Category Archives: Scott at Work

September 12 of 12 …

September 12, 2013 Scott Leave a comment

Today was a average sort of day and for once I was ready for the 12 of 12 🙂

Usual ritual to start with a 7:35am wakeup and how many times did snooze get hit 😉

Called in on the postbox en-route to work (but it was empty) and negotiated a few back streets to get away from the traffic although I had to drop off the Nissan Patrol for its 80000km service at 85000km. I must be coming a familiar face at Unley Nissan as they asked me if I wanted a ride into work and I didn’t have to tell them where I worked.

After starting up the computer, down came the updates so 1/2 an hour later I could finally get some work done.

Around 11:00am the sky was starting to get darker and checking out the radar, there was some heavy rain on its way.

Since I didn’t have a car, an early lunch was in order so that I could still do my 2 km walk to the lunch shop without getting drowned. Managed to make it there and back with only a few drops of rain even with a holdup at the new Victoria Square redevelopment.

The rain held off until around 4:00pm and down it came. It was somewhat amusing to see the Deputy Chief as a drowned rat after walking back from a meeting. He had rang for me to pick him up but without a car it was not possible.

A ride to Unley Nissan had been organised but of course he forgot me so Plan B was put in place with one of the On Shift Commanders dropping me off. We only just got there in time as they were about to lock my car up for the night.

After the initial downpour at 4:00pm, a second and heavier one happened around 8:00pm with 21mm of rain falling for the day following the second front.

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

August 12 of 12 ….

August 12, 2013 Scott Leave a comment

Another day when I nearly forgot. You would think that I would have put it in my calendar by now. 🙂

This month I am doing a stint back on shift work as the Metropolitan Commander North on C Shift. I spent 17 years on C Shift as a firefighter and senior firefighter so it is good to get back to my roots but gee I don’t recognise a lot of faces. I guess that is understandable as we have hired over 1000 personnel in the last 28 years.

The day started out in my office overlooking the Engine Room of Adelaide Fire Station but I wasn’t there long as I was due out at my northern office at Golden Grove Fire Station.

After completing a formal visit with the crew at the Station, there was time to grab a cache on the way through to our Engineering Workshops.

During August there is a Geocaching Challenge to find at least one geocache a day. So far I have found one on every day so far. Today’s find was GC2JRQ0 – the Wreck Centre. 31 days should be a breeze as I have had a streak of 333 days a few years ago. 🙂

It was time to head back to my Adelaide Office to get a new rechargeable light fitted to the Command Car (always like new toys).

Lunch today was a “dog roll” which is our name for a Vietnamese roll as you never know what the meat really is. 🙂

And there goes another 12 of 12 ….

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12 of 12, Firefighting, Scott at Work

July 12 of 12 …

July 12, 2013 Scott Leave a comment

This month is certainly a contrast to last month.

Firstly, I am at work (I know many of you are shocked – I do have to work some times 😉 ).

Secondly, the temperature was about half of what it was last month when I was in the Northern Territory. Today was around 15C whereas a month ago I was enjoying 28C.

Not only was I at work but also “On Call”, and it didn’t take long before getting my first callout for a 2nd Alarm house fire out north in the “Badlands”, but never made it there as the alarm was downgraded before arriving.

Overnight, our IT Department decided to roll out Windows 7 (we have been using XP forever). It didn’t go all that well with only one IT Guru left today to assist with getting things back to normal. I finally got email by lunchtime and printing around 3:00 pm.

The boys downstairs were pretty busy with a number of Motor Vehicle Accidents due to the wet weather but it slowed down by afternoon.

As is usual on a Friday afternoon, there is always a late email that requires action before walking out the door and today was no different. After poring through the last 5 years of Annual Reports, I soon had the answers and was on my way.

We are currently getting one our bathrooms remodelled and it always exciting to see how far the builder has got each day. By the time he left tonight, the walls and ceilings were in and we are now awaiting the gyprock flusher tomorrow.

Until next month when I will be back “On Shift”.

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Scott at Work, USA 2013

Off to Reno again …

March 15, 2013 Scott Leave a comment

It is that time of the year again, however this year it nearly didn’t happen. With budget issues, there was no guarantee I would be heading back to the US. I finally got approval last Friday so it was a mad panic booking flights (they were still cheap), accommodation and car rental.

So where am I going. This will be the fourth time attending the International Association of Fire Chiefs Wildland Urban Interface Conference – wow that is a mouthful. And for the fourth time it is in Reno Nevada but has changed locations to the Peppermill Resort.

As well as the conference, I have a pre-conference training course, Initial Attack Incident Commander and then a post conference training course, Blue Card Instructor.

It is not all work and I hope to have a chance to get some geocaching and skiing in on the weekends. 🙂

After rushing to the airport and arriving just in time, we were delayed 45 minutes due to issues in Sydney. We finally got off the ground and after some circle work around Goulburn it was into Sydney only to find that I had just enough time to get to the International terminal for the flight to Los Angeles.

We were loaded onto the big Airbus A380, only to be told that there was a problem with the APU and that our departure was to be delayed. With the power and aircon going off a few times, an hour later we were in the air.

The flight across the Pacific was uneventful but we had a spectacular sunset through the window.

Luckily I had plenty of time to get my connecting flight as there was only one bag on the carousel and eventually found my other bag merrily going around on another one. Through immigration and customs OK and dropped the bags off for the next flight.

This still gave me 6 hours so I grabbed a car and headed out to get some lunch (In-N-Out Burger) and also activate my phone. I finally got the phone activated on an unlimited plan with T-Mobile.

With a couple of hours left, I headed down to the coast to grab a couple of geocaches. It certainly wasn’t beach weather today and I had it all to myself. The weather in LA was cool (around 14C) and foggy. It must have been cold as the locals were wearing jumpers and jackets.

Back to LAX, onto the plane to Reno and 32 hours after leaving home I finally arrived at my destination with a few hour of broken sleep – starting to feel like a zombie.

Unfortunately I couldn’t get into the Peppermill Resort so was staying for a few days at the old hotel, Grand Sierra Resort before moving across. They must have realised that I hadn’t had much sleep because my room ended up being the one right at the end of a mile long corridor.

I got to walk these corridors a couple of times tonight as a supply run from the nearby Walmart was in order. It is always interesting there as you get entertained by the customers and what they are wearing as well as groceries.

There was a little issue for me when I went to use my credit cards they were declined. A call back to Australia to the Commonwealth Bank to be told that I hadn’t notified them I was going overseas. This is a first time for me as normally I get a phone call as soon as I use my card to confirm that I am actually in the US.

It was back down the long corridor, shower and off to bed for some well deserved sleep. 🙂

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12 of 12, Home Life, Scott at Work, Work Life

February 12 of 12 …

February 12, 2013 Scott Leave a comment

After forgetting the 12 of 12 in January, I was not going to miss this month.

Today was an average work day with just a few meetings (even with a wrong date on the agenda) and some paperwork and no exciting incidents to attend. I did manage some exercise up and down the stairs between meetings. 🙂

There were some noises coming from the front of the car. One ended up being the siren speaker having come unattached from its mount which was quickly fixed by our work electrician. The second noise is a little more serious and will hopefully be fixed tomorrow by Nissan.

Once at home, it was time to get the recycling ready for tomorrows pickup and check that the parrots had left us some peaches (we netted the tree last night).

A giggle to finish the day with some Engrish instructions that arrived with some waterproof phone/GPSr pouches I received from an eBay seller in Hong Kong.

Another 12 of 12 is over …

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

October 12 of 12 – Alice Springs fires …

October 12, 2011 Scott 1 Comment

One thing with my life, it is like a magical mystery tour – you never know where I will be.

This week I am in Alice Springs as part of the South Australian deployment assisting Bushfires NT with their current bushfire situation.

With some incredible rainfalls over the past couple of years, there has been amazing growth of both mulga and grasses in the Far North of South Australia and the south and central Northern Territory.

With the warming weather curing this massive growth and a lot of dry lightning storms there have been some large fires threatening townships and station homesteads.

Assistance was offered to Northern Territory and accepted with an ongoing deployment for the past 2 weeks from South Australia.

The role of the SA crew has been to burn strategic breaks around Alice Springs and provide a rapid response to nearby fires.

My role has been that of a Planning Officer within the Incident Management Team. The amazing thing about these fires is the sheer size of them (e.g. 4000 square km just for a single fire) and the small amount of resources managing these fires.

Today started early with lightning heading through Central Australia starting a number of new fires. So apart from chasing up information on existing fires, it was a case of chase up on the new ones as well.

The temps were high today with 35 degrees and some good winds so fires were moving well. The main fires giving more interest were east and west of Alice Springs.

The day flew by quickly and I got to deploy Alice Springs first Munzee as well.

We were starting to wind down when I starting doing a scan of the latest satellite data and spotted some new fires south west near Yulara and on the Stuart Highway north of Ti Tree. Another flurry of work then it was time to head back to the hotel.

It was only 5 minutes back at the hotel and a fire started directly across the road. Our crews were out working north of town so we rang the local crew and watched them get to work.

Time for an ice cold beer to finish the day 🙂

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Firefighting, Scott at Work, Work Life

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.

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12 of 12, Geocaching, Scott at Work, Work

August 12 of 12 – another different sort of day …

August 12, 2011 Scott Leave a comment

One thing about working for the Fire Service is that you never know what your day will bring particularly when you are on call.

Looking at my calendar in the morning and it looked like it was going to be a normal sort of day with a lot of meetings finishing up with the AGM for my volunteer Fire Brigade in the night.

The first obstacle for the day was getting to work. It used to be that it would take about 20-25 minutes to travel the 12 kms to work but with weather, roadworks and an almost endless stream of vehicles it is now taking up to an hour.

I have been trying alternative routes to see if I can get in quicker – the one today didnt seem too bad. 🙂

First meeting for the day was the State Bushfire Coordination Committee. About an hour in, off goes my pager. It was for a radiation incident at a recycling company. I made a quick couple of calls and organised my #2 to attend in my place. I rang him a couple of hours later when my meeting finished and he was still there 🙁

Time for lunch and a group of us went off to Chinatown for a “#11 with extra chilli” from Singapore Delights.

Time for another meeting – this time with SA Police to discuss road closure procedures for motorsport events in the future.

Some more time back in the office before heading home to spend a couple of minutes with the family and “Molly” before heading back to the city for the Coromandel Valley Country Fire Service AGM. Not sure whether it was worth going home.

This year was an election year and there were some changes with a new Captain and Lieutenant for the Brigade.

After a great meal at Pellegrini Cafe it was back to the station to discuss the future over a few ales – but not for me as I am still on call ….

That’s it for this month.

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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.

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

May 12 of 12 …

May 12, 2011 Scott Leave a comment

Todays 12 of 12 started wet, continued wet through the day and ended wet. Winter is here and three weeks early. There has even been 25cm of snow at Falls Creek.

Had a couple of pickups this morning with a new mouse GPS to connect up to the Netbook when out on the road, then a couple of fluoro jackets for the Scouts Rally SA.

The Police HQ building behind the Fire Station is still being built but is looking closer with a lot of the external hoardings and scaffold being removed.

We then did an audit on our satelitte phones checking they worked and replacing the sim cards that didnt work. That was in between the rain showers.

You can see from the pile of paper on my desk, that I will never be short of something to do at work, but still had time to listen to the Geocaching Podcast live.

It was then lunchtime and of course it was still raining. Dropped off the jackets to the Rally Office then back to work to find a venue for some work meetings. I had been trying the Richmond Hotel for a couple of days but had no reply.

Tried a couple of Scout venues but they were unavailable but ended up booking the Maxwell Cooper Room at the Coopers Alehouse.

It was time to knock off and grab a couple of Geocaches on my quest to make 5000 finds by the Moderately Old Farts Birthday Bash on the Border Track on the 20th and with 8 Days to go and 34 caches to find – should be achievable ….