User:Nathanrnr/Winmalee Rural Fire Brigade

Winmalee Rural Fire Brigade
Winmalee Rural Fire Brigade is one of many Volunteer Brigades located across the State of New South Wales, Australia. The Brigade is apart of the NSW Rural Fire Serviceand started life as North Springwood Bush Fire Brigade in 1963 and currently has approx. 50 operationally active members with a reserve of approx. 150 people, with a total fire fighting experience in excess of 2200 years

What We Do
We are classed as a Village 2 Brigade, as a village 2 Brigade we attend a very wide range of Incidents. We also carry a lot of specialised equipment to deal with these Incidents. The range of Incident we may be called to are :-

- Bushfire's

- Motor Vehicle Accident's

- Structure Fire's

- Search and Rescue's

- Gas Leak's and Fire's

- Minor HAZMAT's

- Oil/Fuel spill's

- Animal Rescue's

- Storm Damage

We have a MAA (Mutual Aid Agreement) with FRNSW (Fire and Rescue NSW), and due to this MAA we turn out in support of FRNSW, but we also support the NSW Police Force, State Emergency Service and many other agencies.

Apart from attending emergency’s we also do a lot of other activities which Include :-

- Fuel Mitigation works - This included either manually clearing fire trails and breaks, Hazard reducing by Controlled Burning

- Community Education - Community Education is very important to Winmalee RFB and the Brigade provides regular Street meeting's and other opportunities to get the message of how to be Fire Wise to the general public.

Winmalee RFB is apart of the Blue Mountains Rural Fire District. If you would like to join the Blue Mountains Rural Fire Service Community Education and Fire update Email List Please Click Here.

- Training - Training is a very important part of Winmalee RFB, AS to the wide range of Incident we attend a wide range of training is completed by members to be able to effectively attend and Manage Incident.

Appliances
Winmalee RFB is currently equipped with 4 fire fighting appliances these being :-

1. Winmalee 1 Alpha -Category 1 Tanker - Isuzu (Call sign: Winmalee 1 Alpha)

A 4 wheel drive truck that carries approximately 3500 litres of water. It has a seated crew capacity of between 5 - 7 fire fighters.

Primarily a Bush Fire Fighting appliance, but also doubles as a Village Fire Fighting appliance. It has the capability of running a team of two Compressed Air Breathing Apparatus (CABA) Operators in offensive and defensive operations.

2. Winmalee 1 Bravo

-Category 1 Tanker - Isuzu FTS750 (Call sign: Winmalee 1 Bravo)

A 4 wheel drive truck that carries approximately 3500 litres of water. It has a seated crew capacity of between 5 - 7 fire fighters.

Primarily a Bush Fire Fighting appliance, but also doubles as a Village Fire Fighting appliance. It has the capability of running a team of two Compressed Air Breathing Apparatus (CABA) Operators in offensive and defensive operations.

3. Winmalee Pumper

-Category 11 Urban Pumper - Isuzu (Call sign: Winmalee Pumper)

A 4 wheel assisted truck that carries 3000 litres of water. It has a seated crew capacity of 6 fire fighter’s.

Primarily a Village Fire Fighting appliance. It has the capability of running two teams of two CABA Operators in offensive and defensive operations.

4. Winmalee PC

-Personnel Carrier - Toyota Land Cruiser (Call sign: Winmalee PC)

A 4 wheel drive Personnel Carrier that has a seated crew capacity of between 10 - 12 fire fighters

Training
Winmalee Rural Fire Brigade undertakes frequent and varied training. Training may involve pumping, hose drills, bush fire fighting skills, map reading/navigation, radio procedures, first aid, rope work, village fire fighting and the list goes on.

NEW MEMBERS Prior to becoming an active fire fighter, new members are required to complete the following training:

-SAFETY INDUCTION The Safety Induction module takes approximately 2 hours to complete. This module is designed to help you identify potential hazards in your volunteer workplace and familiarise you with Service procedures and settings.

-BASIC TRAINING (BF) Once you have completed your Safety Induction, you will be required to undergo Basic Bush Fire Fighter training. This course is approximately 30 hours of training.

OTHER COURSES Once you have completed your Basic Training, there are many opportunities for training to gain qualifications within the Rural Fire Service.

-VILLAGE FIRE FIGHTING (VF)

The level of competency needed to fight small structural, vehicle and similar fires.

-ADAVNCED FIRE FIGHTING (AF)

The level of competency needed to fight bush and grass fires without direct supervision.

-CREW LEADER (CL)

The level of competency needed to manage a crew at a fire or other situation.

-GROUP LEADER (GL)

The level of competency needed to direct several crews at larger, more complex fires or incidents.

-RURAL FIRE INSTRUCTOR (RFI)

The level of competency needed to instruct on RFS courses.

-RURAL FIRE ASSESSOR (RFA)

The level of competency needed to assess RFS personnel for the purpose of issuing a qualification.

SPECIALIST COURSES There are also many other courses that you can undertake in order to gain skills and qualifications for other specialist areas, for example :-

-Breathing Apparatus Operator (BAO)

-Chain Saw Operator (CSO)

-Equipment Operator (EQO)

-Prescribed Burning Supervisor (PBS)

-Remote Area Fire Fighter (RAF)

-Rural Fire Driving (RFD)

-Senior First-Aider (SFA)

-Aviation Basic Knowledge (ABK)

-Aviation Courses

-Catering Courses

-Communications Courses

-Traffic Control Operator

-Incident Management Courses

-Leadership Courses