65 Roses Day – 27 May 2011 'Seize the Day'

65 Roses Day – 27 May 2011
'Seize the Day'



As most of you are aware we have supported the Cystic Fibrosis Support Group in Bendigo over the last couple of years. May 27th is 65 Roses Day. The day hopes to raise awareness, understanding and support for the many sufferes of this condition. So anyone who reads our blog, I would urge you to visit the CF site find out about CF and donate to this worthwhile cause. The links are;
visit www.65rosesday.org.au or www.cfv.org.au
 
Captain Dave

Sunday 1st May marked the completion of the latest group completing minimum skills. 14 recruits became accredited - 8 of which were from Goornong.


The exciting thing is that of these 8 members - 6 are local farmers from our district.

With the completion of minimum skills we have 3 members with a total of 90 years experience in the CFA returned to the brigade, Peter and Kevin Howard and Ed English. Their knowledge and experience will be fantastic for the brigade.

On the day 2 of our trainers were also assessed.

This is the second minimum skills course we have run through Goornong in the last 18 months. This has helped increase our ranks by 16, and the courses have produced 28 volunteers in this 18 months.

It has been alot of hard work and special thanks to the following people - Dave Patterson, Denis Crowe, Tim McCrohan, Phil Challis (Bullengarook), Ewan Paton (Huntly) Andrew and Peter Polwarth (Bendigo).

Congratulations again to all involved.

Goornong now has over 40 accredited minimal skills fire fighters on our books...

Time to Change Your Batteries!!!!

Now Daylight savings has come to an end please don't forget to change the batteries on your smoke detectors!!!
Remember only a working smoke detectors can save lives....

Lifting of the Fire Danger Period

Well I guess its no surprise that there has been an announcement by the Chief Officer that a declaration ending the Fire Danger period has been announced. Officially the Fire Danger period will end at 1.00 pm on 7th March. I would still like to caution people that even with the rain we have seen a number of fires, exhibiting quite drastic fire behaviour. There is an added dimension for us as fire fighters in trying to contain fires on saturated paddocks and the real possibility of bogging fire trucks. So I urge everyone to exercise caution when burning off or using equipment outdoors. This brings me to my next concern and that is the increase in structure fires around the region so I would urge everyone to check there smoke detector. If anyone is not sure how please contact one of the brigade members and we will arrange for it to be checked.

Our new fire station is taking shape and going up quite rapidly. At the moment we expect to have the official opening in June or July and the Goornong community will be invited to celebrate with us on that occasion.

Thursday 3rd March marks the first night of our 2nd minimum skills course, with 8 people from Goornong participating. The course is designed to provide the skills needed to become an operational fire fighter and is extremely pleasing to see our ranks increasing with this and the last course we ran. Thank you to everyone who has put up their hands many of you have been active members in the past. It is also fantastic to see the increasing number of female and young people wishing to participate. Good luck to you all.

During May Elmore brigade will be celebrating a milestone in their history. More details will be posted as we have them but I am sure that everyone will join the Goornong Brigade in congratulating Elmore on its achievement.

Lastly I have been advised by the Bendigo Council that a Green waste collection bin has been put in the transfer station compound. At this point I have no further detail but will post information as I receive it.



Regards

Captain Dave

Who'll stop the rain and other song title's

Well December and January have come and gone with little fire activity in the Goornong assignment area (no great surprise really) and I was wondering if we perhaps should rename ourselves to the Goornong Coast Guard or Goornong CFA boat flotilla. We have had a number of call outs which have been for assistance with flood relief and a number of our volunteers have been on standby should they be needed for flood assistance. Up to this point we have not been used in that role but I would like to take this opportunity to thank not only all those that put up their hand but also to those that stayed around in case they were needed on home soil. Thankfully though most of the Goornong community has been spared major structraul damage, although I suspect a few crops and public assets have not been so lucky. Here are a couple of pictures of the Campaspe River and the Barnadown bridge damage. The Barnadown bridge damage did not become evident till many days after the flood water so it is a timely warning that even though the flood has dissipated there may be some delayed damage.

 

The brigade elections are coming up in April and I would urge all members to consider who they would like on the management team and forward the nominations to Flic before the March meeting. Our next minimum skill course will commence in March and its pleasing to see we have another 8 participants from the Goornong brigade. This is a fantastic effort and I have no doubt they will be a great asset to our brigade and the community. One last comment - Please be aware of the speed restriction and speed camera on the Bagshot Rail crossing. I have it on good authority that these are now fully functional.  All brigade vehicles (whether code 1, code 3 or weekly test) must comply with the signed speed limit.

Gilmac Hay shed fire

Well they say it never rains but it pours and the rains have certainly kept up which presents it’s own set of problems. We had to cancel our training day - un bogging trucks is not part of our normal training and we just didn’t have enough lighter fluid (or napalm) to actually get anything to burn. Then Friday morning (3.17 am to be exact) the page came through – fire at Gilmacs hay processing Comer Lane Goornong. For the uninitiated this is one of the biggest hay processing plants in Victoria and as luck would have it the fire was in the smallest shed containing 3000 tonnes of premium hay bound for export.

As our crews arrived it was clear that the structure was fully involved and the decision to make tankers 6 and pumpers two was transmitted to Vic fire. The biggest concern for the crew and incident controller (Tim) was the processing plant. It was already showing signs of heat distress from the radiant heat. Tim and the crew did a fantastic job with only superficial damage to the wall of the processing plant. The shed containing the hay was too far gone so it became an asset protection and containment exercise. In the end there were 12 appliances including the ladder platform from Bendigo. The rain over the preceding weeks provided a further complication as the access to the water sources was virtually mud. Many thanks to the crews from our neighbouring brigades for their prompt support and assistance. The shed continued to burn for the next 4 days and the final bill being around 1.5 million dollars.

Code 1 Trivia night

Friday night (19th Nov) saw the inaugural Code 1 Trivia night take place at Goornong. The night is organised by the brigade to support the Cystic Fibrosis Support Group. This group provides support and assistance to families with children suffering from cystic fibrosis inn the Bendigo region. (More information can be obtained at http://www.cysticfibrosisaustralia.org.au/ )


Around 80 people participate in the night from a variety of locations and back grounds with a meal provide by the local hotel. Our organisers were overwhelmed by the generosity of sponsors as well as the interest shown in attending the night. To all those who missed out I have been assured the event will return bigger and better next year. The overall winners for the night were the Goanna’s team whose name will now go down for posterity on the Code 1 Trivia night trophy. Whilst the final tally for the funds raised is still being tallied it seems we will have in excess of $1000.00 for the support group and their activities. A fantastic result and a real credit to Denis and Peter from the brigade, whose brain child this was and who ran with the initiative. And many thanks to those who supported and participated in the night. Anyone who would like to assist the support group please contact the brigade and we will give you the contact details. And a big thanks goes to Teisha and Kate who ran the Kids corner for the night.

Finally thanks to our sponsors who assisted us with making the night a success.