Hello mate, it's been a long time..Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ! I've come across video program in Australian Channel.... Emergency 000.... now I've seen good firefighting there..... Australian style ! Also bought a new broadband. maybe we can chat sometime... God Bless ya !

Michael Vito, Philippines

Tony....are you still around?

That pic with Blazer Bear was taken in Queensland. I spent six weeks in NSW and QLD in 2002 on a job study with the firies there. In the US we have ol' Smokey Bear, but he's not a koala!

Did you see my picture with Blazer Bear?

We probably SHOULD have had marshmellows at that last house fire. >roll eyesbr /> I felt more like beating some folks with my halligan, though.

I went through your pics; nice!
And I am surprised that you don't have Eva's music on here.

g'day Tony! Glad I found you. Much easier once I knew your name here!

Tony, no worries, not like I hold you responsible just because you're both aussies. On a brighter note he did remove both his posts rather than ignore our .suggestions'. He's shows promise but....unless what he did was to update his profile, he's actually a 16year old kid, and if so shouldn't be passing himself off as older/more experienced. It ain't right.

Tony it was Tyler James, from queensland. When he posted yesterday am his profile said he was 16 and an explorer. Bot myself and Paul Montpetit gave him a rash of shit about a stupid and very unprofessional posting. In essence the post implied that anyone that claims to have been read ended (MVA) is lying, a faker and looking to make money and some other nonsense. I commented and so did Paul and shortly he took it down. He then posted another disucssion on the color of a fire truck, with a wise ass comment about people with no sense of humor. I commented on THAT one too and he took that one down.
He's a little wise ass. Now he says he's in college, I'm pretty sure he's a bullshitter.

Oh Oh, I see you are in Oz, well have a nice day on the 4th, some day you guys will give the Queen the boot as well.

Yea, I knew that when I wrote it. I just get tired of flag wavers and the hero crap. Have a nice 4th.

Tony, thanks for the add on. Stay safe my friend..

Thank you for your comments :)

Nah, While on shift I cant respond to anything, but I work in a unit where I can easily get the time off to go and work on the big stuff. Eveyday incidents I dont get to all the time, unsually only on my days off, which is when most people are working anyway. Would love to think that I could go to incidents when working but at the end of the day there are usually more important things to do with the cops.

Hey Mate,

We have a few cops at the station who are involved in firefighting, a few are in volunteers and a few in retained stations [paid part time - on call]. It can be hard getting to calls sometimes because the cops dont always release you or the rosters are stuffed up, but generally we get to go away to the big stuff without too many problems.

Thanks for adding.

Arron

Hello Tony, three days ago we had a meeting at civil defense headquarters. And would like you to know, that there are Australian contingent are helping us out here. They even donated medical equipment for upgrade and re-stock of hard to find medicine here. Their visit was cut short because of the Indonesian earthquake but they promise if things settle down in their end. They will come back and finish the job.

To all Aussies out there. Thank you !

Mike

Hey Tony, It has been a while since I have been on here. I've been busy with the army getting ready to go to the desert. Had any good discussions on here lately?

Sorry Brother....I just found your comment (I'm not really too computer savvy)
And people arguing and disagreeing with me couldn't bother me in the least.
I just find it funny that the self-proclaimed "high and mighty" people that are telling me that MY opinion is WRONG.....can then turn around and tell me to be open to other ideas.
Kinda funny funny.....kinda sad.
Anyways.....thanks for lookin out and if you ever get to the USA and come to Washington D.C. and want to see the "wrong way" that a department operates.....hit me up and I will give you the 25 cent tour

I figured it took a little restraint. I usually leave the thread alone when it takes a twist like that one did. It turns from simply asking people's opinions to criticizing them when they give it.

Unfortuneately I don't have the option of only putting law enforcement dispatch on my profile. I work directly for our Police Department as a dispatcher. Very different from our county wide emergency services dispatch/911 center. They dispatch fire, ems, law enforcement, anything else on the county level. I get to work directly with the police officers, in the office and through the radio. It's a good job, but I'm working toward actually becoming a police officer.

I understand what you're saying when you mention cell phones being as much of a hinderance as a help. You end up getting 5 calls for the same thing. As with everything else today, no one can win. I can't imagine handling 5,000 calls in the course of a day. I mean that literally, I can't even imagine that call volume.

Anyway, I hope you all finally get some rain. I completely forgot that it is winter in Australia.

Take Care, stay safe
-Eric

Tony,

I see you have the actual Maltese Cross in your pics. I don't think I've noticed it before. Is that so people that don't believe what you say about the difference between the Maltese Cross and the Firefighters' Cross can reference your pic? Anyway, I was actually jumping on here to see how things are going on your side of the world and to applaud your keeping cool in the "2 1/2 inch" thread. I can't believe how heated people get over some of these conversations. Well, hope everything's going good for ya'. Take care and stay safe.

-Eric