Thanks for your time David. First of all, how the CFA contact you to go to the fire fields? Is it normally on short notice?
I have two ways of being alerted to a callout. One is a Pager that I have which is directly linked to VICFIRE. The other is a special app on my phone specifically for firefighters called BART which receives the same alerts as my pager, but just directly to my phone. And yes, it is short notice.
My pager goes off and if I’m not doing anything or working, then I leave straight away and drive straight to the fire station and we leave for the fire in the fire trucks.
اسکرین شات از اپلیکیشن بارت. عکس از دیوید شرودِر Source: David Schreuder
And what is your specific firefighting skill? Do you guys have different areas of expertise or you can all do everything?
We do all have a minimum set of skills but we can also train further for more advanced skills. For example, we all are trained in what’s called “Minimum Skills” and “Wildfire Skills”.
But I have completed further training including, breathing apparatus (BA), Search and Rescue, Drive Under Operational Conditions (which is driving lights and sirens), truck license, and off-road 4-wheel driving course.
آتش سوزی در جنگل های گیپسلند شرقی Source: David Schreuder
So, this means that when they call you, you can be assigned any sort of job? Like driving, spotlighting etc?
Yes, we can get many different roles. It could be driving the trucks, manning the pumps, using the hoses to fight the fires, back burning, searching for missing people, attending to car accidents, everything.
And who leads the operation? Do you have one team leader who leads all the teams or each team has its own team leader?
دیوید شرودِر، آتش نشان داوطلب خدمات آتش نشانی روستایی ویکتوریا Source: David Schreuder
It all depends on the scale of the incident. If it’s a small local incident like a house fire, we have a Crew Leader who runs the operation. If it’s bigger scale like the bushfires, then we have Crew Leaders who then are accountable to the Sector Commander, who manages all the Strike Teams (which are managed by the Crew leaders).
And once you go for a specific fire, is there a maximum working hour for your stay? Or you never know when you would get back?
You never know when you get back. Usually if it’s going to be a long operation, they will organise replacement crews but the first firefighters to attend can do 12 or more hours sometimes. The last two big callouts we had, I did 16 hours straight and 15 hours straight.
That’s quite impressive. Well done! Do you use different methods to fight the fires or there is always a standard procedure that you follow?
It all depends on the actual fire. You can’t fight all fires with water, especially electrical. And there are different techniques for different types of incidents.
I mean specifically bushfires…
Depends what methods you are meaning then.
I basically know nothing about it. Just want to know how you approach the fires, what the first steps are and basically when you think you got to run away…
The methods we use all depend on the terrain, the types of trees (e.g. forest or just paddocks), the speed of the fire, the risk of it spreading, if there are any assets at risk like houses, accessibility, the number of fire trucks and vehicles available etc.
I’m literally about to drive though so I won’t be able to answer more questions.
Great. Thank you very much David. We appreciate the efforts that you guy put in to keep the communities safe.
My pleasure.
