Our Newest Recruit has arrived

Our latest recruit has just arrived, although it may be sometime before Mum and Dad let her loose on a hose. Congratulations to Donna and Ken on the birth of Kate Maree born Wednesday evening. Mum and Bub are doing well - we haven't heard about Dad. Congratulations guys from all the brigade members.
Captn Dave

65 Roses Day - Cystic Fibrosis

As members of our brigade would know we try to support Cystic Fibrosis, Australia in any small way we can. Next week there is an awareness day, to be precise it will be Friday 28th May. Called 65 Roses Day it is designed to raise awareness of and raise funds for research into Cystic Fibrosis. I would urge any volunteers or follows of our blog out there who have a couple dollars to spare to buy a wrist band, pen or badge to assist this great cause. The merchandise is on sale at most larger stores that I know of and probably lots of other places. More information about 65 Roses day is available at the Cystic Fibrosis web site http://www.cysticfibrosis.org.au/65rosesday/
More information about Cystic Fibrosis can be found at the Cystic Fibrosis - Australia web site http://www.cysticfibrosis.org.au

Interesting Links

The brigade has had a mention in a couple of stories and I also came across an article I thought may interest a few people.
The first link is to the story on our training day at the NDTG.
http://www.cfaconnect.net.au/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1966&I
The second link is to a story on the Murtoa Brigade who are doing some great things and seem to have a philosophy similar to ours.
http://www.cfaconnect.net.au/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1615&Itemid=42

Patto

Group Training Day NDTG

Sunday 1st May and its off to the NDTG for the Elmore Group training day. We have invited Raywood to join us for the day given in the new group structure we may be in the same Group. Elmore, Kamarooka, Raywood and Goornong made up the contingent of 5 trucks and about 25 personal plus the 6 volunteer instructors for a pretty full day. There was also a group from Murrabit doing off road training on the new course. Nice new truck guys. The activities for the day were Gas fire (domestic) a pole fire and remote structure fire. Most of the crews were a mix of new members or crew leaders and some more experienced volunteers. CFA media also came a long and I believe a story and photos of the day will be on CFA connect pretty soon. (Thanks Leith)

It was great to see many of the volunteers step up and take on roles and mentored in areas outside their comfort zones. Many had a dip at IC and Crew leader roles. The way they absorbed the information, listened and reacted to the mentors and instructors can only be a plus for brigades as fossils like my self hand over the reigns.

The day culminated in an exercise which the crews had not been told about and was presented as a "Gas bullet" fire. In fact when the crews responded they had a gas bullet fire with casualties.As the crews bought the gas fire under control another fire erupted in the adjacent service station, also with casualties.

The responsee by crew, crew leaders and IC was excellent under pressure. The comments after the exercise indicated the worth of providing this type of training. Thanks to all who participated and making the day worth while. Thanks to Jason (Elmore Group) for his organisation of the day and also to the Pad Instructors.

Bendigo Torchlight and other stuff

Well another Bendigo Easter Fair has come and gone and a small contingent of us from the Elmore Group walk, shuffled, dawdled and/or tried to march.  Unfortunately we have no photos as the photographer and his camera were not getting along on the night which is unfortunate because it will probably be the last time the Elmore Group in its current form will be together. With the impending changes next year will look a little different I guess.
Another milestone we reach was the of the 72nd skills maintenance drill - all achieved in 6 months. Credit must go to Tim and Donna who have driven the exercise and thanks to all the members who have taken up the challenge. We are now getting lots of useful information about our assignment area and the troops are gaining valuable knowledge. All useful stuff when it all goes pear shaped.
I would like welcome aboard all the new firefiighters from the class of 2010. well that's it for this post a bit boring but we will keep trying.

Class of 2010 minimum skills

The class of 2010 minimum skills has now been completed and was a resounding success. All participants have successfully completed both the theory and practical sessions. Congratulations to all participants who showed a willingness and enthusiasm which made the instructors and assessors jobs just that little bit easier. Here are a few happy snaps of the day. A big thanks to all who participated, the instructors Brett and Peter. Also a thanks to Denis and Tim for their tireless efforts to get the crews up to fantastic standard.

New Training Drills Roster

Goornong has developed a drills roster with works along side the Sunday Tanker Run Roster. All active members are rostered to take the tankers out each 4 weeks or so. This shares the load amongst the team but also allows members the opportunity to maintain their skills.

Our brigade assignment area is divided into approx 50 different sectors or drills. Each Sunday, both our tankers and crews complete one of those drills. Crews are assigned tasks based on their skills and requested to follow the map instructions.

The drills sheets - one is posted - has a poorly detailed map, which allows crew to use the Spatial Vision maps to determine exactly where the route should be. Our focus with this is to provide situational awareness at all times. Specific points will be listed and crews are expected to provide GPS locations from our onboard Garmin GPS units. A benefit of these maps is to also encourage crews to travel roads/tracks usually not frequented and gain a better understanding of our total brigade assignment area.

Crews are also requested to provide information on the condition of roads/tracks, hazards and obstructions, water points, poor signage and wrong map road names, access concerns and hydrant testing. Using the log below the map, crews are requested to log details which also provides a written assessment of the task/concerns but also allows crews to maintain their log keeping skills - so when operating in anger (a job) crews will naturally keep a log - something all believe is vitally important.
Information is collated and passed onto the Brigade management team where it is dispersed to relevant government/private agencies for issues and concerns to be addressed. A log is kept to provide BMT access to what has and has not been completed.
We've been able to identify strengths and weaknesses within our crews and tailor training to suit those needs. Once drills are completed, details are entered into the CFA training departments online skills maintenance website, giving skills maintenance recognition to all involved. With this system, we will have approx 104 skills maintenance sessions a year.
Special thanks also needs to go to Donna P for Her tireless work in setting up and maintaining the drills system.