bassendean [25% of the southern end and west of Beechboro Rd North]) have been notified or attended incidents (Property and Scrub Fires) during the day or at night (Security notifies Park Ranger).

I am not saying they can't extinguish a fire but it should be reported and a HMA should still attend!! what's your Thoughts?

Post by **Toottoot** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:18 pm

There are still a lot of water supply bores out the back of Whiteman Park. The ones between Alexander drive and Beechboro rds are still in production but the ones between Beechboro rd and Lord St are switched off due to enviromental concerns. The Water corp would own the pipeline easements and bore compounds and the whole area from Alexander Dr and West Swan Rd would be considered a groundwater protection zone.

Post by **Zebedee** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:57 pm

Back in those "old days" I did the Shire of Swan BFB training by their instructors at a training session run for Park employees and certain volunteers, of which I was one.

In the event of any fire in the park, the park management were always notified and would make the decision on whether it could be successfully extinguished solely by park units or whether additional resources were required.

There were a few fires I attended in the park where we had the assistance of West Swan (plus East Swan / Bullsbrook if it was a "big-un").

For the time I was there, this arrangement worked well.