CFS News

17/18 fire season

With winter now here, it may pay to reflect on the 17/18 fire season.  Although things were quiet in our area last summer, we were called on to assist with bushfire in other regions – Yankalilla, Kangaroo Island, and Carrickalinga come to mind. Hopefully the fact our area had no major fires is due to us all following good fire safety practices and being prepared on those hot, windy summer days. To have such a quiet summer locally is a great news story, but we should never become complacent and assume that this will always be the case.

The CFS still has an important role through this season, with our role shifting towards assistance with structure fires (houses, sheds etc.), road crash rescue, flooding, trees down and any other help we are tasked to carry out.

Training

Our training now reflects the above scenarios to ensure we are always prepared. Some of this training keeps us in the station on Monday nights - which is not such a bad thing during a Cherry Gardens winter! Although not solely a winter issue, we are currently preparing some of our members to attend their Breathing Apparatus (BA) training shortly. This is a very physically demanding and intense course. These operators will be able to enter burning/smoking structures and carry out rescue and fire suppression as required.

Pictured is a team hard at work in a simulated exercise and getting a feel for possible confined rescue situations.

While on training, we also have two new members who have recently joined the brigade and are preparing to carry out their basic training in the near future. This will keep up our ability to protect the community and it is great to have them on board.

Improvements at the station

The station has had its rendering and new paint job completed and we are still working to complete the finishing touches on the western end of the building. It’s hard to believe it is the same station with its new colour scheme – combined with the improvements to the front area/garden it is something to be proud of.

We will also be working to improve our training area to the west of the building over the coming year or so and that should further help in improving our capability and skills.

As always, see the CFS website at www.cfs.sa.gov.au for the latest CFS info, and in times of emergency please ring 000.

Cheers.