Monday, February 28, 2011

ACT Scouts Visit The Helicopters At Fairbairn

Last Wednesday around 50 scouts, cubs and joeys visited the ACTRFS HQ to have a look over the choppers.  An entertaining night was had by the scouts who asked lots of interesting questions to the pilots.





Sunday, February 27, 2011

ACTRFS Stand At The Royal Canberra Show Wins Outdoor Grand Champion!

The ACTRFS is pleased to announce that it it won the Outdoor Grand Champion award at the Royal Canberra Show for the second time.  This award is presented to one of the many exhibitors that it has been deemed to have the best display.









Sunday, February 20, 2011

The ACTRFS Shave For A Cure Team Moves Into First Place!

After a fantastic weekend of fundraising the ACT RFS Shave Team moves into first place in the ACT & Cassy Hancock from Rivers is the leading fundraiser!  This is a fantastic effort from our ACTRFS team and with just under 3 weeks to go and a huge night for the 'Shave Off' planned stands us in great stead to reach our target of $20,000.

We hope that everyone can make it to the 'Shave Off' on Friday 11th March!!

Top Teams

1. ACT Rural Fire Service Team Members: 10 Total: $5,240.00
2. Action Buses Team Members: 12 Total: $3,669.00
3. ActewAGL Team Members: 7 Total: $3,156.00
4. Team Immigration Team Members: 7 Total: $2,880.00
5. ACT Corporate Dragons $1,467.00

Top Fundraisers

1. Cassy Hancock (Rivers RFS) Total: $3,228.00
2. Jimilla Hogan Total: $2,670.00
3. Liam Shepherd Total: $1,880.00
4. Verlie Fitzgerald Total: $1,862.00
5. Katie Taylor Total: $1,831.00

Cassy during the count up on Friday night after hitting the Irish & Weston Club


ACTRFS Battle Of The Brigades Shave For A Cure

The ACT Rural Fire Service has a team of 8 brave volunteers and our Chief Officer shaving their hair for the Leukaemia Foundation.  The Battle Of The Brigades has evolved to see which brigade can raise the most money for this cause.

After only 1 week into the fundraising the ACTRFS Team has raised over $2,800 which is a fantastic effort.  With 3 weeks to go we should see the target of $20,000 being attainable.


This is our Chief Officer pre-shave off.

This is how we expect Andrew to look like after the shave......yes, this is Photoshopped!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

ACTRFS Operations Manager Richard Woods visits USA to attend a pilot of a new Wildfire Investigation Course

The ACTRFS Operations Manager Richard Woods has just returned from a Wildfire Investigation Course in the USA.  During his trip he visited the Butte County Fire Department in Northern California.  An arrangement between Calfire and Butte County share fire protection costs to provide protection to a semi-rural area of Northern California near the town of Chico.  Richard took the opportunity to visit a number of jointly managed fire stations in Northern California within Butte County. Pictured below is a new style of wildfire tanker issued by CalFire California.





Sunday, February 13, 2011

ACTRFS Help Out With Storm Damage Thursday 3rd Feb

This fire season the ACTRFS is doing more storm damage work assisting the SES than firefighting!  Thankfully we haven't had the severity that Queensland has been experiencing.






Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Wind Farm Hazards

With the number of wind farms popping up around the ACT, see below for some of the fire hazards that can be encountered when the gear box oil isn't suited for the job!














Sunday, February 6, 2011

An RFS vehicle car fire in pouring rain

Sometimes when you least expect it the strangest things happen.....especially when you are doing emergency services type work.  On Friday afternoon as the rain was pelting down the RFS 7 Headquarter vehicle had an electrical fault which caused a small fire in the engine bay.  As Headquarters staff were about to leave for the weekend they smelt a burning smell and noticed a small amount of smoke coming from the bonet. 






Wednesday, February 2, 2011

First TOBAN of the season and the guys & gals of the ACTRFS ready and waiting.

With the first Total Fire Ban declared for the 2010/11 fire season many of the ACTRFS Brigades stood up at and around their sheds in case a fire broke out.  The winds remained strong throughout the day with a low humidity and high temperature created conditions that would mean that any fires that started had the potential to grow very quickly. 



The IMT was set up for the day on Tuesday - here members of the IMT have gathered for a briefing on the current weather conditions.

The Jerra crews killing time playing hand ball

Crews from Guises Creek floated between their airconditioned room and out back of their shed in the shade and breeze

The Rivers crews hung out at the front of their shed and then went mobile around the Cotter & Casuarina Sands area