The Jamestown CFS

[Ray]

Like all of our volunteer services, the CFS is having some difficulty attracting young people who are willing to sacrifice a small part of their free time to  provide a ready stream of trained personel to help safeguard our community.  I was a member on and off such as my job allowed for over 30 years and I well remember the fun and great camraderie that we enjoyed. I have not been an active member for many years now and when asked by the Jamestown Captain, Graham Sims if I would like to come down to a practice night to see what is going on these days I leapt at the chance.

Practice is  held on Monday nights beginning at 7:00pm and although I was running late I got down there in time to witness training that involved the revalidation of members including two from Georgetown, in the use of CABA (Compressed Air Breathing Apparatus), this is done on a regular basis to ensure the competency of those using this vital equipment. This particular course involves the examinees  demonstrating their skills and understanding of the equipment, the practical part being undertaken in a dark, hot, smoke filled complex where the members must enter with a hose and at the same time find and rescue any casualties in the facility.


Here we see the members donning and testing their CABA sets after having done a short oral examination ontheir use. From here we proceeded to the purpose built facility  built by the local members at the rear of the station.

 
Here, the equipment of those about to enter the smoke filled building is given a final check to ensure that everything is as it should be  with adequate supplies of air and that the safety and distress alarms are working, finally their details are entered on a board by an overseer who will monitor their times spent in the smoke filled area. In the case of a real fire it would be this man's job  to ensure that relief operators were dispatched in plenty of time to allow the first group to exit the area whilst still having a reserve of air in their sets.

Prior to the exercise commencing i was given the chance to have a quick look at the inside of the unit (with the lights still on and the heat turned off)

 
Firstly it was demonstrated how the smoke is piped into each and every part of the unit by a series of underfloor ducts. In the picture at right, we see how this very quickly fills the whole complex with a thick blanket of smoke. It gets thicker than this, but I would not have been able to take a photo, so here you see it at a lower density.

More to follow,...

[utegirl70]

Where would we be without the great Aussie volunteers?!

Hubby started his CFS volunteer work at Jamestown, and has been with them(CFS) ever since. Received his ten year service medals two years ago in a presentation(even though he's been with them for over 13), and is now 2nd Lieutenant with our local brigade. Very proud of him.   

It's a pity more young people don't volunteer... it's a great community and life long friendships can be made. Not to mention how great you feel when you help your town.

[Ray]

It would seem that many things have changed in the last 20 years or so, and unless the younger generations can't entertain themselves or socialise from the comfort of their arm chairs, they are just not interested.  We had a very active cadet unit when I started, nearly all of whom served for many years.

I think that the attitudes of the public has also changed greatly, I can remember in the event of a fire or callout for any reason, people rushing to the Fire station to help in any capacity they could, whether it be ladies offering to make sandwiches and pack cold drinks, or blokes just willing to act as couriers picking up and delivering everything from water tankers to relaying extra firefighters to units in the field.

Of course in those days any able bodied man could volunteer their services and be accepted on the spot and todays legislative requirements have made this impossible, never the less, I feel that this has in effect destroyed some of the community sense of involvement and alienated the CFS from the community in general.

Like so many organisations, today's CFS has gone from a truly "local" organisation with strong community bonds to a somewhat hidebound but truly professional body that for better or for worse has alienated itself from the people whom they so willingly serve. I'd guarantee that if I were to go down to the street and stop the first 50 locals, and ask them, "Who do you know in the CFS" I would find that the average person had little or no idea.

When I say a truly "local" organisation, I refer to the fact that the members and everything belonging to the unit was volunteered, begged borrowed and donated. We raised our own money by running everything from cake stalls to demonstrations in the main street on saturday mornings after which members passed the hat around for donations. it developed a strong sense of community involvement. Everyone felt that they helped in some way, the monies raised was often backed pound for pound by the State Government and help in kind was forthcoming from the local council.

[utegirl70]

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact you now require a full police clearance to do any sort of volunteer work. And some people just aren't willing to let complete strangers see their personal history, which is fair enough.

There are a lot of good people out there, willing to help, but because of mistakes made long ago, people tend to judge and don't know the full story. Only what is recorded.

I recall when I was a kid living in Laura, and the Ash Wednesday fires were raging... it didn't matter if you were a part of the CFS or not, EVERYONE pitched in to help! Even us kids and Mum, with making sandwiches etc.

But I guess now with all the OH&S, you just have no room for error. Everyone must be trained in the correct manner.

[Ray]

I must agree. The world has gone mad with paperwork and political correctness.

The peculiar fact is that the world is no better for it, in fact the reverse would appear to be true. I guess that's what happens when you allow self serving bureaucracies to run rampant.  Common sense has gone out the window and it is now firmly bound shut with bureaucratic red tape.