At around this time every year the Brigade starts ramping up its preparations for the upcoming fire season. Part of that preparation is that every active Brigade member has to complete a series of annual tests to prove they are fit and competent to fight fires. These include a fitness test, a series of safety drills, and a knowledge test to prove they know basic firefighting procedures. This morning approximately half of the Brigade completed those tests, with the other half to do them over the next month.
Keep up the great work!
Some people think we just fight bushfires - we don't. Under the Bushfires Act we have ultimate responsibility for about 750 houses, 3 schools, numerous commercial buildings, 4 churches, a heap of tourist ventures (wineries, cideries, B&Bs etc) and the Perth Observatory, all of which are in our operational area. And at every big bushfire you go to there are properties under threat and houses that need to be put out. As a Brigade we don't have breathing apparatus, and when there is a structure fire in our area we let the experts, the volunteers at the Kalamunda Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service lead the way. But sometimes, they and the rest of the Big Red Trucks aren't available, so we need to be ready. Last weekend we put 14 new recruits through Structure Fire Training so they are ready to go this season (and the ones following) when we need them. At our structures training facility we built at the old Forrestfield tip, we put them through a range of simulated structure fire scenarios, and teach them how to stay safe, and put structure fires out, defensively. Top job by all of our instructors, and our Probationary Firefighters who completed the course.
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The new Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS) comes into operation today. This replaces the previous fire danger rating system that has been in operation for over 60 years and does not deal well with climate change induced fire weather. The new system replaces the previous six ratings with a simplified four ratings from Moderate to Catastrophic. The new AFDRS is based on the latest fire science, and is able to predict local fire danger much more accurately. The key part of the AFDRS is that any rating above Moderate, ie a rating of High, Extreme, or Catastrophic, indicates severe fire weather conditions and should be taken seriously. Burning will no longer be allowed on days rated High or above.
afdrs.com.au/
Ha. you lost me at 'climate changed induced fire weather'. Is that a new technical term.??. 🤦♂️
Raymond Mckay
Yesterday the Brigade conducted an exercise at the Perth Observatory in Bickley. The Observatory is surrounded by bush and is in the Brigade's area, so it's important that we familiarise ourselves with the site, its assets, and areas of risk. We also gave the Observatory volunteers a bit of training on what to do in a bushfire and how to operate their fire equipment. A great time was had by all who attended.
That looks amazing keep up the great work Kalamanda.
People never believe us when we tell them we get called out to rescue cats out of trees. But it happens, as it did this afternoon. In tandem with the Kalamunda VFRS, the Brigade successfully coaxed a cat out of a 10m marri tree. Given we don't have a ladder that high, the best way to get a cat down is to squirt them with water until they get fed up and decide to come down themselves. The beast's owner was very grateful :).
Are cats still allowed to wander in the bush in Kalamunda? Do the shire have any restrictions on cats to protect our native wildlife?
You all need to learn that cats can clime down as easily as they can clime up any cat in the wild needs to be exterminated
Should have shot it out of the tree! Dead cat good cat.
I didn't think 10 m was that high ? Do Perth firetrucks have bigger ladders? A treetoper trained rescuer could have shimmied up and grabbed him . We need more of them around the suburbs . Glad kitty was rescued unharmed . Thank you to all the Volunteers
Amazing job well done
Well done all. You are awesome 🙂
Was the cat scared to climb up that high !
Easy way would have only cost 10 cents and taken 2 minutes
That’s a seriously tall tree! No wonder they were called out
Thank you for your service!
Sarah Dobson think this is what we seen yesterday
Gemma this was what Brad was doing today
You need to check out Canopy Cats. They regularly get cats out of trees no water involved.
Kalamunda Volunteer Fire & Rescue Service
Cathy
I expect she was one grateful woman 🐱
Well done all
The Brigade undertakes training every Sunday morning between 8 and 10am, in order to ensure we are ready when we have to respond to fires. This morning we trained how to use our new collar tank, as well as operating portable pumps, and using the monitor on our heavy appliances. We all got wet but had a fun time doing it
Well done Team!
The Brigade is conducting a hazard reduction burn today on Mitchell Road in Walliston. We'll be there most of the day.
Fantastic photo by one of our firefighters at a recent hazard reduction burn in Lesmurdie.
We take pride in our very busy prescribed burning programme, ensuring special attention to biodiversity and heritage to safely and effectively manage fuel loads to protect our community from the threat of fire.Early 2022 was a typical long summer of record hot days and numerous multi day campaign fires, some up to 900 kilometres away from our home station. This year, like last, our volunteer crews operated with the spectre of COVID hanging over everything we did. Restrictions in the tail end of the season saw the hard separation of our shifts and the pullback of our operational scope to emergency response (turnouts) only. This separation put on hold our weekly training, meetings and social events and rigidly split our brigade into two defined halves. All of which was isolating and took a toll on members that joined a volunteer fire brigade to be a part of a community that thrives on teamwork and comradery. This photograph was taken at the end of a 3-acre hazard reduction burn conducted in early Autumn and shows the calm of the dying intensity of a fire which burnt in a heavily fuel loaded block. While the hazard reduction burn was beneficial to the region and its residents in preparation for a future summer to come, the photo represents to me a return to normality and to business as usual. This burn was one of the first opportunities as the COVID restrictions were eased for our fire fighters to catch up with each other on the fire ground, train newer members, share stories of the summer gone, and run the light and easy banter that was sorely missed in the preceding months. As the smoke clears and the sun shines through the newly burnt bush, it is with a quiet sense of relief that we happily once again pitch in to get the job done as one team.
This photo has been is featured as part of the 2022 Resilient Australia Photography Award by the Australasian Institute for Disaster Resilience. Check out the other photos at www.facebook.com/1704366703179988/posts/3342998905983418/