Category Archives: Firefighting

NSW USAR TF1 – visit to the Training Complex ….

August 29, 2011 Scott Leave a comment

On the first afternoon of the AFAC Conference, we had the opportunity to visit the Fire & Rescue NSW USAR Training Complex.

A small drive out from town we were told but I suppose 45 km is a small drive for Sydney Siders. A toll on the M5 and we were soon at the complex.

They were lucky to obtain a warehouse for the training complex which allowed for all weather training in USAR, Vertical Rescue and Confined Space Rescue as well as a base and store for the USAR cache.

Noise is not a problem as it is located in the industrial area of Ingleburn. In fact weekends, it is almost a ghost town so no annoying the neighbours when training.

They have made a good use of containers to provide props for all aspects of USAR training. The best bit is that they have utilised the skills of the firefighters to produce these props.

It was a good opportunity to see whether our program is on track and from what we saw, we are not doing too bad and now also have some ideas for our training.

[Show as slideshow]

12 of 12, Firefighting, Motorsport, Scott at Work, Work, Work Life

July 2011 – 12 of 12 …

July 12, 2011 Scott Leave a comment

Today was to an average sort of day so I thought I would match Foursquare check-ins I had during the day with a photo of each location. It ended up I had too many photos today with the day almost ending up with a bang.

The day started out quiet in our street but heading to work I got held up by a freight train at the Blackwood Railway Station (Foursquare Mayor here). Stopped off at the Blackwood Post Office (Foursquare Mayor here) to pick up the latest Geocoin Club geocoin.

Got held up some more on the way into Adelaide with a number of roadworks. It is not too much of a problem as the car tends to be a mobile office these days anyway. Arrived at the Adelaide Fire Station (Foursquare Mayor here).

A normal sort of day and one of my cohorts suggested lunch at Chinatown and in particular one our favourite haunts – Singapore Delights (Foursquare Mayor here). We walked down through Victoria Square to a packed Chinatown but another great meal of #11 with extra chilli.

Walked back to work through the Central Market and finsihed off my Fire Service day or so I thought.

After work it was time to go to the Scouts Rally SA Office (Foursquare Mayor here) to put in another 5 hours with the Rally only 2 weeks away. On arrival, Ivar told me there was some sort of gas leak in the front office.

After a quick sniff, it was time to bring in some guys in a “Big Red Truck” to use the meters to find the source of the gas. After a bit of detecting and searching, we came up that it was a refigerant gas leak from the air conditioner. Thats a job for tomorrow and we had work to do tonight.

We rugged up, turned off the heat and opened the windows, got down to it and finally came up with a Draft Entry List for the Rally at 11 pm.

[Show as slideshow]

Firefighting, Scott at Work, USA 2011

32 Hours to Reno ….

March 26, 2011 Scott

The day started early at 6:30 am with some last minute packing. A see you later to Jenny and Bradley (Rachael was on a Scout Camp) then drive into Adelaide Fire Station to drop off the company car. Hopefully it gets repaired while I am away.

Taxi to the airport. Checked in and they charged me for 3kg overweight baggage (26kg + 11 kg). In for an early morning coffee at Hudsons and met up with someone from work whose daughter was on my plane to Sydney and the US as well as someone from Rally.

Even though we loaded on time, it was 1/2 an hour before we took off. This was a sign of things to come. All went well for the transfer from the Domestic terminal to the International terminal in Sydney (even saw my baggage going in the right direction). Again we loaded on time but it was 3/4 of an hour taking off late this time.

The flight across the Pacific was not too bad but any turbulance was felt hard in Premium Economy as it is in the upper tail. Only managed about 3 hours of broken sleep in the 13 hour flight.

We arrived on time in Los Angeles. Into the Immigration Hall and it was packed with 4 planes that had landed at the same time. It took 1 1/2 hours to clear Immigration, Customs and re-check my baggage for the Reno flight. I am told that it was a quick trip through.

It was now 11:30 am and my next flight was 18:30 so what to do for 7 hours??

I had a couple of IT things to sort out with reactivating my US phone and data card. A quick walk to Radio Shack in Westchester to achieve this. On the way I came across Ladder 11 and Engine 211 of Los Angeles Fire Department at the In-N-Out Burger for their lunch.

Stopped off at Starbucks for a caffiene fix and some free Wifi to check emails. Still had hours to use up so decided to do some geocaches through Westchester and Inglewood. It took 4 hours and I walked 17 kms to find 7 geocaches.

Walked past Randys Donuts, the I-405 and Manchester Square.

Got back to LAX around 16:30 with some blisters and some new muscles. A bit of line up at the Security and I didnt even get back scattered.

And to get the trifecta, another delayed flight. At this stage, I was getting very weary and was struggling to stay awake. The flight to Reno finally got off the ground at 19:15 (3/4 of an hour late).

There was a spectactular sunset above the clouds and after a bumpy finish, arrived at Reno around 21:00. Shuttle bus to the Grand Sierra Resort, checked in and up to the room.

Now the quandry – unpack or go to bed. After 32 hours from Adelaide to Reno – it is good night ………

$LA\'s Finest @ In and Out Burger$

[Show as slideshow]

12 of 12, Firefighting, Geocaching, Home Life, Scouts

March 2011 – “12 of 12”

March 12, 2011 Scott

Doesn’t time fly – here it is again another 12th of the month.

Having had a Japanese Student (Yukari from Morioka), the happenings in Japan over the last 24 hours were of interest. Yukari was heading home to Japan today and with the Airports in Tokyo closed, it was unsure whether she would get home. We have had no contact with her parents since the Earthquake but this is more than likely because of no phones at the moment.

By midday, it was confirmed that Narita Airport in Tokyo had reopened so we bid farewell to Yukari and wished her and her family well.

This weekend being the Adelaide Cup Long Weekend, is also the Family Camp for the Blackwood Scout Group at Roonka. It is a great weekend away but I am also on call so Jenny took the kids while I stayed home with the dog (Molly) and budgie (Henry). Molly was hoping to go away as well and waited at the door expectantly while the car was packed.

Jenny’s travels up to the campsite were tracked with our Spot Messenger – unfortunately there is no phone coverage up at Roonka so I cant get here to turn it off now ……

With regard to on-call, I have been to 4 calls so far, so staying home has not been quiet although I have a lot of paperwork still to complete before next weeks, Clipsal 500 Motor Race.

There was a package waiting for me at the Post Office from overseas – it was my new pathtags to take with me on the Reno trip in 2 weeks.

Today is one of two Geocaching 12 of 12’s for the year, so I headed out this afternoon to grab a few caches:

GC25Y1W – Dead End

GC2N9A7 – Sitting A-Round

GC2MZ68 – Back to School: Craigburn

GC2MZ6D – Glen’s Dale

GC2NHWN – Reserve

GC2KW79 – Lovely Valley

GC2KJZE – Rocky Flagstaff

$Molly says \"Can I go too\"$

$GC2MZ6D - Glen\'s Dale$

$Keeping an eye on Jenny\'s Travels$

[Show as slideshow]

Firefighting, Geocaching, Scott at Work

A week in Port Lincoln …

November 4, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

One of our Regional Fire Stations is in Port Lincoln which has just been replaced with a new station. The new station is an impressive show-piece for the Metropolitan Fire Service and forms part of the Emergency Services Precinct where the Country Fire Service and State Emergency Service have also had new stations built.

I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Port Lincoln. The trip was to exercise the Regional Staff at the new station and integrate operations with the CFS for an notional wildfire occuring in our area then a second wildfire starting in our area then escaping into CFS area.

The exercise was on the Wednesday but I flew in a couple of days earlier to ensure that the crew were all familiar with the equipment and processes that are used by the MFS and CFS. The exercise went well with lessons learned by both the MFS and CFS personnel and hopefully the SAPOL Officers as well.

Even though it was a work trip, there was time after hours to get some caching in as well. There is a very active geocaching community in Port Lincoln with around 150 caches hidden around the town. In the 4 days I was there I managed to find 42 of them.

[Show as slideshow]

12 of 12, Firefighting, Geocaching, Scott at Work, Work, Work Life

12 of 12 August 2010 – Breathing Apparatus ……

August 12, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

The day didn’t start well with a couple of Geocaching Events I was planning being knocked back for approval. After doing a little research and a letter to the Ump, I hope that he will reconsider the Events and have them listed.

Today was my annual Breathing Apparatus Re-accreditation. It involves some theory, then some drills in the Training Tower where the house prop and cage prop are darkened, filled with smoke and “heavy” dummies, we suit up in our Fire-fighting PPE, Breathing Apparatus, take in hoselines and drag out all the dummies.

Even though today was cool and drizzly, it was still warm enough to work up a sweat.

The day finished on a high though with a FTF on a cache at Upper Sturt on the way home, GC2D8VT – Beagles Boyfriend 🙂

[Show as slideshow]

Firefighting, Geocaching

10 Years of Geocaching …

May 2, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

After attending the 60th Anniversary of Blackwood CFS at the Blackwood Football Club, it was time to head back down to Adelaide to Celebrate Ten Years of Geocaching.

On 3rd May 2000 the first cache was hidden by Dave Ulmer in the forests of Oregon.

On Monday 8th March 2010 the number of active caches worldwide exceeded one million.

Today saw Adelaide’s chance to celebrate the occasion and 150 cachers met in the South Parklands. Activities this afternoon included the group photo, the obligatory Birthday Cake, face painting for the kids and plenty of time catching up with other cachers.

[Show as slideshow]

Firefighting

2010 SAPES Games Stair Race

May 2, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

What a busy day today. Four things on starting at 8:00 am with the Stair Race at Wakefield House for the SAPES Games.

I was asked to fill in for the organiser back in 2008 and I am still doing it now 3 years later.

This year saw a record entries both in the Stair Sprint and the Full Firefighter Race.

This year also saw a record time set of 1:22 for the 18 story sprint. The previous record was 1:42. 🙂

Firefighting, Geocaching, USA 2010

The OC to Ventura County …

April 7, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

My last day in the US this time round was spent visiting Fire Departments at opposite ends of Los Angeles.

The morning was spent with Battalion Chief Mike Ferdig of Orange County Fire Authority at their Headquarters in Irvine. This is my second visit here as I visited last July.

We spoke about the Earthquake Preparedness of the OCFA, given the 7.2 Earthquake of a couple of days ago on the Mexico / Californian border. Their preparedness looked similar to what we were trying to achieve with our Strike Team pre planning. I can see this doubling as earthquake pre-planning as well for us.

We headed out for a bite to eat. The fare of choice was an All American Dog from Jerrys Wood Fired Dogs. Wasn’t too bad at all. Back to HQ to have a look a their Communications / Logistics Trailer and it was time to hit the Freeway.

I had a 150km drive on the I-5 and I-101 to get up to the Ventura County Fire Department at Camarillo. The thing with LA Freeways is that you can be going at 115kph with hundreds of other cars hoping that someone doesn’t get it wrong or you are doing 10kph wishing you were doing 115kph. I was doing both today and ended up being 10 minutes late.

I met with Assistant Chief Vaughan Miller. I had attended a presentation of his at the conference and wanted the enquire more on his work with PPE and hydration. He has given me a lot of usefu information.

It was time to start heading down the coast towards LAX as there was a plane to catch back to Australia. It was a scenic drive with an opportunity to grab a few geocaches as well. It was going well until I hit Santa Monica when the traffic crawled to a stop.

Luckily I could turn off to grab a more direct route to LAX. Arrived in time to drop off the car, grab a bite to eat, check out the duty free then board the 747 back to Australia. I used points to upgrade to Premium Economy which was well worth the extra room.

Farewell to the United States for now ……

[Show as slideshow]

Firefighting, Geocaching, USA 2010

High Desert California ….

April 6, 2010 Scott Leave a comment

Today I had a chance to drive through some of the country that we would normally see alight with wildfires. Taking the I-15 through the Sierra’s to Baker and Death Valley, it was easy to see why the wildfires get so large.

The landscape is so high and steep with access to most areas limited at best, although the areas were very green today due to recent rains, so it will be a while before this burns,

The further you moved towards Las Vegas, the lower the mountains became but they were still steep. It is similar to the Flinders Ranges.

I eventually made it to Baker, home of the World’s Tallest Thermometer and Gateway to Death Valley. The weather today wasn’t that bad with the worst that you would suffer would be a bad sunburn – temperature was 66F.

From here it was time to tackle one of the 3 Geocaching Power Trails. Due to the time of day I tackled the smallest one, the Presidents Trail with 32 caches, each located at the bases of High Voltage power pylons.

While in the area, I met up with Flaglady and BoydChicks, a couple of Californian Geocachers who ended picking up 412 finds in 17.5 hours. I cached with them for a while but had to head back to Los Angeles while they continued on.