The Fireman Columns
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Most Recent Column in The Fireman - May 2008
VFBV Board Meeting at Kerang
The Board of VFBV held its meeting on Friday 2nd May 2008 at the Kerang Fire Station. Among the items discussed were Brigade ABN’s, the continuation of Regional meetings of the Board, joint meetings with the CFA Board, progress with the unification of the Volunteer Associations, progress with the development of a Welfare Fund for all CFA volunteers, proposed meeting with Minister for Police and Emergency Services, CFA EEO and Discipline Procedures.
After the Board meeting, members of the Board met with several representatives from local brigades and provided an update on current issues and discussed many topics raised by the volunteers.
The Board’s meeting to be held on the 30th May 2008 will be held at the Benalla Fire Station. Volunteers are invited to meet with the members of the Board at 6.00pm following the Board meeting.
Meeting with Minister for Police and Emergency Services
Members of the VFBV Board will meet with the Minister for Police and Emergency Services on Tuesday 13th May 2008. This meeting is part of a process of regular meetings with the Minister which provide an opportunity for two way discussion between the Minister and VFBV on current volunteer issues and Government direction.
The Board is currently making arrangements for a similar meeting with Commissioner for Emergency Services, Bruce Esplin.
VFBV Volunteer Welfare Fund
VFBV welcomes the State Government’s initiative in the recent State Budget to provide funding that will now allow the establishment of a Welfare Fund to be managed by the VFBV and available to all CFA Volunteers.
VFBV has been working with both the CFA and the Department of Justice for some time to develop a Welfare Fund for all CFA volunteers. Staff from the Office of the Emergency Services Commissioner (OESC) have been particularly helpful in recent months helping this initiative become a reality. The bringing together of this Fund and the VUFBA Welfare Fund, which has been providing support to urban volunteers since 1913, into the one Welfare Fund which will be of benefit to all CFA Volunteers.
The key objective of the Fund is to help people continue in their role as a CFA volunteers through the provision of small emergency relief grants to CFA volunteer members and their families in times of personal financial crisis/hardship.
VFBV congratulates the State Government for recognising the invaluable commitment and community reliance on CFA volunteer members, past members and their families by supporting these same volunteers through the establishment of the Welfare Fund and thus assisting in helping these members continue in their role as CFA volunteers.
Memorial Service
The CFA Memorial Service for firefighters who had lost their lives in the line of duty was held at St Mary of the Angels Basilica in Geelong on Sunday 4th May. Geelong was a fitting venue for the service as it was 10 years ago that seven volunteers from the Geelong West brigade, lost their lives at a fire in Linton.
St Mary of the Angels Basilica provided an impressive setting for a moving ceremony attended by a large gathering of volunteers, career staff, families and relatives of deceased firefighters.
During the service, a bell was tolled as Chief Officer Russell Rees read out the names of the 63 firefighters who had lost their lives since the inception of the CFA in 1945.
Wreaths were laid by the Minister for Police and Emergency Services Bob Cameron, CFA Chairman Kerry Murphy, VFBV Chairman Gary Lyttle, VRFBA President Peter Downes, VUFBA President Rob Waterson, General Manager Barwon/Corangamite Area Paul Stacchino and UFU President Tony Scully. Wreaths and floral tributes were also laid by family members, relatives and friends.
Green paper on "Land & Biodiversity in a Time of Climate Change"
Gavin Jennings MLC, Minister for Environment and Climate Change, has recently released the Green Paper on "Land and Biodiversity in a Time of Climate Change" and public submissions are sought on its content by June 30.
Bob MacDonald, Executive Officer VRFBA represented volunteers and CFA on the Stakeholder Reference Group and encourages volunteers to take the opportunity to comment on the paper.
Chapter 6.10 is particularly relevant to fire brigades and CFA as it deals with " using and managing fire" and a number of questions are raised for public comment.
Submissions can be made on line at http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/landwhitepaper.
Integrated Fire Management Plan (IFMP) Implementation Workshop
On 24 April CFA conducted a workshop on implementing IFMP and was attended by CFA senior management, the State Fire Management Manning Support Team as well as Bob MacDonald representing VFBV and Bruce Conboy representing VRFBA.
Following briefings by Liza Sturzenegger, Director, Community Safety and Chief Officer, Russell Rees on CFA's role in the process, those attending broke into groups to workshop three topics:
- Municipal Fire Prevention Plans
- Brigade input into Fire Management Planning
- Regional Strategic Fire Management Planning
More details on the outcomes will be available at a later date.
It was agreed there should be an IFMP Implementation Team developed in CFA with the following membership:
- Chair, DCO Geoff Conway
- 2 x General Managers
- 1 x Operations Manager
- 1 x Community Support Representative,
- Alan Rankin IFMP Consultation & Communications Manager
- 1 x Special Projects and Area Coordination Representative
- 2 x Volunteer representatives, Bruce Conboy & Hans van Hamond
- Robert Hogan, Executive Manager Public Affairs
A number of reference groups will also be formed to undertake specific projects and these will have volunteer representation.
Memberlink Program
It is pleasing to see the enhanced Memberlink Program being promoted at the State Championships and in the last edition of The Fireman. The Associations had been advocating improvements to the Program for some time and had worked with the Human Resources Directorate to see these improvements developed and incorporated into Memberlink. We were keen to see more country and regional benefits included in the Program and whilst this has been achieved, we would still like to see more country businesses added. If you know of a business which would be interested in being part of the Program, you can contact David Young (0410 551 046) or email exec@memberbenefits.com.au
CFA/AVCG Partnership Reference Group
The Reference Group recently met on 3rd May at CFA Headquarters and VFBV was represented by Bob MacDonald and VUFBA by Bob Smith.
It was reported Port Welshpool, Port Albert, Lakes Entrance and Paynesville have been registered as Coast Guard Brigades whilst it is anticipated Carrum and Sandringham will be registered prior to the end of this financial year.
Lake Eppalock, Hume and Marlo hopefully will be registered as brigades in the second half of 2008.
The meeting approved the overalls to be provided, with some modification to the badging, as well as the boots to be worn.
A briefing on the specifications for the pumps was given to the meeting and it was agreed that a trial should be undertaken at the next meeting on fitting the pumps to a range of AVCG boats and testing the ancillary equipment.
It was also decided to develop a list of strategic issues to be discussed at future meetings.
Urban State Championships 2010 – 2012
The VUFBA has received 6 applications to host a Junior State Championships over the years 2010 to 2012, and 3 applications to hose a Senior Championships over this period. The VUFBA will conduct inspections of the venues and meet with brigades over the weekend of 19 & 20 July 2008, with a final decision to be made at its Annual Meeting in September.
