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21
OPEN DAY SUCCESS
FIRST OF ITS
KIND STATEWIDE
CONSIDERED
SUCCESS BY
PARTICIPANTS
THIS YEAR WILL BE BETTER!
The Service held its first statewide open day on
9 October 2004 and the general view of those who
took part was that it was a successful event.
The competition of a general election kept
numbers down but nonetheless more than 250
brigades and hundreds of members of the public
participated. Brigades took the opportunity
to promote the ‘Firewise’ message, raise funds,
have static displays, meet the local community,
encourage recruitment of volunteers and generally
raise community awareness of our Service.
Banners and other promotional
material were supplied from
Headquarters and the entire
day and materials were
sponsored by Chubb Fire.
The Open Day will become an annual feature for
the Service and will be held on the second Saturday
of October – the best Saturday closest to the
traditional opening of the bush fire danger season
– as the first Saturday is always a public holiday.
When planning events for next year all districts
and brigades should bear in mind that there will
be a Service-wide open day in October and adjust
their own open day programs accordingly.
Typical of reactions were those received from
Superintendent Allan Gillespie and Group Officer
Mike Lowe both from the Lower Hunter Zone.
Mike has told Bushfire Bulletin that all brigades
in his group opened their stations with varying
results. Fingal Bay Rural Fire Brigade (RFB) ‘had a
blinder’ not only with their own display but also
the NPWS stall, food stall, clowns and fairy floss.
Salt Ash RFB had static displays, slide shows and
a running video but nearby Tanilba Bay RFB had the
banner torn down by vandals. Anna Bay RFB took
their open day to the people and staged their display
in the village shopping centre! Soldiers Point and
Lemon Tree Passage RFBs found the short lead-time
constraining but nonetheless opened their doors.
All brigades are determined to make the day
bigger and better next year.
Zone Manager Allan Gillespie compiled this
report on the Medowie RFB’s colossal efforts.
Medowie, just north of Newcastle. From humble
beginnings in the late 1970’s, the Medowie Fair has
become an icon for local events in the Port Stephens
area and an excellent venue for the RFS to showcase
its capabilities. Medowie Brigade Captain, Lou Casser
recalls how the fair came to be.
“It was around 1978 and three members of our
ladies auxiliary decided to organise a local fair as a
fundraiser for the brigade. In the beginning it was
a bit rough and ready, however, as the years went by
the fair grew, and frankly so did the brigade coffers.
“It was about six or seven years ago that the brigade
took the decision that the fair had become such a large
event and such a good fundraiser that other community
organisations should benefit from it. And so it was
that the fair was handed over to the local Service
Organisations to run, with the Medowie Rural Fire
Brigade as one of the major participants. ‘’
This year the fair coincided with the very first RFS
Statewide Open Day, and the Medowie Brigade was
determined to make this year’s display at the fair
bigger and better than it had ever been. The brigade’s
ComEd facilitator, Mike Maskey, was responsible for
organising the brigade events for the fair.
“We were determined to show the local community
that the Medowie Rural Fire Brigade was equipped,
trained, and stood ready to meet all their fire
protection needs, so we arranged three large displays
each with a different theme,’’ Mike said.
Lower Hunter Zone Community Safety Officer,
Inspector Tami Snowden was also involved in
assisting with the fair and recalls how well the RFS
displays were put together.
“The first display was primarily for the Medowie
brigade and showcased their equipment and high
level of training, the second display was our
FireWise display and concentrated on community
awareness issues and the third display was in fact a
demonstration of village firefighting (VF) techniques.
"The VF demonstration was very spectacular and
went off with faultless precision. Using the zone
training teams portable “hot house” the brigade
simulated a structure fire complete with heavy
smoke and flames, from which a hapless casualty
was rescued. Donning CABA and using two 38mm
hose lines from a Cat 1 VF tanker, firefighters
entered the building, vented the fire, and rescued
the unconscious victim, all within a few minutes.
"The large crowd and the NBN News crew
were all very impressed, as were we all with the
coverage the event received on the evening news.
Now the only problem for the Medowie Brigade will
be, how to top this years efforts next year!”
Congratulations to all brigades that participated
in our first Open Day. Let’s make sure that this
year’s is bigger and better and in keeping with
the professional role and image of the Service.
Story by Michael Watts
Photos by Tami Snowden
BUSHFIREBULLETINVOL27#01