Firemark June 2011 - Metropolitan Fire Brigade

June 2011
News from the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, Melbourne Australia
Winter Fire Safety Campaign launched
New CEO to lead MFB into the future
Exercise Anglepark: USAR deployment to Adelaide
Recruits hot fire training at Sale
Nunawading Fire Station open day

From the Acting CEO
On 1 June, MFB and CFA partnered to
launch the Winter Fire Safety Campaign
on the first day of winter. This year’s
campaign will span 100 days of winter,
calling on Victorians to be vigilant about
fire safety in their own homes with
the slogan: “In my home … I am a fire
warden.”
The launch was a terrific success, attracting media
as well as engaging a number of city workers and
passers-by to form a Home Fire Wardens Human
100. Two local heroes were also recognised, for
coming to the rescue at recent fires in Altona and
Bentleigh, assisting an elderly woman and a young
family in making two very lucky escapes. These
fires certainly highlight the increased dangers in
the colder months, and the need for vigilance in
ensuring your home is fire safe this winter.
Operational deployments at the start of the year
set the pace for 2011, and the autumn months
have proved no less busy.
Following deployments to Queensland, regional
Victoria and New Zealand to assist with flood
and earthquake response and recovery, the
deployment of Victorian Urban Search and
Rescue technicians was further tested in Exercise
AnglePark. This training drill put emergency
management and logistics arrangements to the
test, deploying over 80 technicians to Adelaide in
shifts over the course of a week, where they took
part in a long-duration emergency scenario and
skills maintenance training.
Operational training and development is in full
swing right across the organisation, with Recruit
Course 102 well into their intense training
schedule. Make sure to check out the spectacular
photos of their hot fire training conducted at CFA’s
Sale training ground in May.
Meanwhile, the 46th Station Officer promotional
course started with a unique team building
exercise, rebuilding a wildlife refuge in the Yarra
Valley, which was destroyed in the Black Saturday
bushfires.
Easter saw MFB’s community spirit out in force,
fundraising for the annual Good Friday Appeal.
MFB has been a key supporter of the campaign
for over 50 years and this year’s tin shaking efforts
combined with the 2nd annual MFB/CFA 24-
hour relay in Melbourne’s CBD contributed over
$43,000 to the appeal.
MFB has also been successful in appointing a new
Chief Executive Officer, and I am pleased to report
that Nick Easy will be taking up his appointment
with us on 6 June.
Nick brings a strong record of leadership,
innovation and achievement, coming from the Port
of Melbourne Corporation, where he held the role
of Executive General Manager Port Capacity.
Nick’s outstanding planning and project
management skills will significantly enhance our
capacity to deliver the Organisational Realignment
and Future of Operational Learning and
Development projects.
I’d like to welcome Nick to MFB, I’m sure that
he will do an excellent job in leading us into a
successful and sustainable future.
This will be my last column as Acting CEO,
and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my
colleagues at MFB as well as fellow government
and emergency service agencies for your support
during my time in this role.
Shane Wright
Acting CEO / Chief Officer
Winter Fire Safety
Campaign launched at
City Square
MFB and CFA’s Winter Fire Safety
Campaign was launched at City Square
in the CBD on Wednesday 1 June, to
coincide with the first day of winter.
MFB Chief Officer Shane Wright and CFA
Deputy Chief Officer Geoff Conway were
joined by Fire Services Commissioner Craig
Lapsley to launch the campaign, which aims
to raise awareness about winter fire safety and
reduce the number and severity of winter fires
and their associated injuries and deaths.
page 2 page 3
Firefighters, and community members from a human 100 to signify 100 days of winter.
The launch served as both a community
education and media event, with a photo
opportunity based on the 100 days of winter
concept: a human 100, created from MFB
and CFA firefighters, key stakeholders, and
members of the public.
MFB and CFA also took the opportunity to
acknowledge the heroic efforts of Deborah
McGregor, who saved her elderly neighbour
from a fire in Altona and Tony Morris, who
saved a baby from a fire in East Bentleigh.
(Pictured on cover.)
Winter is the busiest time of year for house fires
with the likelihood of residential fires increasing
by around 15-20 per cent. Last winter there
were over 1200 residential fires in Victoria –
more than 12 fires each day of winter.
Above:
Getting
into the
winter fire
safety
spirit.

Recent fires highlight the importance of working
smoke alarms
Two recent fires have shown the
importance of having smoke alarms –
one where a smoke alarm was to thank
for saving a woman’s life and the other
where the lack of a functioning smoke
alarm very nearly cost the life of a small
baby and quite possibly other members
of the family.
In the first fire, an 85-year-old Altona woman
owes her life to her working smoke alarm, and
quick-thinking neighbours who came to her
rescue on 4 May.
Neighbour Deborah McGregor heard the
alarm operating and went to investigate;
finding the elderly woman overcome by
smoke, lying on the floor just two metres from
the front door.
She assisted the woman outside, while
another neighbour attempted to extinguish the
fire with a domestic fire extinguisher.
MFB firefighters were quickly on scene; one
firefighter administered oxygen to the woman
until an ambulance arrived, while others
extinguished the small fire and ventilated
smoke from the home.
In the second fire, again actions from
members of the public averted tragedy.
On 25 May, fire broke out in a house in East
Bentleigh and it was the quick response and
bravery of nearby tradesmen that saved the
life of a small baby.
The fire quickly took hold of the house and the
mother managed to make it outside with her
two-year-old daughter. The heat and smoke
made it impossible for her to re-enter the
house for her baby daughter.
The tradesmen answered the distress calls
from the mother, smashing the side window,
grabbing hold of the eight-month-old baby and
lifting her to safety.
It was a near-tragic example of the dangers
posed from drying clothes too close to a
heater, coupled with not having a functioning
smoke alarm.
Both of these fires started from heaters – an
alarming statistic, providing a stark reminder
of the importance of being vigilant around the
home during winter.
page 4
Above: Winter fire safety campaign poster.
Left: Deborah McGregor.
(Photo courtesy of Glenn Daniels,
Leader Community Newspapers.)
page 5

Exercise Anglepark: USAR deployment to
Adelaide
MFB’s Urban Search and Rescue
(USAR) deployment capabilities were
tested from 12-19 April as part of a
multi-agency interstate deployment
exercise.
Top left: Using the concrete cutting
circular saw.
Above: Watch the exercise on
YouTube.
Left: Raising the SRT
tripod to perform a rescue.
Below: MFB crews complete
USAR skills maintenance.
Right: Deploying the USAR
cache interstate tested logistical
arrangements.
Held at the South Australia Metropolitan Fire
Service’s Anglepark training facility, the exercise,
which was led by MFB, was a multi-agency
response to an earthquake scenario, together with
Ambulance Victoria, VICSES, CFA and Victoria
Police.
The exercise, which included over 80 USAR
operators, tested Victoria’s Heavy USAR response
capability, including the logistics of deploying
equipment and crews interstate and working with
other agencies on the ground.
This involved hands-on USAR Cat 2 skills
maintenance in victim location and rescue,
covering reconnaissance, assessment, marking,
breaking and breaching, cutting, lifting and moving,
and shoring from a base of operations.
The week-long exercise included four 40-hour
deployments to Adelaide to allow teams from each
MFB platoon to participate. Each deployment
consisted of two 10-person USAR teams, under
the command of a Task Force Leader.
The exercise also aimed to improve interagency
coordination in receiving an interstate team, as
well as staging, orientation and integration of
multi-agency USAR teams during an interstate
response; including site induction briefs and
training.
The capability demonstrated in the exercise will be
evaluated at a multi-agency debrief in Melbourne
next month, in accordance with the International
Search and Rescue Advisory Group Methodology
Cycle and will examine preparedness,
mobilisation, operations, demobilisation and postmission.
page 6 page 7

Car fire safety revs up
New CEO to steer MFB into the future
MFB recently teamed up with V8
Supercar drivers Karl Reindler and
Steve Owen to promote car fire safety
for Channel Seven’s Sunrise program.
Reindler and Owen are now spectacularly
famous for their firey crash at Perth’s
Barbagallo Raceway at the start of May.
Reindler’s car stalled on the starting grid, right
in front of Owen, who smashed into the back
of Reindler at approximately 160km/h. On
impact, Reindler’s fuel tank ruptured, igniting a
blaze that engulfed both cars. Amazingly both
Reindler and Owen were able to walk away
from the crash, although Reindler suffered
serious burns to his hands.
respond
quickly to
a vehicle
fire could
prevent
major
damage to the vehicle and potential injury.
He said having a dry powder fire extinguisher
in your car was a vital piece of equipment and
could be used on a car fire if the fire was in its
early stages.
Vehicle fires are rarely as spectacular as the
fire Reindler and Owen experienced on 1 May.
However, even a small fire has the potential to
be devastating.
June marks the start of the next exciting
chapter in the history of MFB – with
new Chief Executive Officer Nick Easy
starting on 6 June.
The Board is delighted to have secured a
senior and experienced executive of Nick’s
calibre for the critical position of CEO of the
MFB. Nick has been at the Port of Melbourne
Corporation since October 1998 and currently
holds the role of Executive General Manager
Port Capacity.
In this role Nick was the senior executive
responsible for the channel deepening project
– a major Victorian infrastructure project
that was completed ahead of schedule and
Just weeks after the crash, the two drivers
Car fires are certainly not uncommon; MFB
delivered $250 million under the project
were in Melbourne to promote the next round
attends over 1000 vehicle fires each year, with
budget of $969 million. Nick has also acted
Above: Nick Easy.
of racing and a media opportunity was seized
to highlight car safety.
MFB Station Officer John Hale explained to
the assembled media that knowing how to
about 550 of these caused by mechanical or
electrical faults.
Below: (L-R) Karl Reindler, Station Officer John Hale
and Steve Owen filming for Sunrise. Top: Reindler (left)
and Owen learn how to put out a car fire.
as Chief Executive at Port of Melbourne on a
number of occasions. Prior to this role, Nick
has worked in local government in planning
roles.
Nick will bring a strong record of leadership,
innovation and achievement to the MFB
and his outstanding planning and project
management skills will significantly enhance
MFB’s capacity to deliver the Organisational
“MFB is an outstanding organisation, which
provides vital fire and emergency services to
almost four million Melbournians,” he said.
“My role as CEO will involve managing a
business that employs nearly 2000 firefighters
and corporate staff with an annual budget of
$350 million protecting an area of more than
1000 square kilometres.
Realignment and of Operational Learning and
Development (FOLD) projects.
“MFB is a forward looking and innovative
organisation that will deliver what the
Nick’s tertiary qualifications include a Bachelor
of Applied Science Planning from RMIT
University and a Post Graduate Diploma in
Environmental Management from Deakin
University.
community expects of it. I’ll work closely with
the Executive Leadership Team, including
Chief Officer Shane Wright, who will manage
operational issues, to maintain leadership in
preventative and response services.
Mr Easy said he is delighted to accept his
appointment at MFB.
“It’s all about delivering the best service for a
safer Melbourne and I am proud to be a part
of that.”
page 8 page 9

Community turns out to the opening of
Nunawading Fire Station
A grey Melbourne day with the
occasional rain shower didn’t dampen
the spirits of over 450 Nunawading
residents, who turned out for the official
opening and community open day at
Nunawading Fire Station on Sunday 22
May.
The crowds just kept rolling in the engine bay
doors, as the smell of sausages cooking lured
them toward fire safety activities,
including a road rescue display,
the SmokeBUSter experience of
a house fire from a firefighter’s
perpective, a historic fire truck and
crew and station tours.
Board President Neil Comrie
officially opened the station, before official
guests including Fire Services Commissioner
Craig Lapsley, City of Whitehorse Mayor Cr
Ben Stennett, MFB Acting CEO and Chief
Officer Shane Wright and our Emergency
Services Chaplain David Thompson, who
blessed the new station, while SO Mick
Convery perfomed a fantastic operatic
rendition of the Australian National Anthem.
Acting Assistant Chief Officer Darren Davies
said the day was a great opportunity for local
residents to meet their local firefighters and
check out the new station.
“Opening a new fire station is a special
event not only for the MFB, but for the whole
community, and we wanted to share this event
with the people who benefit from this great
new facility.”
page 10
Top left: Fomer Officer-in-charge of Nunawading fire
station Jim Hunter came down to see the new facility.
Left: Nunawading crews perform a road rescue
demonstration.
Top right: Watch the video on YouTube.
Right: A sausage sizzle lured the crowds into the yard.
Bottom right: (L-R) Emergency Services Chaplain David
Thompson, DCO Paul Stacchino, City of Whitehorse
Mayor Ben Stennett, DCO David Youssef, MFB Board
President Neil Comrie, Acting CEO and Chief Officer
Shane Wright, Acting ACO Darren Davies, Fire Services
Commissioner Craig Lapsley and CFA Region 13
Operations Manager David Renkin.
page 11

The ever dependable Uncle Bob
This year marked MFB’s 52nd year of
involvement in supporting the Royal
Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal,
fundraising for the Uncle Bob’s Club; a
tradition that began back in 1960 and
has continued each year since.
Station Officer’s Course rebuilds Yarra Valley
wildlife refuge
Injured water birds in the
Yarra Valley now have a new
rehabilitation centre thanks
to the work of 26 future MFB
Station Officers.
Uncle Bob’s Club may have a strange name,
but it has a long and proud history. Dating
back to December 1941, the club has raised
money in many ways for hospitals across
Victoria and has been supporting the Good
Friday Appeal since 1948.
around Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne’s
CBD.
The relay kicked off at 9am Thursday 21 April,
with MFB and CFA Deputy Chief Officers
Paul Stacchino and Steve Warrington joined
by City of Melbourne councillors Cathy Oke
and Carl Jetter to run the first lap. MFB and
CFA ran side-by-side throughout the day
and night to complete a total of 330 laps in
24 hours, finishing at 9am on Good Friday
and fundraising a total of $18,480.30 for the
appeal.
As part of Station Officer Course
47, the participants worked together
to build a new wetlands aviary for
injured birds for the Babbajin Park
Wildlife Shelter.
An exercise on leadership and
management is a regular component
of the course, and for the first time
a community project was brought in
to test new skills and help with team
building among the participants.
The three-day project was set up just like
a fire incident, with an incident controller,
Thousands of people also turned out for the
annual Kid’s Day Out event at Etihad stadium,
sector teams, conflict resolution and all the
challenges of managing a team.
where MFB crews from West Melbourne and
Community Education showed them through a
fire truck and SmokeBUSter.
Two years ago the entire wildlife shelter was
destroyed during the Black Saturday fires and
the $7000 MFB donation of materials and
On Good Friday this year, approximately 100
volunteers, including MFB firefighters, retired
firefighters, Fire Services Museum staff and
friends and family helped shake tins around
Eastern Hill Fire Station and Melbourne
CBD. In addition, operational crews from
Eastern Hill, Richmond, Croydon, Mentone,
Ormond, Windsor, Port Melbourne, Deer Park
and Keilor helped out by collecting at local
Total tin shaking efforts raised $24,752.10,
bringing MFB’s grand fundraising total to
$43,232.40; another terrific contribution.
Left: Senior Station Officer Mark Carter. Top:
SmokeBUSter was popular at the Kid’s Big Day Out.
Below: MFB Deputy Chief Officers Paul Stacchino, Cr
Carl Jetter, Cr Cathy Oke and CFA Deputy Chief Officer
Steve Warrnington.
labour for the aviary will be an important part
of its redevelopment.
Tony Wooley, wildlife carer and manager of the
shelter, was full of praise for the work of MFB,
which he said would provide a much-needed
boost for the shelter and the animals.
“It is very important for us,” he said of the 12m
by 6m enclosure.
approved intersections in their areas.
“This will provide a whole new aviary for the
Tin shaking efforts were again complemented
wetland birds, a bigger enclosure that will
by some fast-paced fundraising, with MFB
allow the rehabilitating birds to fly and also to
and CFA Charity Running Clubs joining forces
swim.”
for the second running of the 24-hour relay
page 12
Left: Course participants work as a team to rebuild the
enclosure.
Top right: The finished aivary.
page 13

Blast from the past
Special visit to Royal Children’s Hospital
Melbourne’s iconic City Square, which
was the location of this year’s Winter
Fire Safety Campaign launch, was the
site of a dramatic rescue in June 1981.
MFB firefighters provided the needed
tonic for a sick young boy recently when
they visited him at the Royal Children’s
Hospital.
Brad Warren has been in the Royal Children’s
Hospital for the past five months undergoing
treatment for stage four neuroblastoma – a
cancer that develops from nerve tissue.
The tough little four-year-old is the son of a
NSW firefighter and is passionate - to say the
least - about all things related to firefighting.
While in the midst of going through a series
of blood transfusions to assist his ridding the
cancer from his bone marrow, Brad was well
enough to leave his hospital bed to have a
quick ride in the fire truck.
Brad’s father David said Brad had been
extremely excited before the visit, clearly
evident by the look of joy on his face when
putting on the Junior Fire Chief’s uniform and
helping operate one of the hoses.
“Brad loves fire trucks and this is really the
sort of thing to lift his spirits,” he said.
“This is a very important day for Brad and I am
so thankful for this great visit from MFB.”
While Brad seemed a little over-awed by the
occasion he did say that he would like to be a
firefighter when he grows up.
SSO Ross Smith said it was an honour to be
able to help out a sick child.
“Brad is going through a courageous fight,”
he said. “I am so pleased to be able do
something that may help him through this.”
page 14
Young Brad (centre) with Firefighter Tim Carbarms and father David Warren.
Top: Watch the video on YouTube.
page 15

Burwood crew star in emergency procedure
training DVD
MFB firefighters from Burwood fire
station recently assisted National
Australia Bank’s Burwood branch in the
filming of a workplace safety training
video.
On a chilly Sunday morning in early April,
the crew from Burwood Fire Station were
involved in the filming of a branch evacuation
scenario to demonstrate the actions NAB staff
should take in the event of an emergency at
the branch.
In the scenario, firefighters arrived in
response to a suspected gas leak. The crew
investigated and assisted the bank manager
to evacuate the branch, before determining
the situation to be a false alarm.
The film crew took shots from every angle,
including from within the appliance and we
soon learnt that Leading Firefighter (LFF)
Adam “Clooney” Smibert loved every minute
of it, while crew members LFF John Simon”
Baker, LFF Ian “Harvey” Barnes and Station
Officer Gavin “Mickey” Rooney should
probably consider a career in radio.
Right: (L-R)
NAB Burwood
branch staff
members Brent
McConville and
Veena Saldanha,
NAB Head of
Retail Financial
Services East
Victoria Carolyn
Morris, DCO David
Youssef, Alannah
and Madeline
Foundation CEO
Judith Slocombe,
and NAB Branch
Manager Heather
Hutton.
page 16
Above: During filming, Station Officer Gavin Rooney
liaises with NAB Branch Manager and chief warden
Heather Hutton about the situation.
In return for MFB’s assistance, NAB made a
$1000 donation to the Alannah and Madeline
foundation, and presented the cheque to CEO
Judith Slocombe on Thursday 12 May. MFB
Regional Director, South East Metro Region
and Deputy Chief Officer David Youssef, who
attended the cheque presentation, said he was
pleased to see local businesses making safety
a priority and providing training to their staff in
emergency procedures.
The money donated will go towards the Alannah
and Madeline Foundation’s Better Buddies
program, an initiative which sees children in
their first and last year of primary school buddy
up to create friendly and caring primary school
communities where bullying is reduced.
L-R: Baby Aaron with Leading Firefighter
Shane Sanderson, mother Sue
with brother Brett, Leading Firefighter
Peter Killick, Firefighter Andrew Farrance
and Senior Station Officer Ross Halliwell.
Front - Basil the dog.
Large factory fire in
Dandenong sparks
inter-agency response
A number of MFB crews were called on
to assist CFA at a large factory fire in
Dandenong South on 19 May.
CFA firefighters arrived on scene to find the oil
storage and manufacturing plant fully ablaze,
with at least one of six vertical storage tanks,
containing between 20,000 and 40,000 litres
of oil, had ruptured and produced a large
flammable liquid fire, impinging on the other
tanks.
Fire crews worked to cool the tanks and let the
oil product burn off, before applying foam to
eventually extinguish the fire around 4:30am.
MFB Commander Darren McQuade attended
the fire as a liaison officer, where he was able
to brief the CFA Incident Controller on MFB’s
available capabilities and specialist resources.
This led to a number of MFB appliances
Residential fire fatalities study
A recent research project conducted by
visiting American students has shown
that with Melbourne’s projected ageing
population, older people will account for
62 per cent of preventable residential
fire fatalities by 2021 and 73 per cent
by 2031.
The students, from the Worcester Polytechnic
Institute, Massachusetts, USA, identified
common features of fatalities in preventable
residential fires in the Metropolitan Fire District
over a 10-year period.
The project was developed and supervised
by MFB’s Community Education Department,
and followed on from the study of hoarding
completed by WPI students two years ago.
being deployed, to assist in the large
operation, including two ladder platform aerial
appliances from Oakleigh and Windsor, a
pumper truck from Mentone, which formed
part of a 1km relay with CFA trucks to
access water hydrants - a great example of
the interoperability between MFB and CFA
trucks.
Transporters from Richmond fire station
also brought additional hoses and the foam
module, which was pivotal in the eventual
extinguishment of the fire.
In all, 12 MFB firefighters were involved and
worked extremely well with CFA crews. CFA
Chief Officer Ewan Ferguson attended the
large operation and was impressed by how
well the two services worked together.
Other findings included:
• 50 per cent of all fatalities were people aged
65 years and over;
• 69 per cent of these fires occurred between
8pm and 8am;
• 46 per cent occur in the bedroom;
• 58 per cent of these homes had no working
smoke alarm;
• 63 per cent of the victims lived alone.
Further to this, they found that older people
and people with disability receiving “in home”
support and services were over-represented.
These findings strongly support the need for
MFB to continue to advocate for improved
safety outcomes for community care
recipients, such as the successful inclusion
of basic home fire safety into the national
curriculum for community care workers.
Photo
courtesy
Keith
Pakenham,
CFA.
page 17

Recruit hot fire training
Recruit Course 102 recently spent
some time at CFA’s training ground
in Sale to undertake hot fire training.
These spectacular photos are from a
night drill on 19 May.
page 12 page 19

Diesel spill causes peak hour chaos in
Camberwell
Peak-hour traffic on one of Melbourne’s
busiest roads came to a standstill
following a diesel spill on 26 May.
The spill was believed to have come from a
20,000L oil tanker, and spread by passing
vehicles.
Burke Road in Camberwell was subject to
lengthy closures while emergency crews
worked to contain and clean up the spill which
had also spread into a number of side streets.
First reports of the spill came from drivers who
said the road surface was slippery to drive on.
Firefighters worked with Police, VicRoads,
Boroondara Council and the Environmental
Protection Authority in a clean-up operation
that stretched from early morning well into
afternoon.
MFB crews worked to spread sand and dirt on
the road to absorb the diesel and prevent it
from entering the drains.
Above: The spilled diesel spread from Prospect Hill
Road and Harold Street and then down Burke Road
in Camberwell, bringing morning peak hour traffic in
Burke Road to a halt.
June 2011
News from the Metropolitan Fire Bridade, Melbourne Australia
Next edition – August 2011
FireMark is the bi-monthly magazine from the Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board.
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