General fire discussions

[written_ficton]

@ Philby,

CFA had 30yr old tankers heading out to fires, most probably still do around that age. Its still an appliance, still does the job, has the gear and more importantly has got the experiance of crew to take it on. Just have to say good on them! Perhaps FESA may give them a better appliance.

[kyeboi]

st johns required for fire in bindoon maybe just in case someone gets hurt ?

[Fire Chief]

Under the new Emergency Managagment laws if a Fire last 4 hours or more St Johns gets called in.It will be Vollies.

I spent 4 days at the Two Rocks/Yanchup fire on Ambo duty in the 1990's

[observer]

@ Philby,

CFA had 30yr old tankers heading out to fires, most probably still do around that age. Its still an appliance, still does the job, has the gear and more importantly has got the experiance of crew to take it on. Just have to say good on them! Perhaps FESA may give them a better appliance.

If this occurs, this would be the excemption rather than the norm. Form what I know the CFA have very little, if any 30 yr old tankers. They generally run on a 15 year turn around, but this has been stretched to 20 years. I don't know of any front line tanker in the CRA that is 30 yeras, however there may be one or 2.

[written_ficton]

Up until recently there has been quite a few, which are being replaced at quite a good place. You just have to look at what is currently on the market for sale. i.e 1984 Ford Trader which had been retired late last year. 2011 - 1984 = 27years. Granted not exactly 30yrs but close...

[observer]

Ford Trader were used as light pumpers (refered to as Type 2 pumpers), similiar to the Mazda in WA. As I said there are some exemptions and this is one. There were a couple of these still in use in small country towns. In regards to tankers you would be very hard pressed to find one that has done more than 20 years service. In my time there I knew of a couple (about 4 to 6) in my general area that have done more than 20 years, but when you are talking about a fleet of 1200+ tankers it is a very small number. At a guess I would say there would be less than 50 in service.

Saying this I have recently heard about a 20 year old tanker that has been retrofitted with a very high pressure hose reel. Reading between the lines this vehicle is going to be trialled blacking out at fires. I am guessing that it will not be called on for the initial attack.

[dlcat1]

As I understand it, CFA has a 20 year age policy which prohibits appliances older than 20 years attending an incident unless it is purely to carry water. I think this was to get around the fact that some brigades had old big fill and bulk water appliances. I have seen older, ex cfa/dse appliances in use with private organisations though. If its mechanically sound and reliable and has adequate crew protection I don't have a problem with the age of the appliance, but am a sucker for a big aircon for summer and heater for winter.

[philby]

hey guys, Under what conditions do they consider it catastrophic fire conditions. ie MSLP <990?, ETC

[gkoutlis]

hey guys, Under what conditions do they consider it catastrophic fire conditions. ie MSLP <990?, ETC

Hey Philby,

This should help you out

http://www.fesa.wa.gov.au/safetyinforma ... atings.pdf

G

[Helitak_670]

Basically when the FDI goes above 99

[pacestick]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/br ... gger-role/

Interesting read.

[kyeboi]

hmmmmm i wonder how they will do it then theres a lot of area to cover and the will need a huge amount of appliences and personal it will be very intresting

[SgtSeedy]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/br ... gger-role/

Interesting read.

interesting? more like a laugh. DEC's fire fighting capabilities are huge and are also regarded as one of the best in Australia. What does Gregson think he's going to do? Fill the left over ageing fleet at Forrestfield with volunteers and send them on there merry way to cover every bit of crown land in Western Australia. FESA is built on volunteers who take on a huge task as it is with there alocated Cat boundries and patches. Resourcing FESA to manage fire with in crown land and nat parks would be a huge effort and a burden that should not be shifted on to the volunteer, which seems to be a theme at FESA. I spose time will tell to see what wacko idea Gregson and Buswell have.

[dlcat1]

I read it more along the lines of Gregson providing a politically useable answer to a probably unexpected question. I thought he was basically saying FESA stands ready to do whatever the government wants it to do, at the same time as not ruling anything out, he is not taking sides with the UFU, or against DEC, or saying anything the government is later going to have to spin a line on. It seems like it was the article that inferred he supported the UFU suggestion, which may have merit but seems to me to be motivated by politics.

Kinda sick of seeing organisations try to improve their power off the back of someone else's misfortune.

[Helitak_670]

Read it correctly.

DEC to loose "EMERGENCY" responsibility. Not the whole thing. Ie you will tend to see FESA run more incidents initially with the help of DEC.

example, a FESA DM/CFM arrives and due to lack of FESA resources he calls on DEC and I guess that is how the show will roll.