 Good evening and welcome to the August Volunteer Forum. We're coming to you tonight live from District 5 and the Hamilton Air Base. One of many air bases around Victoria, but the only one that is own managed and operated by the CFA. And we'll be hearing more about the Hamilton Air Base and the important role that it plays in aviation as the evening gets on. But firstly, let me start the evening by acknowledging the Aboriginal lands to which we all meet on this evening and pay my respects to Aboriginal elders past and present and recognise the strength and resilience of Aboriginal people in this land. As always, I have a panel here with me this evening and we have some distinguished guests. Celeste Benoit, thank you for coming along. Member of the young adults group and a bit of a proactive mover and shaker in the young adults sphere here in Hamilton and District 5. And we'll hear a little bit more about that. So welcome. DCO Rowan Luke for Southwest. Thank you for coming on. We're in your part of the country at the moment. So thanks for coming on this evening. And Simon Wilson, Air Base Manager, Extraordinaire for Hamilton here. Thank you. And you're going to take us through a little bit about this facility and why it's so important for the local community for the broader part of Victoria where we are and some of the special things that you do here. But as always, free to ask questions, pop them into the live chat. And we also have tonight as we try to, whenever we do travel the state, we have a live audience here with us this evening. So give us a wave. Hello. Yes. Excellent. So they are real ladies and gentlemen. We're not just superimposing an audience and thank you for coming along tonight. It's fantastic to have you here. I know many might ask us a couple of questions as we get through this evening. So thank you for taking the time and being with us here this evening. As always, tell us where you're from. We're always very interested to know where our members log in and watch this from. And I also know that there are a couple of people that are not actually from the CFA that watch this forum. Particularly when I was in AFAC last week, I managed to get stopped and spoken to by a couple of CFS members. And they remarked how they like to watch the live stream and that they love it dearly as well. So a big shout out to our South Australian friends from the Country Fire Service. And we've got lots of people coming in from Coldstream, Cavendish, Warnambool, Warragall, South Melbourne. A big shout out to Kylie and a few of the others there from Newborough. Again, it's great to see a lot of people logging in from across the state. As always and normally, we have members of the CFA executive and senior leadership team on the site tonight waiting in the wings to also answer any questions that might come up that's in their area of expertise. So please, whilst we're going to be talking about aviation and a few topics this evening, if you do have a burning question and you want someone to answer that, feel free to pop it into the chat. And a member of our friendly executive team and senior management team will see what they can do about answering that. So thank you and with a big agenda tonight, we'll pop right in. And I might start off this evening with you, Simon. So we are here in Hamilton at the Hamilton Hairbase. Can you tell us a little bit about how it came to be and why it's so important for the local district and surrounds? OK. First of all, welcome. Going back a number of years, there was a bunch of concerned citizens led by a wonderful gentleman called Layton Wraith. And we've got a couple of members of his committee in the audience here tonight. They thought that Hamilton really needed an airbase or the Grampians mountain ranges needed an airbase in the southwest corner. And so they started lobbying and the idea of an airbase was thought to be a good one. But the various authorities thought, well, we can't really afford it. And if we could afford it, we wouldn't be able to staff it. And that was when Layton and his friends had a brilliant idea of why don't we staff it with volunteers. And even though it was quite new at the time, that's what came about. And we've got a fantastic team of 32 volunteers in the Bombaloader team. They're representatives of 16 different brigades in the area. And we work in six teams of five on a roster. So we publish a roster at the beginning of the season. So there's someone always, a team always on call. Each team has a team leader. And over the three years that we've been operating like that, it's been proven to be quite successful. And Layton was a legend. Layton was absolutely a legend. An AFSM recipient. And I actually had the distinguished pleasure of joining Layton and his wife at his home with Rowan. We went and saw Layton. And unfortunately he has passed now, but certainly Layton's memory will live on in this facility. And I know we spent time with him and had a conversation about how important the airbase was. Rowan, do you want to give us your reflections on why it's so important we have a facility like this? Yeah, thanks, Chief. So you're right about Layton, the passion. And the thing that really struck me when I came to South West quite a few years ago was the passion behind the airbase team. And that passion comes from an identified need and a capacity to fill that need. And I think I recall some of the challenges about getting a shed off the ground and getting a great storage facility and tanks. And I know the work that went into keeping a pretty rudimentary airbase working was fantastic. And I think the support that the airbase provides across South West is fantastic. In conjunction with the other airbases, you know, cast it in and up through stall. But Hamilton airbase has a very soft spot for me in the dedication and passion that has helped develop it. And if I go to the South West fires and the 1925 season of the South West fires in particular, you know, I haven't got the details or don't quote me on the details. But, you know, the amount of retardant that came through when it was managed through here and loading bombers, you know, so I might have a better idea of the figures. But phenomenal amount of work that kept that fire replenished of retardant. It's just fantastic work. Yeah, absolutely. And I think, Simon, you've been recognized, not only just yourself, Layton and Bobby Lee, for what you've done here with something called a Spirit of CFA Award. In fact, you're the 2020 winners of the Excellence in Capability Planning. And I've got to say, having a tour of the facility here previously and again being here tonight, it's not just the crew room that we're in here this evening or the, I've got to call it the control tower, but I'm sure you probably call it something different. The communications deck. Trust me, ladies and gentlemen, it looks like a control tower. Yeah, where you do your flight following and monitoring and the rest of it. And then we walk across to the shed where there's those large tanks, automated filling processes. But it plays a really important part because there's a little thing called PDD in Victoria. Tell us more about why having this set up the way that we have it set up helps with PDD. Correct. PDD, predetermined dispatch, is a system where our bombers are parked here. They're parked full. The pilots are also here. And PDD is that if any pages go off in our PDD area, which is roughly at District 5, but slightly different, the bombers are automatically dispatched. We get the page a call. If the FDI is 12 or more, those planes leave. And our average response time from the page to wheels off the ground is about eight minutes, which is fairly quick. 300 kilometres an hour for the bombers. And we're finding that in this district anywhere from here within 50, 60 kilometres, the planes are more often than not beating the local fire trucks. They're never ever going to put the fire out, but they can kick it in the guts enough that when the fire trucks turn up, they can put it out. And PDD is all about keeping small fires small. Keeping small fires small. And allowing the local brigades and appliances to be able to get there and keep it. So tell me, I guess everyone at home is probably wanting to know, has anyone done the top gun and the Maverick and buzzed the dow? I'm sure there's a couple of boys, I'm thinking of one in particular called Don Armstrong, who's been with us many years. I'm sure Don would love to do it, but he's fairly careful. Something tells me an air tractor 802 wouldn't go fast enough to break the sound barrier, but I guess you never know. Well, I think, so when a bomber comes in, it lands, it comes up to the refill pad that we saw out the back there. Talk us through, I guess, how quick a turnaround can the airbase team feel the plane and send it on its way again? If the plane is not having to queue, we just wheel it straight. We can load it in about three minutes, three to three and a quarter minutes, and send them on their way. If we have a really bad day, we double team, where we have one team loading planes, and the second team virtually constantly mixing more retardant as we go along. And it's really great, and the members that participate in your roster and the constant manning of this facility during the season come from all local brigades, don't they? Yep, 16 different brigades, and they're the key that makes the whole thing work. Just if we didn't have them, the whole system wouldn't work. Even during COVID, when most of our guys were on call but at home or in town or whatever they were doing, we could normally have a team here within 10 or 15 minutes. And Rowan, the South West is no stranger to doing things like this. In particular, I know the Law and Summer crewing program is about rostering volunteers from various brigades to perform a function. So it's a really novel way of getting our membership involved in an activity like whether it be air base, whether it be the Law and Summer program, or whatever it may be, and really, I guess, demonstrating how our volunteers can really step up, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely. The beauty of both programs, so the Law and Summer crewing is where we have a range of volunteers outside of District 7 in particular, within District 7, we've seen them come from District 15, District 14, and they provide daytime response during the peak of the fight-anger period. In Lawn, so in that Christmas New Year period, because, you know, high tourism numbers, both that program and the air base is really reliant on self-rostering, you know, it's self-managing once it's up and in place. And I think the beauty of both locations is that people are welcome to come, welcome to put their hand up. When they come into here, you've got to say, I often have the opportunity to come through here when the air base is activated. And I think I said earlier, you know, I've had two or three tours through here. Each time I come, there's this degree of pride and passion that, you know, the team want to take you around and show you what's the latest thing that's occurred. And that's the thing I think that keeps bringing people into here is that real interest, the desire to be really or are really proud of what they've achieved. And, you know, that just, you know, that rubs off certainly. And it really goes to show, I guess, how potentially a future flexible volunteering model might be able to, you know, if someone comes along and they have an interest in aviation and that's what they want to do. But it's something that they can actually get involved in that assists the air base and its operations, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely. I think you've got a background in aviation or some of your team members have got that background. And, you know, a lot of people are traditionally have flown in this part of the world. You know, the larger farms have got hangers and things like that. So there is a natural connection between aviation in this part of the world for farms and its fire brigade. Well, as usual, our fans have not let us down and our watchers. And, Roland, this question is from Lisa and we asked yourself in South Australia, the fire brigade would not go within one kilometre of a wind turbine. What are Victoria's rules regarding firefighting distances to a burning wind turbine or wind turbines in general? So in an aviation sense, you know, the risk assessments and the requirements for flying around, you know, heights, high structures like wind turbines, we're able to do it. We can effectively move around. You know, it comes with a great degree of risk and some more caution, but, you know, we don't have those limitations on those areas of flying. You know, the risk assessment about, you know, do we put an aircraft in that place and the supervision around that is critical. But, you know, the level of expertise and the work to manage aircraft to put them in safe places is really important. Absolutely. And I know from my own experience and time in New South Wales where we had, you know, did have fires that encroached on wind farms, you know, the aviation operators are so sophisticated in their safety procedures, their protocols, and they are able to operate in and around wind turbines safely and effectively. So, thanks for your question, Lisa. Greatly appreciated. And I hope we've gone some way of answering your question. And thanks for telling us about the airbase of Simon. I'm sure, please feel free to stay on the panel and you never know. Thank you. I've got a feeling there might be some more questions in here about the airbase and some aviation stuff. Got questions. More than welcome. Excellent. You heard it, ladies and gentlemen. I want at least two tricky questions for Simon before the end of tonight's forum. Don't let me down. Live audience. Now, we move on to aviation is such a big thing in CFA. In fact, we have a commander that's dedicated to aviation. And a gentleman by the name of John Katzagunas, or John Kat as he's lovingly known in headquarters, heads up our aviation section. And he's most recently taken that on from Luke Patterson who really did work hard to ensure that our aviation capabilities practices protocols are really A1. John's put together a bit of a video for us this evening to tell us about CFA aviation and how it works and some of the tips and tricks that are coming up in the aviation film. So let's hear from John. Hi, my name's John Katzagunas. I'm commander CFA aviation. And today I'm here to talk to you about CFA's involvement in state aviation. CFA currently manages 16 airbases. One primary large retardant airbase at Hamilton and 15 support small water and foam only airbases throughout the state. CFA also support FFMVIC at further four airbases. This depends on the role. However, all CFA members have the opportunity to get involved in aviation. Examples are fixed wing bomber reloaders have no prerequisites yet to be an air attack supervisor has many prerequisites and takes several years of dedication to be eligible. More information regarding courses available to CFA members can be found on CFA online members page. You can also contact your district coordinator which is also found online. Yes, I'm very excited to have a new team member joining CFA and creating a mentor program for future members to be trained in aviation. This will include a better focus on representation of our community through diversity. I'm very proud to have been part of history last year when Kelly from CFA and Rihanna from Parks Victoria became the first female air attack supervisors in Victoria. However, fire aviation needs to continue working on a more community reflective workforce. We always hear about ALVOS. Do we need to give catchy names for new aircraft? ALVOS has moved on to other things in the Northern Hemisphere. However, every time people see an orange helicopter they instantly think of ALVOS and that aircraft was etched in our history. Victoria still has the orange helicopter just with a different name. Aircraft names assist the community acceptance and is a bit of fun. Some companies run competitions allowing the community to choose aircraft names. Some of the work being done before next season is the predetermined dispatch review, working on a new taxiway at Hamilton Air Base, CFA is currently going through currency training and new member training for aviation roles, aviation communication and evaluation course, educating ground crews on aircraft use before the arrival of an air attack supervisor is also being rolled out throughout Victoria. An air base facility upgrade throughout a VESIP grant that looks at facilities throughout those 16 CFA managed air bases. And we're also working on video streaming on a further five aircraft that will be able to be viewed through the air import. Thanks to John and the team for pulling that video together. Very informative to the important role that aviation plays in CFA operations across the state. We have our first live audience question this evening and we have Don that has a question for the panel. Don Robertson, Strathcala Brigade, District 5. Just knowing how valuable the lighter air attack craft are, what's the likelihood, Simon or Jason, of getting the large air tankers in and out of here? Simon. Last I heard, Don, there's going to be some load testing on the main runway done in a month or two to see whether it's feasible to take the extra weight of the larger aircraft. I think CFA aviation would like it to happen. Local council is a bit conservative that we don't want to do damage to the main runway. But the load testing will be the answer to that one. Good. Yeah, well, I totally understand. Our roads are already showing the benefits of using heavy trucks perhaps and we don't want to do that to the aircraft. But the value of the air attack craft and we've seen the large air tankers work out of Avalon up to here, it would be really nice that a few blokes could fill them again and keep them here a bit longer. It would, Don, and we certainly have the facilities to be able to fill them too. Excellent. Thanks for your question, Don. I think it's a great insightful question. Thanks for your answer, Simon. And I look forward to hearing the results of that testing as it takes place for large air tanker operations. Well, we have Celeste on the panel here. Hello. Hello. So, Lieutenant, Hamilton Fire Brigade and a member of the Young Adults Group. In fact, you're a bit operational on the way here this evening, I hear. Yes, we were, just a false alarm, luckily. So, tell me more about, I guess, some of the youth initiatives that you got here in District 5 and why it's important that things like the Young Advisory Group comes together and, yeah, tell us some of your thoughts. Sure. Basically, we're heading off from District 17 and 24. So, they've got some great programs in place at the moment where the reps that meet across the state have also implemented a group within their district. And so, basically, within that age range of 18 to 30, which we know is an underrepresented group across the organization. And it's the future of the organization, obviously. So, they're meeting across their district and finding out what's happening, what do they need to improve, how are the youth going, and then passing that back through their state rep as well as having voting rights at DPC meetings, things like that. So, affecting change, basically. And so, as a young person coming into the organization, what would you say to any young person out there watching this evening that isn't part of the CFA that might be thinking of coming on board? Yeah, definitely. It's a wonderful organization to get involved with. And it's great to see so many young people stepping up and moving into leadership roles as well. And it's a great way to learn new skills. So, we're really looking to ramp that up across District 5 and starting a youth group across the district and then feeding that information back through to the state to our meetings. Rowan, in terms of... We've got Celeste here this evening, young, energetic, full of passion for the CFA. I can just see that. How important is it for CFA to embrace the next generation of firefighter? So, let's spot on. It's our future. If we don't do it as an organization or if we don't support the development of our younger members, it's critical for our future and it's really pleasing to hear Celeste talk tonight and the stories that are occurring in each of the brigades around the place that have younger members and how they embrace them. It's really the success of the organization. So, what are some of the things that the young advisory group are talking about at the moment, if you don't mind sharing? Yeah, sure. So, some of the topics we've covered, obviously, are developing our own groups across the organization. But we also talk about things like training challenges through to the new workwear that's implemented and basically any problems that people are having, what's working well. We talked about the inquiry and the outcomes of that. So, basically, it's giving younger members a voice. It's been fantastic to see. And from your perspective, I guess, what's probably the number one, if you were chief for the day, and I know Natalie McDonald, our CEO who's watching this evening, handed a young cadet forum, and that was one of the questions that was posed to the group. If you were chief for the day, what would you do? What would you change? If you were chief for the day, what would you do? Probably a big push on training pathways for our youth. So, moving people up into leadership programs through putting things in place to develop that youth. Was it dawning for you to take a step up into that lieutenant role? Initially, but luckily I'm very well supported. I've got a great brigade and a great team. We've also got quite a lot of youth in our team as well, which is great. It's good to see that we're getting supported. We've got a fantastic captain, so really lucky. That's great to see. And I think, because, again, it's important that we engage the next generation. In fact, it's one of our outcomes that we're seeking to do under the outcomes framework, which is to boost the number of volunteers under the age of 40. Not that I consider the age of 40 old at all or anything. But we do need that younger generation coming through, don't we? That's one of the things. So, we have another question for the panel here this evening, and we've got Cody. Cody. That was actually a question. I was just invited up here to talk about why I came into the CFA as a member of the youth and what brought me into the organization. Excellent. Something I always wanted to do, growing up, watching them. Everyone likes seeing firefighters in action, and things like that. And I was a little bit delayed getting into it just through my other sort of personal things that I was doing at the time. But what mainly attracted me was seeing the satisfaction that you actually get from the things that you do within CFA and seeing the broad range of skill sets and activities that you can gain or be involved in throughout that process. Because it is very broad. There are a lot of opportunities. And there's that whole concept of that second family thing, which has proven true for me, certainly, with my local brigade being Hamilton. And yeah, that is probably the biggest thing that you get out of being a CFA is just those relationships, those bonds and that satisfaction of achieving things. When I talk to a lot of young people, they sort of say to me that joining organizations like the CFA and the CFA in particular really helps with self-confidence, new skills, getting a qualification and the like. Is that true of both of you? Yeah, absolutely. And the way CFA structures it, you can't advance beyond what you're capable of doing, meaning that you've got to complete the first course in order to get the second part and move on. So they never actually put you in that position of doing more than you're capable or more than you're willing to do. And that's a really comforting thing to anyone joining and you're right. But given the opportunity to get out of your comfort zone in a safe space is really, really good. Absolutely. And Cody, the same question to you because you can't escape this one. So Chief, for a day, what are you doing? I suppose I'll be following in with what you're doing, really. But it's just getting that broader perspective. I kind of felt like possibly there was a little bit of a narrow-minded sort of approach there for a while. And I think it's fantastic to see those lesser-known areas and lesser-known age groups, ethnicities, genders, et cetera getting a say and really pushing that sort of equality. And I think it's nice to be able to expand within the CFA based on more opinions. I think that's a really, really good thing. Absolutely important. And I guess for anyone out there watching this evening who are seeing obviously two very bright, capable and energetic young people thinking, we'd like a few more of them in our Brigade. So from your experience, what's some of the tips and tricks that do you think helps Brigades bring younger people into the Brigade setting that you might like to share this evening? Sure. I think recruitment itself is a really big factor and just tapping into that youth member that you've got in your district and utilising them. They're there and they're willing and they're capable and they're wanting to help in their district and every district has them across the state and I'm sure they'd love to be involved in your recruitment campaign at local Brigades and that's something for them to see. So for the both of you, is it a family connection? Was it word of mouth, seeing it on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, ABC, right? Begetting you in. I always had that interest, like I said, for seeing what they do. I mean, like I said, seeing what firefighters do is always a cool thing being a kid, but I've always been about community, being involved in community, things like that. I did a lot of basketball refereeing early because very heavily in that community space and seeing that I could have the similar kind of feelings and similar approach inside CFA was a big thing for me and having such a heavy involvement in community engagement activities is really cool, really nice getting out amongst the people that we actually work for essentially and getting their opinion, seeing their satisfaction from the service that we provide. It was a really nice thing for me. Not awesome, thank you very much. And, you know, Rowan, we've got, and I don't know what it's like in the south west and you might have a bit of an idea, but junior running, do you see that as a way of sort of getting young people involved, getting them interested in in firecraft and getting them into a brigade setting? Yeah, I do. We've got some brigades that are really strong, particularly in the rural running. So, adding District 4 and Kelvin Bateman does a whole ever work with his brigade around development of juniors and we've identified that to try and support the brigade to grow more juniors through that process or through the champions you're running, particularly in the rural events. There is competition between the urban brigades and the rural brigades and I'm not going to get into a debate about which is the better event. I reckon both of them together is a pretty good weekend and, again, the effort that goes into championships to actually put a team up, but also what comes out of that. I was just reflecting on when you talked by talking before, you know, I think about Hamilton Brigade as an example. So, if we're looking to try and model how do we develop young people through brigades? I reflect on some meetings we've had with infrastructure plans around the Hamilton Fire Station and, you know, Mel, the captain, has certainly been really proactive about making sure the BMT, which is you guys, actively involved in bringing your perspective, your ideas and your experience, but also a fresh mind to the conversations and that's been really refreshing and I think we've got to a position through those discussions that has been a lot more, sorry, it's been a better outcome for the brigade and where we're all trying to land. And I think about, you know, when you joined as a member, did you think you'd be having conversations around, you know, infrastructure changes or, you know, changes to the fleet, you know, $400,000 worth of vehicles, things like that. You know, it's probably not something you started with, but I have to say hats off to your brigade because you're doing it really well. Absolutely, absolutely. And you spoke before about some, you know, younger member training pathways and the like, and I know Deputy Chief Officer Dysall is online answering questions in the background as we speak about that. So why is it so important for yourselves to be able to have that training pathway and something that you can identify with? I suppose the main thing is so that people know not just when they get in that they're getting on a firetruck, but they can actually see the progression and they see what the pathway options are so that they can see the vast array of skills that CFA offers from hazmat through to ropes rescue and things like that. Many people don't actually realise we do these vast array of skill sets and just to give people the idea of the pathways that they can do and supporting them along the way so that it's not just your general firefighter and then you kind of lost for a while there, we want to make sure that we're projecting people for the future and whatever that is, which pathway they choose. Awesome. So what's been one of the highlights for yourself as part of the Young Advisory Group so far? I think just seeing the background work that goes into what's happening across the state, it's really great to see that if we raise something in regards to training or whatever it might be, workwear, for example, that those things are actually getting actioned and we're seeing the progress from month to month of what's being mentioned and it's just great to see that everyone's got a voice. Excellent. Thank you, Cody, for coming up and sharing your experiences and it's great to hear from you both and from that young person's perspective. I said that the CFA needs the younger generation to survive and I'm pretty sure, in fact I'm very confident, Hamilton and District 5 are in safe hands whilst they're used to are around so well done and thank you very much and congratulations. Getting back to some of the questions that we have here and I'd just like to address a few so Mick asks, with the findings from the New South Files Aircraft Tragedy in the 1925s, if CFA had been proactive to adopt any of the recommendations come from that incident? I'm guessing you're referring to the ATSB investigation and yes, it was released the other day and I actually have asked and I think Brett Boatman is online has touched on it as well. I have asked our operations team to look at that and examine that with the sector and particularly our air desk to look at those lessons learnt and see whether there are any lessons in there for the CFA and more broadly aviation operations within the Victorian context so thank you very much for asking that question. The questions are really flowing in tonight which is absolutely fantastic and a lot of people are getting their questions answered by our team online. Celeste you have some fans lots of people giving you a shout out and mimicking I guess our comments in relation to yes, the district is in safe hands with yourself and Hamilton Brigade there in the lieutenant so thank you very much for that. So I guess moving on and keeping with the young members theme Roland, so as deputy chief for South West what I guess are you doing in your regional leadership team doing around engaging young people and bringing more young people into the organisation? Yes so VST team is certainly working around the recruitment challenges to identify and work with the Brigades that are certainly in that space. You know to a small degree with the juniors but as a or sorry the younger members but the DPCs you know we're encouraging our DPCs to certainly look at their constitution and explore the opportunities to bring youth members in. We recently ran our All Star Forum which on the back of a couple of days we had a panel and there was a couple of people in the audience tonight who were a part of that panel and what we're trying to do as a regional leadership team and as our staff that support our Brigades across the region is find the opportunities and make opportunities to actually engage with their volunteers particularly our female volunteers, our younger volunteers take the time to listen and see how we can support them better so that people like Salis can achieve what Salis needs to achieve as a younger member. And Salis probably want for yourself someone ask juniors are a great start to the youth program just how do we keep them to the next step so they then become seniors Any thoughts? So there definitely needs to be a program in place supporting those members from juniors through to seniors I know in terms of our Brigade myself part of my portfolio is being a liaison person between the juniors and the seniors but it's definitely a mentoring avenue that as CFA we could definitely progress. It's trying to get as many people to stay with the organisation between those groups So tell me we're obviously in Hamilton we're a long way from Melbourne Yes So we are in rural heartland, farmland Can you talk to me I guess some of the challenges and for yourself as a CFA member and a young CFA member some of the challenges and uniqueness of operating in a rural environment Yeah so probably the biggest one for us is just the vast array of different skill sets and jobs that we do go to So we cover hazmat through to high ropes as well as being a structural Brigade structural support out to quite a large area as well but I know lots of our rural Brigades around here just getting young people and people on the trucks is a bit of a problem even particularly since COVID just getting volunteers and levels back up And I guess Rowan you don't need to go too far where we'll have Brigades talking to us about that rural decline issue and how hard it is to get volunteers particularly in more rural areas. What's your thoughts and experiences to that so far? So I think one of the things particularly the smaller rural Brigades is about trying to simplify the processes We often hear about some of the challenges of Brigades Secretary for example trying to attract people into those roles when it's not necessarily a simple process to comply with the requirements of the Secretary for example there are that across the range of activities that our Brigade members participate in I think if we can somehow simplify effort or make things easier and maybe share some of that across multiple Brigades I think might open up some opportunities and that's some of our flexible volunteering as well where we might be able to attract in the future people who have a stronger focus of the truck or they might not want to come and work in an air base but they have other skills that are really important to see if I and the management of Brigades and support of Brigades and I think if we can remove the shackles around some of that I think we'll help. So what's been your experience I guess in terms of volunteers wanting to come along and get involved in the non-traditional good team at the moment but as you can imagine we're always looking for more we'd love to have another team so we could expand our roster interesting thing about the air base whilst we would welcome some younger people we're probably a really great place for those older guys who are still active members of the CFA still reasonably fit but maybe getting a bit beyond climbing on and off a truck and dragging hose through the bush the air base is an excellent spot for those sorts of members and we're always recruiting and we're training training supplied and we're a dedicated bunch the volunteer team is what makes the whole thing work and we're always looking for absolutely and I guess when you're referring to the older guys I guess we are saying collectively the older generation of female firefighters are welcome too absolutely that's great to hear well that's some great conversation there Rowan another tricky one for you the Grampians haven't seen major blaze since 2011 please correct the viewer if they're wrong given the pandemic restrictions for the reduction burns over the last three years what is the current fuel loads and should we be worried this summer excuse me so the fuel loads obviously vary and I'm not going to be able to give you the specific fuel loads of the Grampians themselves but we've certainly Grampians are an interesting place in the fuel management under the joint fuel management plan between Grampians region and Barwon south west emergency management region so the joint fuel management plan it's managed under the Grampians delt battle Horsham but it's a joined up approach so we had a review of our joint fuel management plan with delt a couple of weeks ago and there's certainly some targeted areas for burning this year and particularly on the southern end of the Grampians up around the northern parts of Dunkelt there's some significant burns planned over the next year and then following years so probably for the call I'd recommend you have the conversation back through the district just around what the burn plan looks like or online to have a look at that but I'm very comfortable there's significant burning planned in the Grampians as we move forward through the next few years. Awesome, thank you another interesting question here from Chris Gleason there is a distinct similarity between junior fire running and bomber loading is it time for junior aviation team Simon that's an interesting one we'll take anyone male, female, young or old I guess my emphasis towards the older CFA members it's leaving plenty of room on the truck for the younger ones to come along but we would love to have anyone It's fine I have to say Jason after having run against the juniors in the state championships they might be able to drop the refuelling or reloading time down a little bit I think the chief's charges are still having hamstring problems after that effort I think that's a great question Chris and I think it has merit in terms of hose connections and filling in the light that's a great one someone asked again actually it's probably a bit of a statement and one for the panel to discuss a little bit we need to sell CFA as a brand we are more than just firefighters discuss what are your thoughts I don't disagree with that at all I think and I'll probably go a little bit further even in that firefighting field I think sometimes our focus is about prevention, preparedness activities across the organization sometimes are underplayed or silent and not spoken about as much even from a service delivery how do we protect communities there's an area there that certainly could be developed and recognise more so I agree with that fully there is some underscoring through that awesome looks some really great discussion here this evening around juniors getting younger generation involved into the CFA and I think that's fantastic I'm encouraging everyone to keep that conversation going we are looking to recruit the next generation of CFA that will be here to steward the organization tomorrow and well into the future looking to find the next deputy chief they're out there waiting in the wings we need to find them and encourage them and get them involved in what is a great community based organization so some really great discussion there well ladies and gentlemen last week I found myself in Adelaide in Adelaide where a number of things happened firstly I was joined by all the other chiefs and commissioners from around the country for a seasonal outlook for September through to November for Victoria it would be no surprise to a lot of our watches that it's been raining and it's been pretty wet but we anticipate predominantly a grass fire start to the season here in Victoria and that will be in the areas where we are now principally in those western grassland areas in Grainbelt interestingly enough what the research is showing is that because of those winter rains we are expecting a below average bushfire potential through spring in the eastern parts of the state in particularly those Gippsland timbered regions so I was joined to announce that we did the national the national press conference but it was more than just doing the seasonal outlook AFAC 22 was on an opportunity for people from across Australasia, Australia and New Zealand in fact all over the world to come in listen to lectures and tutorials and find out what's the latest happening in terms of research, technology and lessons from across the AFAC community what was also there was obviously our exhibition hall where many suppliers and the latest technology was put on display for many to have a look at and understand what the new technology and firefighting equipment and the like is there what I'm actually very pleased to know and report to you all is the CFA had a very strong showing at AFAC 22 with a number of our staff and particularly our very smart, a lot smarter than I, research teams presenting the latest in whether it be efficiency and effectiveness of suppression of firefighters right through to satellite curing and the transition to the VIM so congratulations to all those presenters there at AFAC 22 were able to do CFA very proud in sharing the knowledge and again demonstrating how our organization in many instances is leading the country in a lot of these areas. I took opportunity to speak to a number of our delegates that I caught up with in the exhibition hall at AFAC 22 and all in all there was some 30 delegates from CFA that went across to Adelaide last week so let's look and watch about what they got up to I'm here in Adelaide AFAC 22, we're in the trade hall and we have Billy Smith from Bralamburgay, he's part of the 30 delegation from Victoria that's come across to participate in AFAC this week Billy, what do you think about it so far? It's been great, it's been amazing so you got here yesterday afternoon had a look around the trade hall, the exhibitors, like yeah really really informed me of it has been so far the vehicles that are around the area like this tanker it's one of the trucks that we're actually going to get so it's really good to have a look at it in the flesh as well. Trades halls like this where we do have, we've got the CFA heavy tanker here on display by Obeco but as you walk around the hall and it's got everything from equipment, firefighting equipment, rescue equipment, PPC you name it, if it's got water that comes out of it or shoots it odds are you'll find it in this hall but it's not all about tanks, bombs and airplanes and firefighting equipment. There are heaps of plenary sessions where CFA personnel are giving lectures on some of the great work that our team is doing, particularly in the research and development space, whether that be in risk mitigation, the Australian Fire Danger Rating System or any other risk based mitigation activity. So you can come in here, you can see what the gear is all about, talk to the experts but you can also go into the exhibition hall itself and attend a couple of lectures. Continuing to walk the halls here at AFAC 22 I've run into Nick McCarthy who is one of our CFA employees but also a volunteer. Now you're doing something pretty special here at AFAC this week and you're a presenter, that's right? That's correct. So tell me what are you presenting to Australia on and why why is CFA being recognised for doing that? Yeah so we're presenting on a couple of things, mainly in the bushfire and grassfire space and so we're looking at some of our past events, what we can learn from that but in particular what sort of data and evidence we can gather from that. So work on the CFA research and development team and we're really lucky to be able to share this innovation with the country. So we've got a few programs which we're pretty keen to be sharing with this audience. So what will the future look like in that R&D space for CFA do you think in 5, 10, 15, 20 years? Yeah it's a good question I think we're trying to figure out how we can work with industry a lot better and making sure we're advocating and pushing the agenda that makes sure that volunteers and CFA is represented in where that innovation goes because there's a lot of great stuff out there but we want to make sure it's really connected to our practice and core business so I think a lot of it actually has to be sort of shaping the priorities of what academia and industry are sort of giving to us and taking that and making sure it's a good track. Awesome well thank you very much Nick for coming and presenting here at AFAC 22. So we're back to the places and faces here at AFAC 22 and I've just ran into Gary where our ACFO for bushfire and forestry industry brigades Gary naturally have caught you around the trucks you love some trucks so what brings you to AFAC and what interests you here today? I'm here for the trade display and I'm part of an organisation called FEDOC which is run by the forest fire management group which is the land management agency state land management agencies that have fire services associated with them the volunteer fire services are associate members of that group and once a year we all come to the AFAC meeting to see the trade display and then for the next couple of days after that we then have our own meeting where we actually look at innovations with equipment that the fire services and state fire services have done around Australia and New Zealand over the last 12 months and it's like a big show and tell. Not too far from us here in fact got a piece of equipment that you might be familiar with what are we looking at? This is a fire king now these originally went into service with forestry SA which was a forest industry brigade of ours South Australia has since privatised their plantations and these trucks now are in service with the various fire forest industry brigades that are located in South Australia and in that border country with Victoria in the far south west it was a revolutionary build of its time it was based on the bush master the military transport vehicle which we've just recently sent to the Ukraine these trucks are made from reinforced steel purpose built fire truck heavy duty glass in their cabins which are used generally in ovens and that type of thing so the fire proofing oven is quite significant however they are quite complex to operate built to military specifications at the time CFA did evaluate their potential use in CFA but for some of the complexities with maintaining looking after them and operating them we decide not to go with them and our forest industry brigades play a vital role with our other brigades across the state and I know Gary you're a big supporter that's part of your role looking after our forestry industry brigade so thank you for everything that you do thanks for coming along today and having a chat to us and sharing your knowledge on the history of forestry industry brigades and some of the equipment that we see here at AFAC 22. Thanks chief it was a pleasure I'm here in Adelaide in AFAC 22 Wow what a great reminder of how fantastic AFAC 22 was and again a big shout out to all our members that went across to Adelaide as part of the CFA delegation and again a big thanks and congratulations to all those that presented sessions or lectures at AFAC again demonstrating how CFA is leading in many aspects the research and development across the globe and nationally here in Australia a couple of questions I might touch to on here and we got Louise chief are you considering or have you considered that the air base should be a brigade in its own right rather than a conglomerate of 16 brigade members I think that is a bloody good idea what do you think Raul? So interesting chief we've had that question posed to us from the air base and the air base team and I don't disagree I think you know we need to work through a few things around any model and what we look like as an organisation moving forward but I think it's a really good idea and we can if groups like the air base want to come together as and form their own brigade I think the brigade structure and mechanisms work hand in glove with what the aviation or the air base does so yeah look I support it I think it's we need to work through what does it look like you know make sure it complies with all of our legislation all of the red tape that people don't want to be worried about but yeah for sure I think it is something we need to explore and really I think you mentioned there before the operating model and we've got a project at the moment that has started going out and consulting with districts and DPCs about that and there will be more to talk about and consult on around the operating model and that really goes to asking the question about who we are what do we do and how do we deliver those services so whether it be aviation brigades or it be community education brigades or some other type of brigade function the world is our oyster really in respect to that so there's some really great work getting done and again a shout out to Scott Purdy who's leading that for us in terms of what that might look like that would make you happy Simon it would make me very happy I bet and it would make a lot of our members so happy as well probably with the proviso that we could have dual membership I know a lot of the guys have thought that they didn't want to necessarily leave the brigade they've been with for the last 50 years in a lot of cases but maybe a dual membership like the Coast Guard Brigades Fantastic and I think it's really great that we will be having that conversation and we will be looking at models that so Louise thank you for the question I think you've started something there she's lit the fuse and let's see what happens we've got another question here from Mitchell who asks where's things up to with the radio replacement program and I know a bit of an answer has been put in the chat group there but essentially we are in the final stages of running through all the technical people get very cranky at me here so Brenda and I apologize now we've gone through a process of pre tender selection and the like a number of radio providers and the like have been bench tested to make sure that they meet our technical specifications we are still currently under a probity application of that so I cannot talk about any specific product model or the like but what I can tell you is that we're very hoping to have that lifted very shortly we will be able to start commencing a trial of various products within operational brigades so it's deputies we've got the deputies together last week and we had a briefing about the radio project and some brigades and areas have been identified to take part in that so that will see the installation of certain radio types and the use of certain portables and those brigades and members will be part of a trial to make sure that it's technically relevant and that meets our specifications and that user operability function so Mitchell great question and we hope to be able to talk a lot more about the radio replacement program and I said we are going through that probity procurement process at the moment but we do expect to be able to talk more widely with our membership about that in the very near future so thank you very much a while ago a couple of months ago in fact we spoke about vehicle inductions and the like and how great it would be for members to be able to get inducted on to certain appliances when they come across whether it be on strike teams and the like also for our interstate colleagues that might be deployed into Victoria where they work operating on CFA type you know pumpers and tankers and various appliances our operations teams and our engineering and fleet teams have been very busy in putting together a bit of a program here so everyone I encourage you get out of your mobile phone scan the QR code that you are going to see on your screen here and there are a series of here so if you don't scan the first one that's fine but the idea is that these QR codes will very soon rolled out across our fleet where they will be positioned in the appliance so if you do get operating on an appliance type that you are not familiar with whether it's a strike team or the like you'll be able to scan the QR code and watch a video on how you to be inducted onto that piece of equipment and more importantly be able to use the safety features of that appliance what you see here now is the pumper the pumper appliances and a mock up of the website that it takes you to and when you click when you scan the tanker ones you actually get brought up in addition to the induction video about the appliance a full demonstration and step by step procedure on how to activate crew protection space and the bug out procedure so we had a bit of a play about this with this earlier Rowan what are your thoughts look brilliant you know we often hear from brigade members around the formation of strike teams you know trying to line up trucks that people are used to that have been exposed to and that's a real challenge particularly we're focusing on mixed crews coming from model of brigades you know is how we're working into the future in a lot of cases this is a fantastic initiative that allows people to use the QR code get a quick overview not only of the appliance itself and the make up of the appliance and where things are stored on lockers but you know that burn over entrapment process you know as a refresher you know so there's no reason why we couldn't be using that as a prompter you know you've got a bad day you're sitting in a fire station you're thinking hey what's what could happen today you know there's multiple uses and I think the use of videos in an interactive way is really positive for us you know I think about people coming into Victoria to support us when we need help like we move into state as well fantastic initiative and I think the use of the QR codes you know is great and of course we're all unfortunately very used to using QR codes thanks to thanks to the pandemic one important thing that I would like to stress however this does not replace you know the proper training that we do in you know do for brigades when they do receive a new appliance because it is important the brigade that receives a new appliance you know fundamentally knows the ins and outs of that appliance but this really does assist us when particularly as you say those interstate firefighters international firefighters that come in or you know brigades that come on to a strike team or come across a CFA vehicle that perhaps they haven't worked on before an opportunity to be able to scan the QR code understand the operation of the vehicle from an induction sense and then also be able to understand the safety features and the things that you need to look out for and that type of vehicle and for the tanker fleet as we said a step by step video and instruction on how to do the entrapment drill and the importance of knowing that so I think it's a really great initiative again big thanks to Brett Boatman, Danny Jones Sally Pickering in the team for coming together to be able to pull that off I know I know it was a bit of a challenge that I presented to you as a result of the last year's mid-budget review but you pulled it off perfectly the beauty of the QR codes is it takes you to the external website so you don't need to log in the members line or anything like that so scan the QR code on your phone and it takes it through so hopefully many people had opportunity to scan it whilst it was on screen and are now watching that I hope they're not watching watching it because they know I hope they're watching the forum but at least after the forum you'll be able to go and and watch those videos if if it interests you. Another question from the audience this evening and we have Steve welcome Steve. Thank you chief and welcome Simon Celeste and of course Rowan yes look Steve Lutz from the vegetation management advisory group in District 5 and as you'd probably be aware a lot of burning done in 5 and 6 and generally getting out now into the rest of the state. My question is around the RPL system as you understand we need burn plans now burn plans require burn controllers and we have this system at the moment where you as the chief have a moratorium out that ACFOs can endorse those names put forward but we would like to see a qualification coming at perhaps a national unit of competency. With the RPL system how's that looking is it coming on line we have heard it's getting close and as a second question the training system itself is that some way behind are we going to better push that moratorium out to meet the our requirement. It's a great great question and firstly you know I want to congratulate the local district on the work that you do vegetation management and roadside burning it's an important part of keeping the community safe and I know that the vegetation management group is very passionate about that so congratulations and well done. A couple of things happening in this stream so our Deputy Chief Officer Jean Dysel is running through the PUA 19 transition and so there's a team of people working on that and so that's the transition of the old training package to the new type training package and that also includes the development of recognition of prior learning recognition of current competency packages to go along with that and you're right they're working very very hard and they should be there very very soon. One of the things that I have previously given my commitment to is and I know I've had a chat to the team if we haven't got critical mass of people to be able to have that under the new system then yes I will be considering the extending of the provision that I've previously issued because it's important that we don't stop that essential work so that will very much depend on how long it takes to get that training package and RPL process out and rolled out to our people and then the numbers once it has been rolled out so we are very cognizant about that in fact Rowan had conversations with me about that the other day so certainly we'll be continuing on the status quo until we're comfortable that we have critical mass of people to do this critical work. Thank you. Speaking of roadside, burning Rowan, South West a lot of it happening very passionate. Do you want to have any reflections on that? Yes, so the last five seasons in particular so South West region but in particular probably all of the districts but in District 5 District 5 is very proactive in the roadside or vegetation management practices and again last year we had the opportunity through the fire season to do a lot of burning. We took advantage of a number of aspects both the season itself allowed us to do some significant burning, the brigades the support from the vegetation management officers was really proactive and really engaging and to help get the burn plans across the line, the environmental requirements and the road safety requirements, council permits and similar so we did have a really good year I think over 2,000 hectares I reckon and someone will quote me if I'm wrong but a significant amount of burning occurred across the footprint across the District 5 in particular about 4, 5, 6 and 7. We also took advantage of the plan burn task force so I really would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge and thank the teams that came out as part of the plan burn task force but we also had District 8 were heavily involved and 8 have taken an opportunity with the burns that we were doing to increase some access to burning so we used that process as well to support them they were able to bring some appliances as well so the mixture between our local crews and some crews that came in from across the state really put us in a great spot and again we'll continue it looks like obviously for this season we'll get it hopefully another really good window and we'll continue to help support the brigades as best we can to complete the burns in accordance with the joint fuel management plan so with the work that we do with DELP so some higher risk burns that we support DELP with for our management and vice versa was really good last year we had a couple of burns where FMVIC participated with us as well so it was really good to see you know the FMVIC working on grass reserves, roadside reserves as well as an opportunity for us both in the committee engagement so we have a strong presence to work with FMVIC to prepare our communities when burns are occurring as well so really positive here Steve spoke about vegetation management advisory group and initiative that has come out of District 5 and we're now running it essentially we're running it, we offer it in District 5 and District 6 where we've got a volunteer group leading vegetation management discussions and we've been able to introduce a number of initiatives such as pre-season briefings so we do a pre-season briefing for response in Southwest we do a pre-season briefing for fuel management and that has helped bring greater level of support to our burn controllers and our crews and I think last year from memory I think we had 10 brigades that hadn't burned for many years got back into burning and I think that's you know if there was one take away from me last year that is the fact that 10 brigades now have a greater level of confidence and feel a level of support to re-engage in burning and I think that's the results that we're seeing and again you know I'm a big prevention, preparedness focus and I think that just shows you know the work that our volunteers do not just in response Celeste have you been involved in any roadside burning program? Yes not recently but yes previously yeah. How important are they for you know I guess getting familiar with fire you know using them as training is rather just touched on it's a good sort of way to get people into Yeah definitely it's fantastic for newer members and older members for a refresher but it's fantastic for the new members to get some experience especially with the heat and things like that just to get their idea around you know a controlled environment with fire. Absolutely and I think a lot of support for roadside burning across across the state and I think it's just testament to our volunteers that passion to ensuring effective fuel management and safety and security of communities. A couple of again some things from the chat here Catarina gives the plug ladies and gentlemen for the release tomorrow of the quarterly operational update it is coming it will be available on members online and includes the chief officers expectations, lessons learned on many things but also some updates on our driver related SOPs fatigue and other related issues but also for myself importantly it also touches on an emerging threat not only to Australia but also to Victoria in particularly our primary producers and that is the threat of foot and mouth disease occurring here in Victoria it only takes positive foot and mouth detection anywhere in the country to instigate effectively a 72-hour national livestock stock stock agent has many rippling effects across many rural communities and our primary producers so from us I guess it's important that members become familiar with biosecurity and on the operational quarterly update there is a link to the Victoria agriculture website where members will be able to get some more information certainly we've been talking about it as part of the chief and deputies cohort it is something we need to be very mindful of because should we see an outbreak it will fundamentally affect how we do business won't it? Absolutely you'd picture farmers very conscious about the protection of their properties about preventing foot and mouth coming onto their properties or the fear that it could spread and our ability to move around a community through farms and responding to fires on farming properties could change significantly and the theory of clean in clean out we'll need to work through that but there's a whole range of activities that will just change our focus in how we respond and you go to our prevention discussions we were having a minute ago whether we need to work greater off the roadside verges off the road networks to use those as strategic breaks because it is going to be more potential if it occurs to get into farms. So we'll have a lot more to say and a lot more information available to our members as we start to prepare there's a state task force being developed and put together across a whole of government response and preparation for and in the event of a detection of foot and mouth disease in Victoria or anywhere else in the country in addition I know Brett Boatman and the operations team are working through our biosecurity protocols and doctrine again and we'll be talking more about that in the coming weeks and I would suggest at next month's volunteer forum I think we probably have a lot more information to provide to our members so serious is that biosecurity threat to our communities that we really do need people to be alert to the situation and ensure that we come clean, go clean and ensure that we are living up to those biosecurity standards well tomorrow is a big day tomorrow is the launch of the national Australian fire danger rating system many of you may have seen my face on the television although it's been said I got a post for radio telling the Victorian communities in the country about the release of the Australian fire danger rating system for the first time from an idea kicked around in 2014 and given some significant substance following the devastating 1920 bushfires and the recommendations of the bushfire and natural hazards royal commission it will become a real thing tomorrow and 6 categories people used to seeing the 6 categories of the fire danger rating now reduced to 4 and those 4 categories have a call to action to those community and social research told us that community got very confused in terms of the old system and certainly having the 4 there is quite an achievement so Rowan did you want to take us through the levels and what it means for people? Yes thanks Joe so the 4 levels essentially moderate so the green the lower end of the scale from 12 I think to 24 thereabouts you know indicates just plan to prepare go about your business go about your business but be aware we then move into high which is be ready to act so you know it's tuning your thinking a little bit more go about your activities but you know lift your eyes to the horizon extreme take action now so when we move into that orange we want people to be aware that there are dangerous fire conditions they need to you know start to enact their plan so that could be about you know making sure you've got the tools ready and you know your plan about to be implemented and then obviously catastrophic you know for a survival plan leave the bush or high risk fire area you know so when we get into that red that catastrophic we really want people to have enacted their plan and I think what we see through the Australian fire danger rating system obviously it's a now national system so you know particularly for all of us who work and cross borders regularly you know there's consistency between the state so our tourists and visitors you know our people moving across the boundaries will have a consistent way of approaching this but also the activity the action or the call of action starts to shift people's thinking a little bit different to it's going to be a hot windy dry day to it's going to be hot windy dry day and I need to do something about it that's right and one of the other key things that following on from that is we're moving from the fire danger index to now fire behaviour in next when it looks at how is the fire going to behave in certain fuel types and we know the MacArthur meter 60 year old research MacArthur there with his jammed lids flicking them out into the bush and measuring how long it takes to spread really only focused on either bush or grass and the new system now is developed on eight vegetation types that is commonly found across Australia six of those are found here in Victoria so new science new research and again our CFA teams have been part of that research and development of the Australian fire danger rating system which will give hopefully more localised accurate prediction of fire behaviour in our Victorian communities and as you say the real benefit of the system is someone can travel from Queensland via Sydney via Melbourne via to Adelaide and get the same rating and when they see that rating know that that message if you're in an area that's extreme your life is act now or living early is your safest option you know what those messages are I think that's the beauty of this new system so next question I'm sure someone's going to ask is the iconic watermelon sign what's happening to them so for those people who hit the roads you'll see the current watermelon sign of the six fire danger ratings in the world style will have a sign over the top that says new fire danger rating coming soon essentially or there about so there's a cover over the front that reminds people that the new system will be enacted from the 1st of September so as of tomorrow things will start to you know now online systems will start to observe you know not necessarily in any fire danger ratings but that information will start to flow the signs themselves so there's an aggressive plan to replace the signs across the state so there's two types of signs one is the electronic signs which are managed by E&V automated signs E&V are managing that process of replacement and the manual signs which brigades update will also be upgraded and the process that will flow from the top north west of the state all the way down to the south east corner and the changes increase they will be updated and I think I heard yesterday a plan that all of that hopefully to occur by December so if that's able to be achieved then I think that's a really good outcome and in the meantime the old signs have been decommissioned and a big sticker put over it you know alerting the community that the new fire danger rating system is coming in here and where they can access that information so if you haven't seen your sign the sticker put over it I would suggest that's going to happen very very soon and I know the team have been working through roll out of that so there is also available on members online and the learning management system a course to educate people on what it means the new fire danger rating system how it was developed and how what it means for our people and encourage everyone to get online and at least familiarise yourself with the Australian fire danger rating system a question I regularly get asked about it is well it's nice that it starts at moderate but what happens below that if you look at the new sign there's a little white layer down below the very first wedge effectively what it means is below moderate there is no rating it's a way of I guess fire agency has been able to turn off the fire danger rating signs during winter so it doesn't mean the fires don't happen during that period but it does mean that the weather conditions that way that fire services are going to very rapidly get there put the fire under control get it under control and the fires would generally pose minimal risks to the community so if you are wondering why it starts at moderate that's because the science tells us that anything below moderate is very easily handled by brigades we have another question from our audience here this evening and I welcome Wes I'm a member of the Strathkelify Brigade and we've got a new four wheel drive tanker now and I've noticed that on the highway where the edge of the bitumen has broken away when you're driving along above about 70km it's quite dangerous to move off the bitumen because the centre of gravity of the vehicle is so high that it's unstable on the road at that speed I don't expect anything to be done about it but I just wanted to bring you and notice that they are quite dangerous on the road when you're driving like that Thanks for learning it's no Wes and we'll take your brigade details afterwards and we'll be sure to ensure a CFA safe goes into the system and I'm sure Danny Jones and the team will be very happy to look into what you're reporting and learn more about the challenges that you're having with the appliance so thanks for raising it this evening I think Jayce Chief there was we had the opportunity last night with Danny and Anthony in District 6 we had a very serious accident not as a result of a tanker the vehicle itself is more associated with road surfacing but one of the discussions that came through that was really about the awareness of the different vehicles that we have in our fleet and how they do respond to different road conditions and it was a really good conversation with the brigade last night and one of the messages out there was again just making sure people understand their vehicle understand the conditions that they're driving in particularly if it's unfamiliar to them and also how the vehicle will respond the other really interesting conversation that came out just in discussions last night was also about people standing on vehicles moving quickly by ground and that wasn't related to this incident but it really came in as a discussion item and I pleaded to the crews last night that if you see people like mecats moving at rapid rates across fire lines or fire grounds again not because the vehicles are unstable but their safety systems are built either for low speed for the ROPs for example or for high speed in a cabin with a seatbelt with all those safety equipment around so again I'll use this opportunity please if you see people standing up on trucks moving quickly don't be frightened to call out and ask them to open the cabin absolutely and likewise it's a time to remind everyone if you do have challenges or you do think there are safety issues please facilitate a CFA safe remember to go online and put it in yourself or at least talk to your commander talk to your basso or to your district officer so a CFA safe can be generated because that's how we know when we have issues and when we have problems and obviously being able to then do something about it so I think that's a really timely reminder and great opportunity to let people know that's what we need to do so another big announcement occurred early on last week and that was myself joined by the Attorney General Jacqueline Symes an Acting Deputy Commissioner by Rescue Victoria where we announced the launch and the commencement of the Fiskville Redress Scheme it's important that we facilitated that it's an independent scheme run by the Department of Community Safety and Justice independent of the CFA but if members want to find out more about the Fiskville Redress Scheme and whether you are eligible for consideration of the scheme you will find more information available on members online or talk to your local district office some really great questions coming through here this evening I think we've covered some pretty big issues this evening whether it be Australian Fire Danger Rating System whether it be the Fiskville Redress Scheme likewise some of the aviation aspects any last thoughts Silas? No, we've just covered a great deal of topics tonight, it's been great Excellent, a passing or last thought you'd like to leave the forum this evening just that if you're a young person and you're keen to join a group of your committee then get in touch with me if you're in District 5 and if not, one of your other reps Awesome, that's great advice Rowan, your reflections Yes, I think Chief I'll probably go with the same theme around our youth and I'll extend it about our female members as well my observations and experience where brigades have really strong numbers in females and in young members and I'll go to Hamilton as an example for both is where the brigade has been really supportive and engaging and made a welcoming environment we can recruit lots of people but we need to be able to keep them and I often think about what would it be like to walk into Brigade X and if you have a really welcoming, supportive feeling and you're made to feel welcome like we do in pretty much all of our brigades people will want to be there and I think particularly from a youth it must be really nervous to step into a brigade sometimes, first time round and if we can make it really welcoming great Simon, any final reflections Yes, one's been terrific to have everyone here tonight and yourself included and if I could just send an invitation out to anyone in our area like Celeste I'd be happy to show people around especially during the off season once we're activated we can't have visitors but prior to the season through the CFA I can show anyone the works if they're interested maybe they'd like to join us Excellent, well there you have it if you are interested in calling in and saying g'day to the airbase please feel free to reach out happy to show them around but as you say, when you're operational that is a different story because there's a lot of airside operations security and aviation safety requirements in the off season if you are passing through Hamilton feel free to reach out and come and have a look at the airbase thanks for coming here this evening and thanks to you our live audience this evening for coming in and sitting and listening to the panel and presentation this evening as well as asking those questions Cody, thank you for your insights it's been a pleasure having you here also this evening sharing your views and topics particularly around some of those youth and generational issues so thank you again to our audience you've been fantastic and great they're a happy bunch ladies and gentlemen aren't they there we go, we've got a smile out of them and to you at home, thank you for logging in once more to watch and participate in the volunteer forum the chat has been absolutely jam-packed full of questions and issues that our senior leadership team have picked up on and answering and thank you to them you know who you are looking at those questions looking to see whether it relates to your area and then answering them so big big big thank you to you and thanks to everyone for joining but shortly not lastly but not leastly I'd like to thank the team behind the camera on the desk here this evening I'm Dan Nannison, Keith Packenham as always and I now call him my executive producer for the volunteer forum Brad Thomas thank you very much for your efforts this evening for travelling out here to Hamilton for setting up making sure the equipment works as it does every month this forum wouldn't happen without with you out yourself so thank you very much you do a fantastic job well ladies and gentlemen that brings about the conclusion to this evening thank you and have a great evening