Cherry Gardens CFS
We hope everyone is going well now winter has arrived – how quickly we seem to travel through the seasons. Since our local fires of January, we have been operationally very quiet although our Operations Support team is always on the go supporting communications for the larger Sturt Group. This does not mean from a firefighting perspective we have not been busy – it allows time to train, improve our skills and make improvements.
One area which we have worked on is improving communications with firefighters inside a structure fire. We have amongst us specially trained operators who are able to make entry into a burning house or shed. They are protected partly by using breathing apparatus equipment – entry is in order to save life and extinguish the fire. The current equipment has limitations on the quality of communication between the firefighters inside the structure and those managing the incident on the outside. We now have the funds and permission from the CFS to trial new facemasks with far superior communication ability – greatly improving the safety of the firefighters involved (remembering the operator is within a burning structure in heavy protective gear, poor visibility, working hard and breathing via an air cylinder – a lot going on!) This should be a huge increase in safety for members and lead to better outcomes should an incident of this type occur.
Blackwood’s ANZAC day ceremony
We sent a crew and Cherry Gardens 34 to support the community during Blackwood’s ANZAC day ceremony this year. The traditional service was not held in Cherry Gardens due to ongoing COVID impacts, but our members were honoured to be a part of the Sturt Group presence at the Blackwood Memorial at dawn on the 25th of April.
Our brigade has a proud history of service people being a part of our team, and we are grateful for their dedication and service to our country.
Pictured is our crew at the ANZAC day ceremony, many members proudly wearing medals from either the Australian military or awarded by the CFS.
Training through winter in Cherry Gardens is sometimes hard due to the weather, but it also gives us time to improve skills and set our goals for the next fire season. We have been called to a few road crash rescue incidents lately, which is something we continuously train for. It is important to talk to your family members and have everyone take care on these dark, wet nights of winter. Cherry Gardens Road has undergone improvements this year which is helpful, but that alone will not cover all the risks involved (who hasn’t been face to face with a Kangaroo while driving in the last six months?)
Bottles and Cans Drop off
We are always thankful to the community members who assist the Brigade by dropping off bottles and cans at the support shed opposite the station. This is a major source of income for us and really does make a difference. In the past we have funded road crash rescue equipment, extra handheld radios, better portable lighting and improvements around the station. It takes a lot of recycle to fund some of the above items, but slowly we work through our goals. It is great to know we have local support - our aim is always to improve the way we operate and give as much value back to the community as possible.
“end of fire season/ lifting of COVID restrictions” Day out
We have a couple of firefighters who are keen collectors of old STA buses. It takes up a lot more room than collecting most other things, but it seems a great hobby. As a bit of an “end of fire season/ lifting of COVID restrictions” event, a bus was prepared and members of the Brigade and Operations Support had a very enjoyable day out. We spent the day touring the McLaren Vale area, stopping at various places including a great lunch at Willunga. It was good to catch up with each other without the usual distractions and everyone appreciated the opportunity.
Thanks to our bus collectors for an excellent day!
We train every Monday night for those who may be interested in what we do.
If you have not thought about this yet, then please stop and get your Bushfire Safety Plan prepared and clean up around your place. You can follow this link to do a 5-minute plan.