New Operations Bulletin

006/2012: Fire Station Motor Room Environment Vehicle and Equipment Checks

All Operations Bulletins are available on CFA Online:

• Path: Brigades Online > Fire & Emergencies > Manuals > Operations Bulletins
• Link: http://cfaonline.cfa.vic.gov.au/mycfa/Show?pageId=operationsBulletins

Hard-copies are on the notice board at Arthurs Creek station.

Water quality at Fiskville - message from the CEO

As you may be aware the Herald Sun recently reported on the quality of water being used for training purposes at Fiskville. We take very seriously the health, safety and wellbeing of our members and indeed all persons using the training facilities at Fiskville.
To provide certainty and comfort for all people doing live fire training at Fiskville, we made a decision last week to only use mains water until further notice.

The Professor Joy Report has now been released and is available to view

Dear CFA members

I would like to let you know the Board has now released the Professor Joy Report (into historical use of chemicals for live fire fighting training at Fiskville between 1971 and 1999) along with our detailed response.

Notification of Fiskville report release to Members

I wish to provide some guidance on the notification of Brigades regarding the Fiskville Investigation report and CFA’s response.
I ask that you confirm with your Brigades that they are aware that the Report has been released and where additional information may be found if required (see below).

I also ask OIC’s to ensure that their staff are aware of the report and associated supporting documents.

From the Chief Officer #53

From the Chief Officer #53

Acting Chief Officer Steve Warrington
Thanks everyone for taking the time to read this update. Chief Officer Euan Ferguson is currently on some well-earned leave and will return on Monday 25 June. 
St Andrews Fire Station Opening
On Sunday afternoon the new St Andrews Fire Station was official opened by Cindy McLeish MP. St Andrews Fire Brigade was intensely involved and affected in the 2009 Campaign Fires and it was privilege for me to meet with brigade members at the opening. The new Fire Station has a lot more space with modern facilities to support the brigade member’s requirements and house the brigades 3 appliances. Thank you to Captain Laurie Steel, Ex-Captain Helen Kenney & the members of the St Andrews Fire Brigade supported by OO Ian Cross & BASO Jenny Broadhurst for the hard work and time put into building and opening the new station. Well done!

Community Safety Engagement Forum
Over the last weekend, I have attended two very successful community safety engagement forums. These forums highlighted the importance of leadership in community safety across all levels of CFA. Well done to Managers of Community Safety Mark Potter & Neil Thompson & Community Education Officers Ellisa Bourne and Erin Bulmer for the initiative & good work in facilitating these forums and special thank you to Ex Chief Officer Brian Potter for his motivating presentation he shared with the forum, he hasn’t lost the touch.

Digital Media Team’s double win
CFA’s work in integrating social media into Victoria’s emergency communications was acknowledged last week when CFA won both of its finalist categories at the 2012 Australian Government Information and Communications Technology Awards. CFA was awarded the ‘Excellence in eGovernment’ award in the Government 2.0 category and CFA’s Digital Media Manager, Martin Anderson, was awarded the '2012 Government 2.0 Innovator’ award. You can view a presentation by about the integration of social media into emergency service procedures in Victoria here http://bit.ly/CFAsmem

School Visit for Erin Toomey
Last week, the Eltham Fire Brigade A Platoon consisting of SSO Joe Cardamone, LFF Robert Henderson, and QFF Andrew Reis attended Holy Trinity primary school to help in the celebrations of Erin Toomey’s final chemotherapy session. Erin is a Five year old girl in prep, who has been undergoing treatment for the past three years for cancer, which has required daily oral chemotherapy. The Eltham crew in front of Erin’s family, friends and classmates presented Erin with a trauma teddy from all fire fighters of Victoria. Thank you to the Eltham A Platoon for your very important efforts in supporting the local community. Job well done!

Farewell to Regional Director Mark Reid
Gippsland Regional Director Mark Reid has announced his retirement from CFA after 39 years. Mark joined CFA as a Junior volunteer at South Warrandyte in 1973. He commenced employment with CFA as a Recruit Firefighter in 1979 and progressed through the ranks, serving in a variety of key operational roles at Boronia, Geelong West, Dandenong, Portland, CFA Headquarters and more recently throughout the Gippsland Region.  In 2007 Mark was seconded to the National Fire Authority of Fiji, where he filled the role of Chief Officer for two years.  After the Black Saturday fires, Mark was seconded onto the CFA VBRC team for two years prior to being promoted to the rank of Regional Commander in Gippsland in 2010. More recently Mark was appointed to the role of Regional Director in Gippsland, a position that he still holds today. Throughout his CFA journey he has been an experienced operator, strong leader and a great story teller. A real character that will be missed when he departs CFA.

From the Chief Officer #52

From the Chief Officer #52.

From the Chief Officer #51

From the Chief Officer #51

From the Chief Office #50

From the Chief Officer bulletin http://www.mediafire.com/?aisitalv0kkvb4b#50

From the Chief Officer #49

Here is the link to the bulletin From the Chief Officer #49.

From the Chief Officer #48

From the Chief Officer Bulletin #48 is available.

Creating Our Future Together

The 7th Bulletin in the Creating Our Future Together series focuses on the Culture Survey about to get undeway across the organisation.

Click here to view Bulletin #7 or visit the intranet: home>about CFA> Creating Our Future Together

From the Chief Officer #46

From the Chief Officer newsletter #46.

Memorial Service 2012 for firefighters

Arthurs Creek RFB

CFA invites you and members of your family to attend the Annual Memorial Service for Firefighters.

The service will be held at CFA Fiskville Training Colege, Geelong-Ballan Road, Fiskville.
VicRoads Map 77E4

Sunday 6 May 2012 at 11 am.

Visitors are requested to be in attendance by 10.30am.
Light refreshments will be provided by CFA afterwards.

RSVP Tuesday 24 April 2012

To assist with catering arrangements please advise
Member Services at CFA Headquarters.

tel: 1800 232 636 email: memberservices@cfa.vic.gov.au

CFA Style Guide Review

There is a request to complete a survey regarding the CFA Style Guide. You can either complete it online, using the web address in the email, or download a survey form, using the link, and complete that. Sue

Hi All,

Currently I am taking part in a project to update our style guide. This project is about consolidating various documents and creating a corporate style guide that is practical and easy to use and creating tools that enable members to present a common presence to our colleagues, partners and communities. As part of this process a survey has been created which will help us identify the kind of templates needed, how people would like to access them, what’s useful and what’s not!

The survey closes on Friday 27th April, and can be completed using the following site address

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CFAtemplates

Should you be unable to complete the survey online please complete the attached document. All printed surveys should be returned to Nancy Thompson, Strategic Communications, 8 Lakeside Drive Burwood East 3151.

You may note that on page 3 of this quarter’s Brigade magazine a story titled “Making communication easier” which provides further details on the project.

I encourage everyone to complete the survey and have a say on the kind of templates you need.

Kind regards

Natalie Kenely
Coordinator Training & Development

CFA District 14
Northern & Western Metropolitan Region
251 High Street
Melton   Vic   3337
Tel: 03 8746 1454
Mob: 0417 598 457
Email:n.kenely@cfa.vic.gov.au
Fax: 03 8746 1480

From the CEO: Sixth Bulletin on 'Creating Our Future Together'

Welcome to the 6th Creating our Future Together BULLETIN.

This Bulletin focuses on the STRATEGIC PLAN and the second phase of our structure re-design.

Click here to view Bulletin #06 or visit the intranet: home > about CFA > Creating Our Future Together.
You will be prompted to login using your usual CFA member password.

On behalf of Mick Bourke
Cheryl Philip Personal Assistant to the CEO

Flood Response Concerns

The following documents have been issued as a follow up to CFA's response to the Christmas Day floods:

• Letter - VICSES Chief Officer Operations - Working Safely at SES Incidents
• Memo - Flood Response Concerns
• Safety Alert 26 Flood Support Operations

Appliance Turn Out Times

Please find the attached memo from the Chief Officer regarding Appliance Turn Out times.

John Deering
Operations Manager
CFA District 14
Northern and Western Metropolitan Region

Proposed FDP - Nillumbik & Banyule Monday 23rd January 2012

After local consultation I am planning to introduce the Fire Danger Period – Fire Restrictions - in Nillumbik and Banyule at 0100 hrs on Monday the 23rd of January 2012.

I need to submit the paperwork by this Wednesday, if there are significant objections or comments, please let me know ASAP.

Kind regards

John Deering
Operations Manager
CFA District 14
Northern and Western Metropolitan Region

From the Chief Officer

The Chief Officer's latest blog entries:

• From the Chief Officer #37 posted 12 Dec 2011

From the CEO: Fourth Bulletin on 'Creating Our Future Together'

Link to page containing the bulletins.

http://cfaonline.cfa.vic.gov.au/mycfa/Show?pageId=creatingOurFuture

Note that you will need a CFA Online login to access this.  If you don't have one, please contact Geoff.