BoM Seasonal Outlook

BoM publish a quarterly seasonal outlook each month.  The latest one came out last Thursday 23 September for the period October to December.  Headlines for our area:

• Rainfall: average rainfall predicted: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/ahead/rain.seaus.shtml
• Temperature: higher than average temperatures predicted: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/ahead/temp.seaus.shtml

Click on the links for more details.

District 14 Newsletter, September edition

Please find attached the September edition of the District 14 newsletter.

Regards

Kris Perkovic
Media & Marketing Coordinator
CFA Northern & Western Metropolitan Region

Blessing of the Fleet - City of Whittlesea

The City of Whittlesea is conducting a Blessing of the Fleet on Saturday 2 October 10:00 at Plenty Ranges Arts & Convention Centre, South Morang.

If you wish to participate, please contact David.

Hepatitis B Vaccination Program

CFA is running a Hepatitis B vaccination program.  CFA funds the provision of the vaccination.  The program involves:

• 1st injection
• 2nd injection - 4 weeks after 1st injection
• 3rd injection - 24 weeks after 2nd injection
• Blood test (to confirm vacciniation) 8 weeks after 3rd injection

You need to organise the visits to the doctor.  The CFA delivers the inoculations directly to your nominated doctor.

If you are interesting in particpating, please contact Geoff to get an application form.

New Executive Manager Roles and Update on Chief Officer Recruitment

Hi, All

As you may recall, the Board has endorsed a new department in CFA for: Operational Training and Volunteerism

The Operational Training and Volunteerism department will be headed up by an Executive Manager who will report directly to the CEO. The Executive Manager will provide leadership, advocacy and consultation and planning in implementing a range of strategies and programs to support volunteer engagement and sustainability, along with the strategy and vision for CFA’s operational training, development program and facilities.

Also, the new role of Executive Manager Performance and Assurance has been created.

20 Sep Skills Maintenance

Apologies - we will not be doing Class A Foam training on 20 Sep.  There is something even more exciting planned!

Geoff

Plenty Road & Masons Rd Intersection Construction inc Traffic Signals

Universal Concrete Constructions has been contracted on behalf of Whittlesea City Council to reconstruct the Plenty Rd & Masons Rd intersection including Traffic Signal installation.

Works are scheduled to commence on 9/9/2010. We will be closing one lane of Plenty Rd and implementing temporary traffic signals running 24hrs a day throughout the duration of the project. We apologize for any inconvenience during this time.

Weekly Media Reports

Sorry, all - I fell behind a bit with these...

• 13 August
• 26 August
• 2 September
• 17 September

Additional material:

• State government response to the bushfires royal commission:
  http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/response-to-bushfire-royal-commission
• Media release for the state government response

CFA Connect articles of district 14 events:

• Brave Melton CFA firefighters yesterday rescued a 34-year-old man from a burning home in Comic Court, Melton West.
• Wyndham CFA crews yesterday attended separate hazmat incidents only kilometres from each other in a busy day for local brigades.

Minutes - General Meeting - 2 August 2010

Minutes of last general meeting: 2 August 2010.

Thanks very much to Sue for producing them.

Geoff

Upcoming events

Please note the range of upcoming events over the next few months:

• Mon 20 Sep - commencing Class A Foam training.  All required to attend to either gain you original certification, or for those already trained, to be familiar with the new foam being used by the CFA.
• Sun 3 Oct - Hurstbridge Farmer's Market.  Help required to man the gate - please contact Ros if you are available.
• Mon 18 Oct - Fire Investigation Information session.  Geoff Ranzenhofer from Greenvale CFA will be presenting.
• Sun 21 Nov - the tour of the National Park has moved to this new date due to the clash with the Melbourn Cup weekend.
• Sun 5 Dec - pre-season BBQ.

Geoff

"Renewin' Strathewen" T-Shirts

Reminder that Sue Apted is taking orders for "Renewin' Strathewen" T-Shirts.  If you want one, contact Sue.

Wattle Festival Roster

The following is the roster (so far) for the Wattle Festival  on Sunday 29 August

More people still required.  Please contact Peter Reader if you are available.

Strathewen power outage

We have notice of a power disruption for School Ridge Rd, Strathewen (affecting the shed) on Monday 30 August from 09:00 to 15:30.

Heavy Concept Tanker

The boffins have created a "Heavy Concept Tanker" to trial new ideas.  More information about the tanker is on CFA Connect: http://www.cfaconnect.net.au/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=2276:&Itemid=42

Local visits have been arranged if you are interested in checking it out:

Thursday 19/8/2010

1200 – 1400 hrs: Whittlesea Fire station
1500 – 1700 hrs: Eltham Fire station
1830 – 2030 hrs: Diamond Creek Fire Station

Matthew Temby Trust - Request for Auction Items

The Matthew Temby Trust - run by members of Doreen Fire Brigade - are looking for items for auction at an upcoming Gala Night.

Please refer to the attached letter for more information about the Trust and the request.

Weekly Media Report

• 29 July
• 5 August - Part 1
• 5 August - Part 2
• 5 August - Part 3

(Note: large files)

Wattle Festival

We are selling tickets again for the Wattle Festival steam train on Sunday 29 August.  Please contact Peter Reader petrepeat@optusnet.com.au to volunteer your services for a shift.

Geoff

LAST PAGER FIRMWARE UPGRADE TO VERSION 3.6 - THIS SATURDAY 7 AUGUST

To those Brigade Members with Pagers.

The last Firmware Upgrade to the new Firmware Version 3.6 is this Saturday commencing at 1.00 p.m.

Pagers not already upgraded should be switched on during the morning (if not already on, which they should be) with a battery with plenty of life left in it in the pager. Each OTA (Over the Air) transmission may take up to 3 hours depending on how busy Viper [which sends the transmission] may be at the time.

To check whether your pager has Version 3.6, do the following:-

• have pager on (press red and green buttons at the same time until pager boots up)
• press red button - if it shows Messages, press the red button a second time
• "Delete" will be on the screen
• press arrow key "Up" twice
• screen will show Advanced
• press green button
• General Status will be the top option on the screen
• press green button
• third one down is Version. If it shows 3.6 then your pager is upgraded.

If it does not show Version 3.6 then could you please make sure that your pager is turned on during Saturday morning ready for the upgrade.

Pagers not upgraded - after that members will not gain the full benefit from the pager until it is updated after a lengthy process of collecting, sending and then getting back.

It would be appreciated if all members could check their pagers for Version 3.6 and let me know by email patcorr@alphalink.com.au or phone 9714 8270 that their pagers are upgraded. Could you please do this by or during tomorrow night. I may have to make a few phone calls to people who do not respond but I hope not too many.

(If Advanced, General Status does not show you as the Owner, please let me know.)

All the Best

Pat Corr
Arthurs Creek RFB Comms officer

District 14 Championships Committee Meeting

There is a committee meeting for the District 14 championships scheduled for Saturday 4 September 09:00 at Plenty fire station.  If anyone is interested in representing the brigade at this meeting, you are more than welcome to attend on our behalf.

Strathewen power outage

Note that there is a scheduled power outage affecting Strathewen Shed on Tuesday 10 August from 09:00 to 15:30.