 Good evening and welcome to the September Volunteer Forum. I'm here in Ochuca and as usual we are live. I'd like to start off this volunteer forum by firstly acknowledging the Aboriginal lands which we are meeting 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. It's great to be here in Ochuca and we're going to find out why shortly we are in Ochuca and as usual I am joined by a panel this evening but as we are coming from an operational fire station I'd like to start off by I guess warning people that it is not beyond the realms of possibility the tone shall drop during the forum and if that is the case a good portion of our live audience tomorrow this evening will be madly scrambling into the turnout room getting changed into the pump behind us and heading out so if that does happen please bear with us the forum will continue whilst the crew go out and do what they do best and that's protecting the local Ochuca community. I'm joined this evening by many people on the panel here I've got Deputy Chief Officer of the Northwest Gavin Thompson welcome Gavin. Welcome Chief, welcome to Ochuca and the mighty Northwest and bringing the Melbourne weather with you. Absolutely. I'm like that as we are freeze here in the motor room this evening. But nothing can be colder I've got to say it oddly enough Northwest again Diamond Creek. It's a big region isn't it? It is. It is I've never been colder than I have in Diamond Creek. A shout out to Steve Pitcher he's in the audience with us here this evening the local ACFO thanks Steve for joining us and being with us today. Likewise we've got Sally Peacock Senior Project Officer of Emergency Preparedness for Ag Victoria and Sally's going to join us on the panel later on to give us some really great information on biosecurity and foot and mouth disease, lumpy skin disease and all things that we probably need to be very cautious and thinking about as we go on in operations this summer. We've got Alex Green, Ochuca's first lieutenant, thank you for joining with us this evening and I have some real characters here they tell me from Ochuca. Charlie Dennis and Alan Parr-Elly both from Ochuca thank you for joining us this evening and we'll hear some recounts from yourself very soon. We have some special guests here with us we are on the border separated by the Murray River between New South Wales and Victoria and we have our sister agency and cross-porter colleagues here with us this evening and I'd like to give a big shout out to Moama Rural Fire Service, the Moama Fire Rescue New South Wales, Deneliquan Fire Rescue New South Wales and we're going to have some people on the panel here this evening Cole Munro who's a New South Wales Rural Fire Service OPPO 1 or Operational Officer Level 1 based out of Mid Murray Zone and we're going to hear from Glenn Carr who's a Fire Rescue New South Wales Deputy Captain from Deneliquan we're going to talk about some of those cross-border operations and some of the great work that both the CFA, RFS and Fire Rescue New South Wales do together so without further ado lots to check about tonight it's a jam-packed agenda so as they say let's be on with it. So in Ochuca there is a reason why we chose Ochuca this evening and for this month's forum and there's a big milestone event coming up for this brigade 150 years the Ochuca Fire Brigade is serving the local community. Gentlemen tell us all about it. Yes Chief this is the Ochuca Brigade is celebrating 150 years of voluntary service to the community and to celebrate this occasion a small committee was formed to draw up a program for the for the year and as committee started planning in May 21 and so far we've had 20 meetings since so plenty of meetings going on just to give you a rough idea in the first off was in March of this year we conducted a competitions down at our training track for juniors and seniors and finished up we called it a twilight meeting and we finished up a barbecue and as a memento to all those brigades participating we gave them a small commemorative plaque to take take back to the brigades now that went went very well in in August we had a reunion here in the station with past and present members and it was a lunch and a good old chat of days gone by and a bit hard and put numbers on them some drifted in and drifted out but was well received and I suppose one of the larger one was just recently September we conducted an open day now this was in conjunction with our community safety day organized by Ian Atacot and he organized the different games etc for the children and we had roughly 400 people go through on that day over the three hours and I've been in the station I got here fairly early today I've got to say and had a bit of a snoop around I've seen the trophy cabinet prior to place well I shouldn't talk about a trophy show it's actually in fact a glass wall that's been encased all the trophy cabinets for the length of the of the meeting room for me obviously it shows that Chuka over that 150 years has a really proud history of of running and what you just detailed sort of describes to me that you know it is part of the fabric here in Atucca isn't it yes and very much so right from the right from the start of well the competition is being run in the state and in Spring Street Melbourne Chuka participated in the third one of those so yeah they started competing and have been competing for a long while and they also have brigade members who really put in here and run state senior and junior competitions and as well as the national competitions so we've always been into the competitive side I think that's pretty fantastic that history that you have and what many people might not know is we saw a slide presentation being displayed that ran for about three minutes before we went live and there are a series of pictures one of those pictures holds a pretty special place in your heart can you tell us why yes that was the site of our number two station our first station was down in Hagar street in here street where the Civic Centre is now and started off under the water towers but then as they started to get a bit of equipment it got too small so they moved up into Packinham Street and occupied what was a market stall and they also had a house for the station keeper now down down the track for my own self my father was station keeper there a long time mum used to ring the bell but being born in the in the years of not much money around I was born with my mother had a what do you call it a nursing sister come along whereas my sisters were lucky each side of me they went to the private hospital for those I guess that are watching at home I guess why it holds such a special place is you were born in the fire station at the station house wow and we lived there till 1939 and they moved that house across to the Chukher East and they built a brick house and I suppose we stayed there well till I left and I married and left went to him every week and then we had a few more station keepers after that I think dad had to go about 35 years or something really amazing story fantastic and just goes to show the history that's ingrained in brigades like a Chukher Alex you're firstly tenant here this evening so you've got the job of being on the panel we've heard about the brigade's past and some of the richness of that past tell me about the brigade today the brigade today I've come from district 8 moved up here about three years ago I found it really inclusive really great members that there's a willingness to train to turn out like the camaraderie is really great we we just recently had a team of 10 go through and train and enter the stair climb so we were training together multiple times a week and yeah I think the relationships that we built just got closer and closer and closer things like we had a recruitment drive last year would be just over 12 months ago we got 12 new members so they've been going through the process and yeah getting qualified they're doing low structure now so yeah it's it's a great place to be did we get about 240 jobs a year with 150 years of what's the word I'm looking for of history um it's it's a great place to be so obviously an urban brigade yes um yeah and you've got the urban firefighting appliances and there's what about some of the what are some of the jobs that you do and how busy is the brigade in this uh I wouldn't call a chukher a small town okay um we have days where we get three jobs we have weeks where we get none um last night for instance we've got a BA support here as well so the BA support was called out to a shed fire at Gagari we're out there changing out cylinders putting wearers through then we got back cleaned everything up um a few members got back to bed and then we had a car fire in town so some members would have been in bed for 10 minutes and we just there do it again do what we're trying to do um from my perspective and Gavin from yours as well a chukher holds a bit of a a prior to place in what I call the hundred club and that's you know you've got a couple of brigades across the state and a chukher is one of those brigades that has 100 sts um how I guess how valuable is that as a brigade for you in the northwest oh it's fantastic so I think you can see both here at a chukher and more broadly the deacon group they're a very proud passionate bunch that give and give and give and 100 sts is a rarity in our current thinking but a chukher continued to deliver that and it's not just a recent thing they've been delivering that now for a quite some time it's interesting that alex touches on his background from district eight there's a bit of a magnet there's a whole lot of people here in a chukher that have migrated up from district eight in one fashion another even in the odd ringing from district 13 find their way here and I'm sure we're going to talk to shares shortly who spent a long time in what was region eight back in the day in 90 frankston like the recently the brigade took upon themselves to build that BA support and the unit itself and undertook to name it after the late greg ellssey who was an operations manager in CFA when he retired also spent time in Fiji as the chief and the brigade took upon that to name that vehicle in greg's honor which was a fantastic and he was a driving force for a whole range of things here in a chukher and more broadly CFA but it just shows the pool that a chukher has to get people to come up this part of the world absolutely and so 150 years some festivities coming up I understand tell us more about what's installed we have a dinner organized for the eighth at the moment about 132 people attending so it should be a big dinner held here in a chukher and I understand also the brigades put together a bit of a commemorative book to understand the history and you know we've heard some of the rich history of the brigade and you know some of the people that have made up the the chukher brigade and why it is so strong today and so that's that's also been yes the book is being released on the night there was a book for the 120 and now this will be the second volume the updates to get to now but for a chukher it doesn't stop there so chukher is also a fire and equipment maintenance brigade and we've got Charles here to tell us all about that can you tell us more about FEM and what it means for chukher sure chief and members thank you for the opportunity to talk FEM briefly we spoke about the lake of great greg elisey just a moment ago and it was because of greg and his good lovely wife robin that for the reason that myself and fish moved up to a chukher some three years ago and haven't looked back since greg was instrumental in having me come down to an open day in a chukher very early in the piece and meeting with the then captain rob and his first words were rob you've got to get this man into the FEM system in a chukher because he knows FEM inside out and they say as they say the rest is history yes the chukher have been doing FEM for many many years we've got around 240 sites we service in the town of a chukher and that comes about 2000 units that we do in that period the brigade many many years ago divided our clients up into two sets of three months in the middle of the year and towards the end of the year so we did our inspections and our services in a period of time within the year that didn't interfere with the fire service with the fire season I should say and that went very very well as years went by of course it got harder and harder and as our FEM section grew it was harder for our volunteers to submit or commit the time to do it on a week basis during the day during the week as I often say and we opted then to go to before my time we opted to go to a contractor which was very good and helped out the brigade fantastically and I know a lot of the gauge used contractors and they're great I guess the downside is that of course you've got to pay the contractors and that siphons money out of the brigade I along with the then captain rob looked at a way that we could actually take back the FEM servicing the brigade itself and we've committed to do that and we've been doing that quite successfully we applaud what they did for us over those years however doing it ourselves yes it's it's a job but it means that we're getting just that bit more those funds they're committed towards vehicles station maintenance station equipment general equipment and so forth we are looking at the the way we're going to make that future proof that into the future is to go out looking for retirees in my age group that can come and assist us with their FEM during the week during the day a recruitment strategy specifically specifically the FEM delivering those services absolutely right yeah as earlier speaker said that yes I'm an ex-regionator district 8 and spent many many years at Tyre and Frankston in FEM or as we were back in those days PFA which was portable firepinsers portable firepinsers servicing but we've certainly moved on from there and where we are now with with FEM very very happy with the way we're going with it our recruitment drive will be starting shortly and we're sitting looking forward to to completing that awesome so you know I sort of follow the questions and the feedback here and and charlie you've got a fan eric collier from district 8 good evening eric shouts out and apparently informs me that he's taught you everything that you know I'm sure that'll be I can understand him so yeah and a good evening to you eric and thanks for a thanks for that comment there Gavin FEM a lot of brigades you know do do FEM what and you know apart from I guess ensuring fire safety you know in terms of the equipment and servicing that for our communities and industry it also I guess allows brigades a bit of that operational edge as well in terms of knowing what's out there and and some of the fire prevention things what's your thoughts on that well I think FEM is a great fundraising activity too for brigades and we see a lot of brigades reinvesting back into their brigades equipment lies both in sense of PPC we see vehicles like has happened here at achuka and so many other brigades that I've been involved with over the journey have done that so I understand here at achuka the the BA rehab support vehicle plus the two ultra lights and FCVs I think that we see here in the FEM vehicle all funded through FEM and I also understand the funding of the station as well and I I may have been told earlier today I almost to the tune of you know 450k invested into into the station so certainly a good opportunity to as you say raise those funds but also put back into into the community which I think it's a fantastic if anyone is looking for any information in respect to fire and equipment maintenance or would like any more information you can find that out by emailing FEM at cfa.vic.gov.au as usual we have senior members of CFA staff online this evening ready and willing to answer any questions that you may have so if you do have a question out there please drop it into the chat our team are there ready to to pick it up and answer those questions but Natalie McDonald on board our CEO is also giving a couple of shout outs there as well as other key senior people so if you do have a question it doesn't necessarily need to be related to the topic we're talking about this evening whacking into the chat and if the team can answer it they will endeavor to to answer it as I mentioned before we are here in achuka and we are joined by a live audience and likewise to our live audience here this evening feel free to get up and ask those questions I know you've worked on some some curly ones for us so we'll encourage throughout the evening I'm sure we'll be we'll be getting up and asking some questions and thank you very much for coming along it is greatly appreciated having members of the achuka brigade as well as the joining brigades and as I said those cross-border brigades welcome for coming in they're a happy bunch ladies and gentlemen aren't they look at that I finally get a laugh out of them the camera changes are angles that's it give us a wave great stuff well ladies and gentlemen a lot of conversation a lot of questions have been coming through over time about training and we were very keen to make sure that that our members have kept regularly updated in respect to what's happening with training and and whilst our deputy chief officer Jean Dysel couldn't be here with us this evening she did take the time to sit down with Brad Thomas from our comms team to have a chat about training and answer some questions that many people have been asking about what's happening so let's uh let's watch the video the current training environment within the cfa really comprises two parts of training we deliver both enterprise training as well as nationally accredited training which means that cfa currently has over 200 different training courses which is quite a large volume we are also a registered training organization with the victorian registrations and qualifications authority which means we have to abide by all of their compliance features and requirements for us I think lastly what is important to note is that we also work in a semi decentralized training environment which means that operational doctrine and training is responsible for the review and the development and compliance of all of our training but it's actually the regions and the service delivery DCOs and their teams that are responsible for the training delivery well that's that's great to hear from people to find out and guess who they contact but we have had a lot of engagement and that means there's a lot of challenges going on at the moment with this cfa training so what are our current challenges we're facing I think one of the primary challenges for us we actually share with a lot of our public safety partners out there and that is operating as a public safety agency within the vocational education and training space in Australia is quite challenging at times and there's a lot of compliance features and regulations that we have to meet and sometimes it's quite hard for us because we're operational as well so just an important point there to note but I think the greatest challenge for the team and myself and and for the service delivery DCOs and their teams is probably meeting expectations you know every one of our members has a particular expectation about their own training their own experience of training how they work through training what good training looks like and I think meeting all of those expectations is probably our biggest challenge okay so well what is our training future then for those that's a good question I think for me first and foremost the fact that we are one training team so regardless of whether training is delivered within the regions or whether we are actually reviewing and developing training within operational doctrine and training it is important to note that we still are one training team I'd also like to see more support for all of our educators out there from from our purposes and from the regions as well I think looking at streamlining our processes and not reinventing the wheel I'd like to see that in in our future I think that's a really important part of where we'd like to go and I'd also like to see more meaningful consultations on the content of our training courses and better benchmarking making sure that we are actually delivering really good practice in terms of training so that that's a great broad oversight of the strategic goals moving forward I suppose specifically what are we working on in this second quarter of the financial year as we head towards the the warmer weather good question so there's a fair bit on for us we are currently working on all of the fire investigation units so there's a fair bit of work happening in that space we're also undertaking work on a crew leader strike team leader and sector commander so a fair bit of work there and then many of our members have spoken to me about driving so there's a lot of work happening within the driving courses space right now both in terms of the digital package and the driving policy and legislation space the three other units of competency that we're also looking at currently is respond to urban fire maintain safety at an incident scene and interpret and analyze fire weather information well that's great to hear and that's great for for people that know that that stuff's become available and and they can talk to their local regional people to find out the best timings and where to information members online in the learning hub more information regarding their regards to any courses available there online and thank you very much for joining us today jean welcome everyone tonight well thank you jean and brad for sitting down and taking the time to have a chat about training I hope it's helped some of our members out there to get a bit of an understanding of where things are up to and we do plan on having a volunteer forum dedicated to training in the very near future I'm joined on the panel now by sally welcome sally hi thanks thanks for for coming along this evening and you're from ag victoria and I've got a bit of a so you're the senior project officer emergency preparedness biosecurity and agricultural services in agriculture victoria yep it's quite a mouthful it is a bit of a mouthful how do you fit that on a business card oh no not very easily and that's working obviously within the jobs within the bigger department of jobs precincts and regions yes you got an extensive experience in natural disaster and animal biosecurity emergency preparedness which is why you're here with this this evening to have a chat about a number of things sure working across victoria in that response phases and worked in emergencies involving animal welfare and biosecurity with the western australian government and on the far north of that state I understand your team responsible for managing agriculture victoria's regional agency commander network and for briefing staff on seasonal emergency preparedness you're based in wangerata and lives with her family on rural property with livestock so coming from a rural background obviously no stranger to to yourself yep we're hearing a lot about foot and mouth disease and hearing a lot about I guess the biosecurity threat to Australia at the moment it's very topical you know I've had discussions with the last quarterly update across cfa encouraging people to go to the ag victoria website to understand and learn a bit more about foot and mouth disease why is biosecurity so important to us at the moment look biosecurity is always important to us our agriculture sector is a really big part of our community being based here in a chica big dairy area it is really underpins how we maintain our trade with international partners and at the moment it's really I guess of interest because yeah there's this thing called foot and mouth disease and lumpy skin disease on our doorstep can you tell us a bit more yeah so foot and mouth disease was detected in indonesia earlier this year as was lumpy skin disease whilst foot and mouth disease is always circulating in countries around the world it's not being so close as as this year when it's back in indonesia so indonesia has had foot and mouth disease before they eradicated it back in 1986 it took them 12 years to do so and at the moment they're vaccinating animals as fast as they can running a really good campaign to to slow the disease down but at the moment it's it's active there and it's a higher risk than we've seen previously and obviously we've got the map up at the moment with with you know the areas that had foot and mouth disease and as you say that the indonesias um you know have have that and we can see their suspension of FMD free status it's really important to australia because we haven't had a foot and mouth disease outbreak for some you know 130 odd or more years yes and that really does give australia the edge when it comes to export markets doesn't it certainly does that that's really how we continue to trade and we're trading with countries quite freely at the moment if we were to see an FMD outbreak in australia that would change overnight and and our export markets are really important they're a big part of of where our produce goes yeah and we don't necessarily need to see a positive detection of FMD in victoria to have an effect on markets and earn the livestock industry in this state doing no a detection anywhere in the country would certainly have an impact on us so yeah it's not only a victoria base but certainly really important for the whole of australia um lumpy skin disease yep some may not have heard of that before what what is lumpy skin disease slightly different you can see there's a picture on the screen at the moment so it's a disease that affects catalan buffalo it's spread by it's a spread by vectors insects flies mosquitoes and possibly some of our ticks so yeah a really significant disease also exotic to australia we don't have it um and quite um has quite significant animal welfare issues you can see there that would not be a particularly comfortable disease to have so both diseases as it says it's quite acute highly contagious yes and viral so it doesn't take much to pass animal to animal property to property yep um and i think the reason why it is so important for victoria and for the country and as you can see there yeah a multi-state outbreak you know 80 billion dollars over 10 years so it really would have an impact certainly a significant impact on our on our economy both for our agricultural sector but any towns any small rural towns are certainly going to be impacted greatly um and for some that may have may have caught that in terms of what does it mean for human health yep both diseases are not considered zoonotic so the risk to human health is is not a problem and that's still safe to eat meat um if we do have an outbreak in the country so i guess someone asked a question then if it is safe to eat um and it's not a zoonotic disease why is it so important that we keep the you know foot and mouth disease and lumpy skin disease out of this country yep look both diseases are really nasty they they're really bad and the animal welfare impacts for both from both diseases for the animals are significant foot and mouth diseases are really nasty disease animals have vesicles on their tongues and on their feet it's it's clearly a really painful disease when you see it more so also also it's important for our trade if we can't trade it's going to really impact our farming communities severely and and yeah cfa is you know the country fire authority our members come from you know all walks of life all communities and particular those communities that you know our farming community so what do you foresee i guess an impact or a consequence of an outbreak of either foot and mouth disease or lumpy skin disease in victoria might uh look like or have impacts on on our membership look on membership it'll it'll certainly potentially impact some of your members and their ability to respond um if if they're directly impacted if their properties are infected or their property is located in within an area that has movement restrictions their ability to to respond with their unit might be might be different um if they've got a property that's infected they'll need to abide by the directions given by the chief veterinary officer uh so that may also you know affect their ability to be part of the brigade there is um quite a number of members who are based in town so their impacts on those people might be a lot less um and it chica seems to have quite a number of staff so the impacts might not be so high as some of the smaller brigades which which are more rural and yeah it could be quite challenging for some of them and for cfa potentially it could be performing a bit of a role beyond that of emergency responses we would normally do and uh if i you know if we're going to have a a someone from usarf isles rfs on the panel a little bit later on and i know the rfs has been very heavily involved in baromite and the biosecurity response to some of the issues in usarf isles yep um do you see cfa volunteers playing potentially a bit of a role in the response to fmd yeah you guys have got some fantastic skills so incident management teams um will you know will definitely be calling on the cfa to contribute to some of those those teams uh also field operation you guys have got amazing wealth of knowledge and experience in that space um things like running base camps helping us with uh managing properties um potentially doing some of our road blocks uh things like that but also you um you can see on the screen there you've got collar tanks fantastic for us uh getting water to locations where we don't have water available and also your tankers can be really useful in supplying water and also assisting with decontamination yeah absolutely so gavin uh the northwest region um they said whilst you you know had the outer outskirts of melbourne um but you know good part of your region is in the farming communities that would be impacted by this how important is getting our biosecurity protocols right and working with ag victoria in terms of any prevention or response to foot and mouth yeah it's quite critical and i think our cell is touched on it's not only about response getting our members to the fire station and responding out but if we have an outbreak on a farm what does that mean for response and then subsequent decontamination what does it mean if one of our members falls victim on their farm to this what does that mean for there and then the impacts in that smaller town is far of reaching as well so there's a whole lot of implications if we don't get this right and i think that needs to be a real partnership between the two agencies to make sure the community at the end of the day is okay from this should it break out so we had a bit of a discussion earlier about what that might look like didn't we like around i guess the primacy of life uh in response and whilst it's absolutely important that we are by biosecurity protocols and make sure that we don't you know spread the disease in any way shape or form if we do have infected farms or whatever it is but you know the preservation of life is the priority a state priority in terms of our emergency management arrangements yeah um what's i guess from ag victoria's perspective how would you handle that sort of situation if you know with some of the stuff that gabin just touched on yeah so if we've gotten an emergency animal disease in the country and you guys are responding we provide turnout notices so they'll be distributed through ester so if you're going to an infected property or within an area that's got infected properties you'll know about it we provide you with that information it explains those risks and how to manage those risks um as we talked about primacy of life is is key you guys will still do your job you respond you respond to fires you respond to car accidents whatever it is it's important that you're doing your work we get you on there we worry about getting you off again later um you've got to get in on and do your job and we make that happen as as smoothly and easily as possible and when we're talking earlier it's about um even situations are rising where you know things might happen whether it be to fire or even just more you know generally with the pot with the community uh where you may have an infected farm the need for an ambulance or yeah and we've got to get the person to hospital um that can still happen can't it certainly can yep yep so for example with ambulance if we've got to get someone off in a hurry we will do the absolute basic minimum that we can do to get that that vehicle off we'll then have a process in place it might be that we follow that vehicle with a decontamination unit we get them to hospital we deal with that first then we deal with the vehicle um promise of life is always number one and I guess again you know given from some of your insights uh we're coming into the season um you know what are your thoughts around our preparation in case you know this is on a doorstep be alert you know alert and alarm as I say yep um what are your some of your thoughts so we're really fortunate here in the Lod Melly region so obviously northwest region encompasses two emergency management regions and LMR is where we're currently sitting so that goes for all the way here from Achuka across to the Melly and then down through Bendigo as far down as Macedon so we have a really strong regional emergency management team and I envisaged going forward this will be a standing agenda item on those meetings in preparation and then subsequent readiness should those events occur so I'm reasonably confident with the connection across the REMT that should outbreaks even remotely appear to be happening that as an agency will be well prepared for that because we're working partnership right across the REMT absolutely and I know Deputy Chief Officer Cook is on online this evening and one of the things that our responsive coordination people are doing is working with our our ACFO RCs around our biosecurity protocols and updating them and making sure that we are having some of that best contemporary practice so we'll get that out to to brigades and districts once that's consulted and confirmed on but Sally what are some of the most simple things from a biosecurity perspective that regardless of you know what the rules may or may not say that anyone out there listening can do to assist in you know keeping Australia FMD free or in fact any animal disease free look for CFA members I think some of the simple messaging is respect the landholders biosecurity protocols make sure you understand what they are and try and work with them to to be helping them and not hindering them if you're a firefighter that lives on a rural property something simple you can do is not take your CFA boots home wear them when you're responding but leave them at the station if you are taking them home make sure you're washing them really well it's simple to just try and separate your CFA response laugh from your farm life if that's what you're doing the department's working on a lot of training at the moment we've got come I've got to get it right come clean stay clean go clean that's some new training that's being rolled out at the moment we also have role specific training coming up and we'll be doing a lot of exercising across agencies in the months to come so that will provide you guys with some more information and help you understand how we respond in biosecurity emergencies and how you can help us as a support agency excellent so if there's anyone out there sort of wanting a little bit more information where can where's the best place for them to go and get that from yeah sure the agriculture victoria websites are great spot agriculture.vic.gov.au we also have specific disease information that's available on both the FMD page and the lumpy skin disease page so they give you some more specific disease related information but there is a lot of general information on the agvic website awesome well saling thank you very much for coming along this evening spending some time to talk talk to us about what is going to be a very important subject and as I said it is it is on our doorstep we're doing everything we can and I know the governments are doing everything they can both here and abroad to make sure that we're in the best position it is so thank you and I'm sure there'll be many more chats that between cfa and ag victoria as we start leading into the season so thank you for participating this evening and thanks for inviting us along it's great to be working with you guys and forming relationships for the the work we might need to do in the future so thank you very much thank you very much well on monday the cfa board had its usual monthly meeting however there was something very special about this meeting as many would know that one of the outcomes of whether it be the zoke review into our culture was to ensure that the board get out and about and met with as many members as possible but also be seen to be out there talking to people interacting with members and getting a sense for what it means that visual leadership as i know natalie and myself many of the senior leaders across cfa are out there doing every day i had opportunity whilst we were in port arlington in the southwest region district seven to have a chat to our board chair greg wilson and one of our newest board members rachel thompson about what it means and how special was for them to be out in port arlington with our members whilst having the board meeting let's hear from greg and rachel we're here in port arlington where the board has just met for their september board meeting and i'm joined by our board chair to greg wilson and our newest board member rachel thank you both for taking the time to have a bit of a chat to me greg is the chairman how important is it that the board gets out of berwood and out in amongst the brigades to hold your board meetings i think it's vitally important it's a great opportunity not only see what look through these facilities but also meet volunteers which was great that we met a few today so um yeah just great to get the insights and perspectives on things and as you say get out of berwood and uh yeah go and meet a few people and see a few a few of our facilities so i think it's really important looking forward to doing a lot more of it uh after a couple of years of COVID uh in my time so yeah absolutely and rachel your thoughts i give a new board member to cfa so welcome thank you um what's your first thoughts impressions and coming to somewhere like port arlington here yeah absolutely jason thank you um it's really exciting to actually come to the facilities meet the people and the volunteers that are actually doing all the hard work um and really hear from them too about what their challenges are and particular um uh uh challenges sorry um for their brigades and getting to getting to know them and how long they've been how long they've been working for so we we met this morning and we had the board meeting this morning and then obviously the local volunteers from district seven have come and had lunch with us and they said you've had that connection and had those conversations and today's board meeting was a bit of a special board meeting greg because um as board chair you've determined that every so often we're going to have a strategy meeting and today's strategy meeting was about service delivery um and you know the poor old chief officer had to be front and center with many reports and uh and explanations but i guess what was some of the greatest insights that um both of you i guess took away from some of the service delivery challenges that our volunteers have today uh and into the future well i think it's as you say it's really important that the board not get too far into the detail but we do actually have service delivery priorities as an organization as you well know jason around training and all those sorts of issues our marine capability alpine areas so great to get your progress reports and all the things that are happening in that space few quite a few challenges as ever but um it's really comforting for the board to know that those things have been identified and you're working hard to address them on behalf of volunteers to improve our capability and rachel your insights yeah for me um certainly given that we're down in port arlington and thinking about the upcoming summer season although it doesn't seem as though it's going to be a big fire season um understanding the um capability and readiness for the for these areas that are hot spots for um large large um communities to come for their holidays awesome well thank you very much for taking your time out i've grabbed you in the middle of a station tour here where we were touring the the pumper and also the the tanker and other facilities here at port arlington brigade thank you again for taking the time thank you for coming out and holding a board meeting with our membership it's something the members have you know obviously asked for and the board have responded and we look forward to many more you know board meetings out in the regions where volunteers get the opportunity to come and and have a chat so any final reports from either of you know only to say likewise really looking forward to doing more of these and again really appreciate the volunteers coming out today yeah and thanks to port arlington brigade for having us excellent thank you very much and we'll return to the forum we're here in port arlington thank you greg and rachel for that insight as to how important it is for the cfa board members to get out and about amongst our membership and listen to our members and hear from them and also share the experiences and get an opportunity to look at our equipment and our stations and I thank greg and rachel for taking the time to have a chat to me there at port arlington and a big shout out to the crew at district seven and the brigade for for your efforts there as in the meantime as usual whilst the video is playing we've done a mad little swap out of some some panellists here and I'm joined now by Cole Munro at o1 from the new sub files rule fire service and glen car deputy captain for with the new south files fire and rescue denally quinn gentlemen thank you for rowing the boat across the river and coming south of the border thank you jayson says a little bit wider than normally is so yes um get our passport stamped I guess we are in mexico yeah from your they've opened the borders again yeah I don't know gavin what how do we take these new south walshman I'm impressed the guys are still here so I guess it wasn't that long ago we had a group of people come across the border very recently and I think within arriving and then very quickly disappearing again and as it pains me greatly as you would know chief being a mad passionate richman supporter they coughed up and let you along win the flag so I'm glad that Cole and glen are still here and I would be part of it and haven't gone missing so far so well done jensen thank you and welcome so it wouldn't be a bit of a panel without some footy insights from from gabin thanks for coming along I guess we're here to talk about all things cross border and yeah we do work so seamlessly across the river the river is no barrier in a lot of instances um but Cole you've got a little bit of a special insight because you were or still are still are still are a cfa member here in achuka yes I am so tell me a little bit about your background how and how do you get to be in the rfs as an operational officer level one uh well 25 plus years so far and I had spent some time living in new south walsh join the rfs over there and took the plunge for a career change with the rfs with their oppo program um at the start of this year awesome awesome that's where I'm at now yeah and you're all based in mid murray zone get mid murray zone out of the uh office in deliquent so tell us a bit about mid murray zone it is a border a border district what's some of the area that you cover yeah we cover from uh almost tocomal right up past tully buck along along the murray river uh and north we go just south of hey and just miss out on bell rattle in about 26 000 square kilometers wow 51 regates yeah a big uh a big big patch in new south walsh there and uh mostly sort of irrigation country and uh and like as well I'm sure a lot of farmland 96 farmland so um glenn thanks for coming along this evening um so tell us a bit about your background and what got you into fire rescue new south walsh no my background I've been uh an emergency responder I suppose for 28 years uh started off in with the new south walsh police and did uh did a tenure there and family came along and a bit of movement around uh and then I've also been uh heavily associated with a few other emergency services I've sat on a team of uh ring rescue in new south walsh and I've uh been with uh fire and rescue now for just on 10 years and currently deputy captain up at denorgwin excellent so tell us about I guess some of the cross border interactions that um the both that you would you know generally have on a day-to-day basis with the cfa and and victoria her just depends on whether there's a job um yeah I think with the uh with the cross border communities there are there's a state border that runs through the middle of it the community doesn't actually distinguish between what fire services go to turn up or what emergency services go to turn up so there's no new south walsh ambulance service here so it's all victorian ambulance service run down this part of the world so even though there is a state border and there's some jurisdictional problems um at a local level the brigades tend to work well together because we're all part of the same community so that's probably one of the good things that happens it seems to run fairly smoothly at a local level um and then we work on the higher level higher in level from our positions yourself with I agree with coal um area is slightly different being um with foreign rescue uh new south walsh and the rfs uh but just as Carl said like there's a border there um that's that's there for jurisdictional reasons and that that's probably it um we've got the Murray river here and we've got the community of your children Moema but uh all of us down here I live in Moema even though I'm attached to Denaukwin uh whereas that border um probably uh joins our two communities and makes the one community of Ichika Moema so just as Carl says the general public uh don't differentiate between fire service or emergency services uh those emergency services within those communities don't particularly look at that border maybe as strong as what people in Sydney or Melbourne or so um it's part of my community if there's something happening over here that that we need to help out with then we're all willing to do it and vice versa with the likes of CFA numerous times we've had um uh high level incidents over in Moema and close by and the CFA have always been willing to help and it's been great absolutely um Alex just a little one mate uh Daniel Moylan Etrucha captain says G'day doing a fantastic job here he's watching this evening from the sunny Gold Coast he is on the Gold Coast yeah so uh he says keep up the the good work what does it mean for I guess Etrucha CFA and what are some of the interactions that you have with New South Wales and working with you know your RFS and fire rescue New South Wales colleagues we get responded occasionally over to uh alarms that go in Moema if RFS is tied up on another job or something happens we'll go over and back up fire rescue New South Wales we did have an incident the other week uh triple story houseboat fire so we responded to that that was on the 31st of August about 2 3 a.m basically uh we responded to that job it came through as a boat fire for us um me being a dual member with RFS they also got a call so as I was going to the car a vol call came through that said they had a house fire on the other side of the river so we sort of started to share information on that call and then we ended up sort of all working together to put that fire out so tell me Cole yeah really you just kicked it across the river didn't you it doesn't matter it's on the water it's unfortunately it's our house um so see if I can wipe the hands of it technically and people don't know that no the river is actually the water itself is still New South Wales yeah so so all of the water body of the Murray River uh I believe is covered by RFS uh and fire rescue you get up to the bank on the Victoria uh the New South Wales side and they won't go any further they don't want to get their feet wet Glenn would you like to write a reply to that all screen a bit later and I guess that would be a nice little lead into um yeah so New South Wales has had a two fire service system for for quite a considerable amount of time and I think Glenn you touched on it around you know yes there's jurisdictional and ministry borders but you really do uh work as one tell me more about the you know the operating environment and relationship between fire risk in New South Wales and the RFS in this part of the world anyway um because as many people would appreciate here in Victoria since the first of July 2020 that we've had for our service reform and and now we've got a system very much similar to New South Wales with career firefighters in uh fire rescue Victoria and our volunteer firefighters in the CFA tell us about I guess from your perspective how things work in in New South Wales and how the two fire services are complementary no I think it works well um fire rescue in New South Wales have a two fire fighter system themselves being the the permits and then then the retains like myself that are based down in the regions um yes we're paid um and it's appreciated um but like any other fire fighter whether it's CFA RFS or fire rescue I think these days now everybody's realised the importance of all of those members to be uh professionally trained highly trained professionals which we are um and that leads into how we can work well together um we don't have freelancing between the the agencies uh the agencies understand uh what each other's capabilities are and what our roles and responsibilities are within certain fires and they depending on their location um so that's the first thing is that understanding um and now we're we're starting to talk about and and lead into some of this uh interagency uh training and etc and Colm won't be able to talk some more on landing his role with his office stuff and some of the things that are changing uh locally here with some of the new assets that RFS and that are training as well over to you Colm oh so the day I walked into the office they gave me a boat and it's uh it's the first boat outside of the uh greater Sydney area um that the RFS will have marine capability outside of uh outside of Sydney um and that come about we had a house fire at deep creek marina um which was a simple fire that could have been put out by someone who was too busy on facebook um and that fire grew to 10 10 house boats well over five million dollars huge environmental impact to the marina um so that's been a trigger of that and um so we're working hard to try and build out marine capability but that that boat will also support fire rescue in their hazmat capability on water um and we can support cfo uh ambulance with patient movements where brigades are often called out to people who have been stupid on a rope swing um with spinal injuries um and with the boat hopefully that can offer some support in that uh river's high at the moment so there's going to be some support with flood work uh and that's hopefully up and operational by november so that's a that's a big change in that space the boat fire was a little bit early for us but anyway we'll win some you lose some um now yeah lots of questions in the chat and you see i sort of ask that now col uh someone's got a little bit of a uh a pseudonym going on here it's called col's fan club and uh col's fan club would like to know uh how do they get your signature um well i don't know you never know but apparently there's a there's a fan club out there that wants col's signature so uh after the session this evening mate hang around yeah i think you've got some t-shirts to sign uh gaben cross-border relations um how important are they and what are the some of the things that we've got in play in terms of making sure that we get that cross-border operations right so i reckon there's there's mary layers to this so there's a memorandum of understanding between the two agencies that operates at a higher level but i think as the gents have touched on already that it's not about well there's a river between us but when there's time of emergency it's all hands to the wheel and we actually get in and we make the situation right for community so true to you know one of our core goals of putting the community at the centre of what we do it doesn't matter where the incident is i think all people respond to make that right for the community so it's critical and i think we support one another quite well in this part of the world and i think it goes right across the Murray for both sides of it in that regard um so again we're starting to do some really good questions relevant to the panel here that aren't being answered by the team back in Yont are back in Melbourne so Rowan asks yeah wow an operational officer an operations officer from a cfa volunteer background so good on you Cole uh noting the vacancies of seconded operational staff for cfa is there a talent pool that can be tapped to fill our vacancy or capability gaps i guess the question there is around you know the ability for senior volunteers to to transition um did you want to touch on that Kevin so you're sort of looking at me like i have to so presently no there isn't so the only mechanism for us to get commanders and aquos into cfa is through fire rescue victoria that's embedded within the legislation and a key component of the fire services reform of 2020 so at this stage and for the foreseeable future it's a no yeah so that that is you know the government position and policy i think that touches on uh robert burry's question about you know do you think there will ever be opportunities for experienced cfa volunteer members uh to join cfa in career positions so i actually think it's probably a different slant the question because if there is a cfa volunteer out there that does want a career in a fire service in victoria uh there is that opportunity to go in to fire rescue victoria yeah absolutely so they advertise conduct a recruit course work through the ranks and then obviously through this a common arrangement so we have in place with fire rescue victoria there's an opportunity to come in to cfa at that commander level or a co level depending on the uh qualifications held by the secondi or potential secondi and certainly from my perspective i you know i really do want to hope that there are many volunteers in cfa land that do want to you know have a career uh and ultimately do come back to cfa as a second officer so never say never um and in fact we actively encourage people if you do want a career uh in firefighting here in victoria please keep an eye out on the fire rescue victoria website uh and feel free to uh to apply and go through those processes and we'd welcome anyone back to the cfa absolutely uh from that we've got an audience question uh here this evening we've got rob so over to you thanks Steve uh my question is about uh the actually the body of water that separates the two states and it's a safety question around we do a lot of work around the water whether it's firefighting whether it's uh search search work and so on i'm just wondering whether cfa had ever thought about issuing pfds or life jackets to firefighters um on the borders for the work that they do with that great question i don't know uh yeah we do issue pfds particularly for uh ilden brigade where we had um where we do have a fire boat uh in existence so they are available uh they are issuable uh and where they're operationally justified uh encourage anyone to uh to speak to your district office and they'll be able to work that through uh in order to get them issued where where that's required so great question and thank you very much did you have a follow-up oh thank you doctor so i'll give uh dco thompson a call on tomorrow thank you rob very good very good um so how how important is um you know training exercising joint joint exercises in the life if i understand there's been a bit of cross-border exercising and training going on um not only i guess in this part of the world but also i know albury uh humes the southern border team do a lot of that cross-border training uh as well how important is it for our fire services to get together to do that i think it's uh a lot of brigades do it on their own on their own backs um but the service i know we're trying to work very uh in with district 20 at the moment um and the team there to start to rebuild some there's been a few changes of officers in seats um and try and rebuild that from an office point of view and get that cross-border training um probably a lot more formal yeah that's awesome um certainly a lot of talk about marine operations i think you've started something uh that's very typical this is what the forum is all about um so gavin your thoughts i guess uh a comment here about pfd you should be issued to any brigade uh with a boating rift both coastal inland water or bodies what are your with your thoughts to that uh i think it makes sense to do that so to safety anything to do with safety we should be walking up to and addressing so absolutely and i'm sure as rob will ring me tomorrow that'll be part of that conversation but i think more broadly absolutely but it's about a process and how our doctrine and training then supports the rollout rather than just issue a piece of kit and hope for the best so everything else needs to support it as well and that that risk assessment process as well about understanding the task that's to be undertaken that system of work and ensuring that we're issuing the appropriate uh ppc uh or appropriate equipment in order to do that i have another audience question here uh they're they're they're right they're spry now they're up they're going they've got their questions and we've got stewart yeah chief we were talking before about the support uh supporting brigades with structure fires and ba cylinders at present the way it's done is we attend the scene we swap district 20 cylinders with the brigade cylinders we then have to bring them back recharge and then swap them over the next day are they are the cfa gonna do anything about having cylinders just like a swap and go where we can go just swap them come back and we don't have to double handle all the time especially considering we're 50 60 ks from a lot of the places we go to it means it takes a lot of time for the volunteers and i know our assistant chief fire officer for structural planning rep opens working on the the ba strategy and i know that swap and go is a big part of that um you know gavin i know ba structural fire fighting very close to your heart absolutely um your thoughts so i think brett's going to be very appreciated that's really that you've chucked that in the questions tonight so that'll further push that forward so i've had discussions with brett and he's very keen to push that and have a swap and go arrangement not just clearly here for a chuka but right across the state and have a system of then tracking cylinders for hydrostatic testing and the like but having an easier mechanism for that so you're not having to do multiple trips for cylinders so thanks again thanks so on the agenda and hopefully um yeah we're working that through uh very shortly i know brett's doing a lot of additional ba set rollouts at the moment that's that's i know been his priority absolutely yeah so part of the donations uh trust funds that we had so it's about rolling out ba to every brigade to make sure every brigade has access to ba so a swap and go i think becomes even more critical to that as we push forward because um ba whilst used during structural firefighting naturally it is a form of respiratory protection absolutely so it's not unusual now to see it at car fires and those sorts of things so if you're going to be in any sort of smoke you really need to make sure you have your ba on and ensuring that safety mechanism is in place so we all go home safe with no ill effects going on down the track absolutely another question from our audience here and we have kata uh good evening chief um just touching on the ba stuff uh we have a duty of care for the safety of our firefighters will all the day with all the dangerous gases in smoke could cfa look at running ba courses shortly after gff fantastic question it's a really bit of a topical thing for firefighters generally the moment isn't it like um particularly with presumptive legislation and the rights that the the toxins in smoke but also you know in the the soot and the the chemicals that were certainly exposed to um so gab your your your perspective how important is that ba training and getting it in place absolutely so today akfo pitron i had a chat about a whole range of things and training was a key subject matter that we discussed and ba is clearly part of that strategy as we go forward and then then also rolling ba is out to brigades that haven't had it previously so there's a whole lot of training that needs to go on and ba training will be a critical component for northwest and i suspect all of cfa as we go forward chief so watch this space hopefully it's not too far into the distance so tell me gentlemen um obviously i talk about ba um how does it work in fire rescue new south so forest in new south wales um all firefighters uh are trained and certified in in ba uh so that happens uh at their initial training that's whether they're permanent or retained so uh no ba certification they go on the truck um so with all the presumptive legislation that you that you've spoken about and the changing attitude um with fire fighting uh ba is a hot topic uh but it's an important piece of ppc for short so gone are the days that you know you only wear it under structural fire yet motor vehicles fires you know um or toxic environments oxygen prive oxygen rips the whole lot the the stuff that they teach you yeah what they teach it um and it's there so that we can all go home um to the ones that we love absolutely and so that we can work again the next day uh slightly different yeah i was going to say a little bit different in rfs given it's it's operating model but ba's becoming a bit of an important strategy fire it is and uh the result of the houseboat fires in 2017 uh the district uh in mid marie push ba is a capability uh and that's slowly rolling out across the district um and when i was doing my oppo training uh our major project was to roll out ba to the lower north coast districts um so that there is a bigger push from rfs uh on on ba and it's becoming a more common piece of equipment and not such a specialist piece of equipment and as i said it is that form of respiratory protection you know it's it's not just a tool used for for urban firefighting um gavin question here about how many you know how many members does a brigade need to be trained to be issued and use ba well i think it depends on the brigade so i don't think that the cookie cutter women need to move away from the cookie cutter approach and have an appropriate system that supports the individual brigades so i think that's a critical piece and that's about how the the catchment team works with the brigade and the boss ultimately sits for sign off with the aquafo of the district so i think it needs to be a horses for courses approach and i think you know you'd probably be wanting 10 i would think as a round number as a starting point to have for ba operators but clearly we're rolling out ba now for brigades that have never had it so there will be a period of time where that's a bit of catch up but moving forward i think it needs to be seen like you put on your over trials you put on your coat the next thing is the ba and i think it becomes an inherent part of the ppc and that arrangement and uh and steven robertson points out great query from the the crowd brea ba the added bonus will be more training procedures around decontamination post-operational cleaning not removing marks before fascia what is pulled across face etc etc are so um some really good insights there uh we've got another question uh from daniel uh yeah uh my question is about the cad system and our support so generally our support is called to jobs about two hours into the job um is there a way for our support to get from the cad system earlier so that they get more ba whereas more ba support quicker faster and anything to do with that great question for you mr tomson oh well i need to think my way through that actually so there's nothing preventing it from going on the cad system but still the quickest way is for the incident controller to call for the specific equipment and that'll always be far superior than anything that sits within the cad data so i think there's probably a local piece we need to do in education for those that might be incident controllers and how we push that button much sooner but notwithstanding that i think we can look at some cad arrangements but it's more broadly probably sits a brigade group then at the district level and how we arrange that to occur is there a way to put a prompt there possibly would be the easy answer to that yep so you probably can but it's about so i guess forest give victoria run a gas system generally across their system where a third alarm gives you this this this and this we're traditionally in cfa we've allowed the incident controller to call for the specific equipment and i'm probably wedded to that system and that's probably my upbringing in 30 years in cfa as opposed to i guess what others come through with the gas system both have their merits i think going forward but we don't want to put unnecessary pressure on brigades either and i think a gas system for cfa could potentially do that not saying it will but potentially when you think across 1200 fire brigades across the state and i think the incident controller calling for the equipment they need there's still a superior model for cfa into that well in what is what today cfa is and i think yeah whilst i guess the question is is asked here in a true car um for anyone that does have any questions around you know turnouts of appliances the rest of it the best address through the catchment team the commander can assist in that and it clearly go and get support where required i know jason lorenz's team akfo lorenz's team at headquarters are always fielding queries around data and the like so yeah feeding in the catchment team and answers can be supplied that way absolutely scott kyle a question for you uh from from scott tomlinson here uh with the risk of outboat houseboat fires and etc as you touched on before could you have fireboats with cross crewing of cfa and rfs space uh i don't see why it can't happen um there's a few few rules around the marine space and who's in charge um if you were to come onto the boat as myself as a skipper i could tell you to sit there and you sit there and don't move so there's there's a few operational things around boats but cross crewing i can't see it being an issue um if we will cross crew with fire rescue to do hazmat stuff i can't see why if we needed those bodies for the boat that we could could not take so some training and that sort of stuff yeah there's a quick induction but yeah and that's a plan once the boat's up and operational is to do some cross border and interagency training with that boat so that everyone's got an understanding of it um and you know it's it's a new piece of equipment that's new in the area um that'd be like bringing a ladder platform into the chooker that i'm sure they'd take it across the river and train with fire rescue and show them how it works or if fire rescue got a aerial platform in Moama they would bring it over here at this side of the river and train with it so it'd be no different i think you've just inadvertently raised the expectations and hopes of a lot of people in this room but sides of the border i might add talk of ladder platforms and sadly there's no fishing right holders no there is no yes correct correct and it's okay gavin you can uh i think it would be a great concept chief so we get some aerial appliances into cfa i can't see any issues with that that is true where the where the risk is needed absolutely and addressing the community need another question from the live audience and we've got darrell uh good evening chief we are representing the chooker village fire brigade and uh we're sort of second and supported chooker a lot but i just wonder if you've got any information on when the latest round of vseps grants might be coming out because we're actually waiting out there we've been putting in our application for eight years on a row and the other i'm not allowed to ask two questions but i'll slip this in if all brigades put a lot of effort into the vsep grants and if you run a close second can it flow on your grant your application for the next year and say for three years because we put a lot of work into do them and every brigade over the state of victoria that probably agree with me it's exactly the same but it all has to be done and we could probably just change the bank statements and the amount of money in the bank but evidence i appreciate the invitation it's um it's been a good opportunity for us um and it's a another kickstarter into our long relationship that we've already had and chance to read to to better that relationship along the border thank you absolutely again thank you for the opportunity to come in and speak to yourselves and your other members and i think the recent houseboat fire that we had really did demonstrate that all the agencies here across the border are working very closely together and very well together but we also identified a few improvements that can come of that as well so hopefully we start ticking those off in the more immediate future than distant future but the communities are very well represented and protected here in chuka and marwama because of the people in the audience and those that aren't here so i think if we continue to work together the community will only benefit themselves absolutely well thank you glenn thank you colin it's been great this evening we do hope to get you back on the volunteer forum at some point to continue the conversation share stories and insights of what it means to be a complementary and collaborative fire services across the country so thank you for joining us this evening um gavin uh not only are you deputy chief officer extraordinaire for northwest um but a couple of months ago we had a chat you might need to be a bit more specific i feel like i'm we have regular chance visiting the principal lovers now but we had a chat about um obviously cfa 2.0 the new cfo post fire services reform and making sure that the agency that we want to be into the future is developed in a way that you know is for the volunteers by the volunteers uh and a bit of a project's fallen out of that um that'll actually link back into our cfa operating model can you tell us a bit more about the project you're working on yeah absolutely so you'll notice i don't answer your phone calls as often as i used to because every time i do it ends up in some sort of work for me and the team here in northwest so it was really born out of early days of fire service reform even in the lead-up so prior to july one where we were going through the process and consulting with the integrated brigades and how we can best do the de-integration process and they become co-located they become quite evident that they were so welded on for and for the right reasons i'll add to being class five brigade still and going forward to ensuring they got everything they did prior to fire service reform and then as you delve a little deeper the brigade classification systems are one to five actually didn't drive much at all other than a number also created confusion with hazard class so as we know hazard class one two three and four and that just created a little confusion in that space so as we got further down the track of fire service reform and identifying that we needed a better system to well even classification i think has a wrong meaning for our brigades but a system to better inform investment opportunities how we go forward to government with berk bids and the similar how we get that forward so right or wrongly we've embarked on this pilot across northwest to review the brigade classification so i was very mindful that it didn't want to be a headquarters driven thing or a region driven thing to brigades so we set up a project control board of which you're a member of and as well as we got two volunteers so a group officer at a district 14 pete burry and tony stevens from arms with the x captain out of there who have a fair bit of strategic background in terms of their day jobs and how they add into that so thus far we've consulted with the four dpcs across northwest region we're about to embark on some further consultation sessions we've had a lot of feedback we've been running the captain's peer mentoring program here in northwest region for a long time we've even factored that into some of the conversations with those captains and what's been born out is no one seems really comfortable or happy with the current system we have and that we need a simpler system so if we think of what class one and two fire brigades are today they feel that they've been have an overburden of us imposing things upon them so they just want a simple system page goes off they turn out they make the scene safe go home again so do they need all the brigade management positions in those brigades maybe maybe not and that's what will flesh out as part of that and we're thinking that every brigade should have a plan and that plan could be a one pager but if you think about those class one brigades as we have today right through the where is the world which would be more sophisticated based on the service they provide to their community so we've got I think we've got 10 sessions planned across the region once we get that data we'll have an interim report that will submit to yourself as the chief officer and then we want to ground truth that outside the region so we're probably looking at one or two DPCs in each of the other regions just to make sure that it's just not a bent of northwest region that it is fit for purpose for CFA as we go forward I think many brigades would be very interested in the outcomes of that because yeah it has been discussed and I know Sam Smith again Marina Fire Brigade has also made the comment that classification also hampers training as well I think that relates to your talk about the BOSP yeah I think it's a bit of a mindset and maybe that's what we need to change so there's a period of time where the BOSP was referred to there's once you say BA where is that's quite typical tonight so if we set that as 10 you've got your 10 so we move on we don't provide any training so it should be seen as a minimum not a maximum and I think there's a bit of a mind shift that's starting to occur in training as a part of that so the ACFO of the district is responsible for the BOSP so if their changes are required and it's got to be fit for purpose for those brigades I undertook the section 29 at Stanhope a couple of years ago now I think it was and some of their figures on their BOSP were just out of whack with what that brigade is so we can actually adjust it to suit the brigade and the risk I guess the key component of where we want to get to with brigade class it's based on brigade profile risk profile and community profile so going back to the community at the centre of what we do there's no community there's no fire brigade so we really need to make sure community is part of that and then what community risk is involved in there because each of the brigades would be quite different you only have to look around this part of the world for that scope and then what's the brigade profile like in various parts of northwest you see an aging profile you see some of those towns almost disappearing as people retract back into the major centres so there's a whole lot of challenges for us in that space and what worked in CFA 30 years ago I don't think we can keep applying the same methodology and we need to change that so it's fit for purpose and it's also about I guess understanding what our future brigade classification looks like but then there's that also then flows on to things like membership class yeah and informing again training needs and those sort of things so it's quite an important first step in getting the foundations right to our new organisation so I think if we if you're right it's almost a back to basics philosophy so let's get our brigade classification if that's the term we use to go forward and then we can say so this classification of brigade has this minimum criteria then it's almost discussions with the catchment team and Acfo to make sure that's the right bit because you might have an atuka I think here is a classic case it's not just the risk here in atuka it's about how far this brigade goes out and supports others so you need a holistic approach not just oh we're right tick we're done and certainly particularly with atuka it's also about yeah that interstate assistance as well many of our board absolutely and taking that into consideration as well so some really great work by your team so thank you thank you for answering the phone call yeah accepting the challenge and now that you know admitted to that I'll just prank call you yeah a few more times or think of other things that I can I can give you I'm a really busy guy though so I can't always answer the phone I might add so we have ways and ends so look you've done a fantastic job I know the north west region team and the project team been really working hard on it DPC is well engaged so thank you very much for that and I thank every opportunity for the volunteers as part of that group for the work that you've done so far and I look forward to seeing the fruits of the labor as I know many other brigades across the state are as well another question from our audience this evening and we have Todd welcome Todd evening chief I'm one of the new members that graduated last year here in atuka and so I finished my gff course and I'm currently finishing up my low structure course I just have a question in terms of progressing my career during like BA and then crew leader and that sort of stuff I understand there's a lack of courses in district 20 at the moment would it ever be opened up for me to train in sort of neighboring districts and that sort of thing fantastic question look for me and I'll ask you for your view here but I'll let me start with a prevailing view I don't see district borders as being a barrier to training yeah and providing that you know the the opportunities are there and that you know it's authorized by the relevant persons to do so I do see members participating in courses in other districts and other forums including our training campuses across the state I guess it's a you know from your perspective Kevin I'd like to see what I would call a cradle to grave system adopted so you joined so if I talk around the region to new volunteers they get frustrated so I've joined today when can I turn out and is invariably the first range of questions that get posed so for me I want to see a structure on a group basis where we can run that cradle to grave system so you start with general firefighter I'd even call that a recruit course so that's your entry level you come in you complete that as quick as we can get that done then it's low structure then it's BA and it's all the other aspects right through to the end of structure firefighting I think we get that so for every firefighter has that opportunity to progress through and I'd like to see that done on a group basis where the risk can be demonstrated and I think clearly hear that risk is well and truly in existence for Deakin group so roll it out in that fashion and then you have bolt-on so if we set up a program I can't see why the calendar can't be set from now till whenever if we get it right and then you might throw in things like crew leader strike team leader and other aspects in that space but you wouldn't need to run them as often because you're running the other so in and this needs a lot of scoping so this is just me spitballing I guess at the moment we'd run for Deakin group you'd have two recruit courses a year you'd put them at either end of the year so you can capture people and fit around the various lifestyles of that then very quickly after that we provide a platform where you can go to do low structure and then I think the next step really is BA and then once you've done that it's then moving into the structure fire course so that would be my plan that some of the discussions already had today with Steve as the ACFO here at District 20 and it's a regular conversational piece with our training team and how we can actually get that up and running notwithstanding we've had some issues within training across the organization but moving forward that's how I envisage at least for Northwest Region we want to set that up so you come in today you've got a path mapped out for you now it doesn't mean you've got to do that for everybody that joins but those that are keen and want to progress it's actually set in place. Will you be sort of putting a timeline on that enough when you can sort of expect to be doing those extra courses? So we need to map out in terms of what so obviously with the RTO status and compliance of the modules and the like so you're coming you do your recruit course and I think for busy brigades we can't hold up the next day because that impacts response so for me it's about a very quick follow-up for low structure and then not so long after that we then be looking at BA but doesn't mean every member that walks through the door now must be on that rigid process but those that are keen and I think the benefit of doing it at a group level is you get to know your mates around the traps so when you go and strike teams and all those other things and you see them on the fire ground because we don't operate with just single brigades I think that adds strength to the the cause and that mateship and camaraderie that exists within CFA. I think it's a great question Todd because I think you're really absolutely right Gavin a one-size approach won't work across the state you know you've got our busy urban brigades that really do have a need to get members in get them trained and get them doing what they need to do versus I guess some of their more rural brigades that yeah obviously are very active during summer maybe not so active during the during the offseason where you know a different approach to training can can be adopted and absolutely it's you know it's about having those conversations with your DPCs with your catchment teams with your ACFO and and the regional training seems about what what works and what is best suited and obviously in your region Gavin you've got a bit of an idea how that might be played out we are very in fact we're probably very much over time which is always what I do but I will finish one last question from from the chat tonight I sort of haven't managed to get too too many in the in the chat and I thank those on the chat answering the questions Chris Lynch has said yeah he's found out the boss so is so far out of whack there is almost no point at looking at it if you're going to use it it has to be current I think what's your thoughts to that certain things be part of your section 29 conversation so when the inspecting officer comes out and sits down with at least the BMT and the captain it's about working through that and understanding it and adjusting it as appropriate so if it's if it's out of kilter one way the ACFO has the ability to sign that off to make sure it is fit for purpose for that brigade and so I guess for for many at home that's been a bit of an urban legend a bit of a myth that you can't change your boss up you absolutely can't absolutely yeah do this section 29 have that conversation with your catchment team get your ACFO to sign off on it and it can be done yeah and once again the boss is also a minimum it's not a maximum so just because you've reached the target figure because it doesn't take much for a brigade to change its membership so a couple of people move away and that can have a dramatic impact on the boss so it's about working with your catchment team in the ACFO adjusting it accordingly but once again it's a minimum standard not a maximum awesome well thank you Alex thank you Gavin and again thank you Glen Colm for coming on the panel here this evening before I close out a couple of general public service announcements if you'd like the Australian Fire Service Medal nominations still open and we're encouraging all persons to if you do wish to nominate that deserving CFA member for an Australian Fire Service Medal please do so they will be closing shortly and more information about how to nominate people for the AFSM is found on members online and we also want to plug this evening our CFA women in leadership mentoring program expression of interest or also open for our CFA women in leadership mentoring program we're looking for women volunteer leaders who are interested in being a mentee and all volunteers and staff including our secondigues of any agenda who are interested in being a mentor are encouraged to review the briefing pack and apply search women in leadership mentoring program on members online and that will provide full details and further information so please if you are very interested encourage everyone to log on to members online and do that well it's been fantastic ladies and gentlemen as usual I have run over time I'd like to thank everyone behind the camera as I usually do in particular as I call him now my executive producer Brad Thomas who I've got to say this evening has been very busy as many of you might have picked up on this is a very is a public channel and anyone from across the world can log in and watch and unfortunately this evening those that seek not to abide by our our behavioural standards has infiltrated the chat tonight Brad's been working very hard to ensure that our members are not exposed to things that they shouldn't be so Brad I take my hat off to you and thank you very much for your hardworking dedication for doing that to Keith to Martin and to Mark thank you very much for pulling this all together you do a fantastic job every month and I thank you for that and to you ladies and gentlemen our fantastic live audience thank you for coming along this evening thank you for being part of the Volunteer Forum and participating and asking some of those questions thank you to our interstate colleagues with a bit of the rural fire service or fire rescue staff miles for coming along it's fantastic to share these experiences with our people and Sally thank you for coming along from Ag Victoria and sharing your knowledge and expertise on all things biosecurity well that's it for me ladies and gentlemen have a fantastic evening and I wish you a good night