Communities of Practice – on the fire ground

Communities of Practice, Professional Learning Networks: These terms are all the buzz in education and well connected to professional learning, however in essence these are all about communities. Communities that flourish for the common good, from those with a common interest to help others!

The CFA (Country Fire Authority) is one of the old fashion communities who have been battling against the odds for several weeks now. In my own region, we have had a double dose with Black Saturday and the week before the Boolarra fires.

How did I become a CFA volunteer? I am not sure. It just happened. I knew little about bushfires and living on acreage, I thought it was time to understand how to protect my home. I thought I would learn how to put in place a fire plan. Little did I know that it was the first step to becoming an active volunteer fire fighter, the training officer for the local brigade and a crew leader at major fires?

In our brigade and many others volunteers, come from such diverse backgrounds. There is no common factor that draws people to volunteer. We have unemployed, teachers, farmers, retired, tradesmen, professionals and many more. They never seem to notice the different demographics that bring them together. On the fire front they are one and they trust their lives to each other.

Each crew on a fire truck has a range of responsibilities. They begin with a driver who must be certified and endorsed to drive a heavy vehicle. No driver on the day means the truck cannot go out, no matter how many crew turn up. The leader on the truck is called the crew leader. They are usually the highest ranking officer on the truck at that time; however there has been a shift to certification and a new breed of crew leaders are being trained. They make the decisions and ultimately are responsible for the safety of all on the truck. Good crew leaders make decisions that involve all members on the truck. Communication is vital.

On the back of the truck is usually two other members, although the truck can take four plus crew leader and driver, if fire fighters are available. Worst case is two, a driver and leader. It depends on who’s available at the time of the fire call. The two other members often ride in the back of the truck, although newer trucks have a 4 door cabin with all members inside for added safety. Their roles are linked to the pump and hoses. One operates the pump, and the second the hose, except when lengths of hose are run out and then they both drag hoses while the driver mans the pump. Most brigade members are trained in all roles on the hoses and pumps.

In my case I often undertake any of the roles. In the last few weeks I have been crew leader, truck driver, pump man and hose man. It just depends who we have on the day. My preference is to be on the fire scene with my captain, who undertakes the role of crew leader. He has 20 years of experience in all types of fires and he looks to me with all decisions as I have the qualifications and accreditation of crew leader training which he has not had time to do. It is a good mix, and I feel very safe knowing we combine so well and put safety first.

Our priorities are.
1. Safety of fire-fighters
2. Save the lives of the public
3. Save animals and stock
4. Asset protection – homes and business
5. Put out the fire

Our training is a vital part of being a fire fighter. We don’t fear the fire, but we do respect it.
Last Saturday, Black Saturday, every fire-fighter had some fear as this was a fire that was so un predictable and so different to any we had seen.

Black Saturday
Our pagers beeped on Friday afternoon. “All brigades prepare for the worst weather conditions we have ever known.” How bad would this be, what could we expect.
First up is to make sure your fire plan at home was in place. This was so important as last weekend I had spent working night shifts at the Boolarra Fires. I knew how dry the land was and how close fire was already to my own region in Gippsland.

When warnings like this come out, you start a process of readiness. I bring out my kit bag which is always ready and make sure it has supplies in case I am out for 24 hours or more.
Boots, trousers with bracers are placed at the door for quick access. As a rural brigade, we often dress in the street, or put what-ever we can on at home and finish in the truck.
It’s a time to abstain from alcohol at dinner. Who knows when the call will come and if you have to drive the fire truck? A cold bear after a 42 degree day would be appreciated, but tomorrow is excepted to be 46 and fires can start the night before.

In the morning it’s important to hydrate and two litres of water are forced in. Then it becomes a waiting game. When will the call come? You try to make the day as normal as ever but you just know. Your own plans are in place but you know you have to make a choice to go and leave family to fight any unknown battles. You may never know if the fire is close to your home.
The pagers flashes read and wails as the first of several calls arises. We are called to help a spot fire 15 kms away. I am first at the station and open the doors, drive the truck out, call operations that the truck is ready and waiting for crew, and then finish dressing. By now we have 4 other members here are ready to go. As we all board a fire stop comes to our truck. There are already other trucks on the way and there are limited resources left in my home community. We are put on hold.

We sit about the station waiting, this time as a group. We know the fire call will come.
The Bunyip fire is 50 kms away but the wind is blowing our way. Smoke covers the sky and passed above us like a volcano. The rage we can see reminds of us such fire.
There is increased radio traffic as the Churchill fire is reported. (This fire we later find is deliberately lit). The plumbs of smoke rise like an atomic bomb, 20 kms to our east and we know there is another major fire nearby.

We wait for another hour and decide all members should head home grab something to eat and return. I head home (about 4 kms) and see the sky change colour from a black smoke to an orange glow. The wind is changing. I run more hoses out around my home and mops, take a few pics and then it happens.

The pager roars with a RED Alert warning. I head up the hill to the fire station, and look down into the valley. There is no fire but the smoke, the wind, and now embers and debris litter the school, falling in abundance. This is a fire storm, yet we are 40 kms from the fire front. My thoughts which I scream to myself aloud! “Oh my god”. This is the fire of fires.
I again have the truck out, lights flashing and the station locked down. The others arrive quickly and we head to town. There is one other truck available for our town and reports of spotting. We travel Code One. Lights and sirens. Cars pull of the road and you can see panic on people’s faces. Visibility is already poor. Before we arrive at our meeting point, we are deployed to a grass fire some 6 kms away. It is as though its night with a dark red glow and the town has an eyrie look. The wind blows and gust of over 100 kms an hour rip the flashing blue and red lights from the truck, pulling out screws and mountings. We have a further 4 and blinkers running.

Visibility is poor from the smoke and darkness and alert eyes in the cabin scream and a giant gum tree falls across the road. Our path is blocked, but we are ok. 20 seconds later and the truck would have been taken out, and perhaps the crew. A car arrives and we ask it to stay with its hazards light son as we call the SES.

I am driving and reverse the truck to a turning area and we look for an alternative path. By the time we find one another brigade has attended the burn and we head back to town amongst the glow. We can hear radio traffic of spot fires everywhere from the Bunyip fire. Trucks called to Drouin, Warragul Nilma and more. Everyone is out.

On a fire day like this we have no idea of what is happening elsewhere. Our radio channel only has our regions control points. We turn on ABC radio and all hang our heads as we hear of devastation and loss of life. Perhaps 8 dead. Every death in a fire no matter where is felt by a fire fighter. Little are we to know that the tally will climb above 200.

We have time for a bottle of water, before we are deployed again. This time a large lightening strike and storm has occurred south of Mt Baw Baw. The fire is moving quickly and headed towards Rawson and Erica. It’s a 35 minute drive into the mountains and when we arrive we can see the glow. DSE are deploying dozers and slip-ons into the forest, but the tow towns stand in the fires path. We have the two Erica tankers and ours to protect over 160 homes.

We set up water fill points so we can refill trucks, Then we pick the spot we expect the fire to come out. It would come through a paddock with a small plantation at the side.
The fire is no more than 15 minutes away, and the wind change occurs. A southerly. The fire shifts and moves away to the relief of all. Sometimes nature takes and sometimes nature helps. This is a good news story for us.

But the danger has not stopped. The fire heads to the tourist town of Walhalla. The town and tourists are evacuated to the old gold mine. They are escorted inside, about 200 mts in, away from heat fire and smoke. The town is in lock down and the three fire tankers arrive.
We are given clear directions. Only try to save houses and shops and businesses that are one hose length or less. The rest is un-saveable.

We set water points and watch the glow on the ridge move towards us.
Again weather proves our saviour and with all the tragedy we will hear in the coming days, this is one good news story that no one will hear. The lightening and storm activity that started this fire continues, however it also brings rain. Heavy rain hits, lasting no more than 15 minutes in our area, but enough to stop the spotting and to slow the fire to a crawl.

The 15 men, three fire trucks and a four wheel drive sigh with relief. We can mop up and contain the fire and know that we have not lost a life or property. Obviously all due to mother nature rather than our fire efforts, but this could have been another Kinglake or Callignee, with almost every home lost and a significant loss of life. Nature works in mysterious ways.
At 3:30 am our shift finished as the fire threat subsided. It had been 14 hours of the unknown for us, but in all, we were the lucky ones on the day.
We drove home rather sombre listening to the disbelief on the radio of what had happened around the state and was still happening. What kept us awake was our pager messages, asking for anyone who could assist on the morning shift.