Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Craig Hamer-Mathew on August 9, 2007 at 6:18am

Gday Mick,
I am a volunteer firie in Western Australia. I joined the Wickham Volunteer Fire & Rescue Service (about 1800km Northwest of Perth) 5 years ago after relocating here for work. I talked about becoming a vollie for about 10 years before finally being able to do so in this remote country town.
BEST THING I EVER DID.
Looking forward to chattin to other Aus Firies.
Cheers
Craig

Permalink Reply by Mick Mayers on August 9, 2007 at 10:55pm

I wish I would have had more time to spend there so I could have seen more of the country. We formed a "brother" station realationship with the Surfer's Paradise station and their station officer has been to stay with us in South Carolina several times. I spent some time traveling in the New England region and started out in Brisbane, but when I went to Warwick, the place I was staying was way out in the sticks (I'm from Philadelphia, so anything without highrise buildings is "in the sticks"). So I was on the porch, and I'm looking at the roos and kookaburras and other very strange animals out in the bush and I said, "Damn, so this is the outback."

The lady of the family I was staying with overheard me and asked me to come in to the kitchen. She rolled out a map of Oz and pointed at Brisbane and said, "Mick, this is Brisbane, this is where you were yesterday." She then moved her finger about an inch inland and said, "This is Warwick; you are NOWHERE near the outback".

Needless to say, if where I was at was considered still in civilization, I'd hate to see what the outback is really like! (I did get a good picture of me with Blazer Bear at a pub and I stood next to the statue of Tiddalik, so I guess that makes me a local ;)

Permalink Reply by CFS9219 on August 28, 2007 at 2:02am

Hi, sorry i have not replyed till now. Been bloody busy.

I am a vollie firefighter with the South Australian Country Fire Service. Been in it for about 14 months. I love it. My brigade is Dalkeith, and is about 14 years old, it was formed by the amalgamation of the Smithfield and Evaston Gardens Brigades. Dalkeith Station is on the southwest corner od Coventry Road/ Dalkeith Roads. I am in a Metro Fringe area, so my brigade shares some of our area with the local MFS station (paid service).

A bit of info on my brigade. We are a Fire Rescue HazMat brigade, not all brigades in the CFS are rescue and/or HazMat. Our average call rate per financil year is about 340-350 calls a year.

Permalink Reply by Scott on October 27, 2007 at 4:56am

G'Day all. I am origally from America, I have been here in Australia for 6 years. Before i came here i had been a volunteer firefighter for about 15 years. Now i am in a bush fire Brigade in NSW. In January I am moving just outside of Perth, so hopefully i can get straight back into it there. Look forward to chatting to you all. I am also in the patch collectors group on here...
Cheers to all....Scott

Permalink Reply by FireCat on June 3, 2008 at 11:08am

Hi!

I'm considering relocating to Victoria, Australia within the next year. I joined the group to get a feel about the volunteer fire Brigade. Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cat :o )

Permalink Reply by lizz on June 5, 2008 at 5:56am

hi Fire Cat you will enjoy being in the CFA thats the volunteer fire service in Victoria.. when you do decide please contact me and i can give you some info cheers lizz

Permalink Reply by FireCat on June 5, 2008 at 6:08am

Lizz -

I will make sure and contact you. Thanks!

Please be SAFE!
Cat :o)

Permalink Reply by Anfos on June 7, 2008 at 10:14pm

Hi Firecat,
I too can provide info on being in CFA if you wish. I was a volunteer with them for 16 years before recently moving on.

Permalink Reply by FireCat on June 8, 2008 at 12:04am

Hi Anfos -

I would love any information you could give me. Thanks!

Cat :o)

Permalink Reply by John Osmond on June 24, 2008 at 2:18pm

Hey guys im a CFA vol at Wodonga(3hrs from melb on NSW/VIC border) ive been doing it for about 5 years. I am also a private firey working for defence

Permalink Reply by Tony P on July 1, 2008 at 12:02am

We don't talk much here, do we? Oh well. Now there's thirty members in the group - are we mostly Oz with just a few interested parties from OS? And are we structural, wildfire or a mixture?

I in my second CFA Brigade, both urban risk but here we all have the option of getting some wildfire in. How about the rest of you?

Permalink Reply by Tony P on July 2, 2008 at 6:34am

I've just looked you up on Google Earth, you are close to Bunbury aren't you? Are Bunbury a different Fire Service? Do they cover you for structural jobs?

We don't have a bushfire only service, so any Brigade covers it's own patch for all risks. Having said that, there are more than a few Brigades that are considered to have a very low structural risk, so don't have access to all the structural training!

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