Wildfire RESPONSE
Faster Response Times
The most fundamental element of incident control is eliminating the time an incident is allowed to go on unmanaged. In the case of wildfire, not responding early can be catastrophic. Delayed responses are considered the norm in regional areas.
Rural Fire Management is helping to reduce the times it takes to attend an incident through the four following ways:
CENTRALISED
LOCAL FIRE GROUP
REGISTER
RFM is actively seeking applications from people living in rural areas and country towns that can assist their immediate neighbours. These registrations are used to form local fire groups and are also provided to local governments lacking their own registration system for private fire appliances. Creating these networks makes fighting bushfires far safer and effective than the ordinary ‘go it alone’ approach.
INVESTIGATING PRIVATE FIRE BRIGADE ALTERNATIVES
RFM is conducting research into the establishment and maintenance requirements of volunteer private fire brigades. In areas without local government operated bush fire brigades, or Department of Fire & Emergency Service brigades, private brigades under a joint-management strategy may pose the best solution for inadequate fire service coverage.
COURTESY LIGHTS FOR VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS (PETITIONING PARLIAMENT)
Rural areas are almost entirely dependant on volunteers that are not idly waiting around their brigade/group/unit (BGU) for an emergency to occur and usually travel from whatever activity they may be doing, reach their station and then attend an emergency. RFM is seeking signatures for a petition to parliament in support of allowing volunteer firefighters to use courtesy lights within WA to prevent this dangerous addition of time through traffic. While these lights provide no additional road rights, they are informative and tell other road users that the driver displaying the lights is attending an emergency.
Email services@ruralfiremanagement.org and ask to sign the petition.
Unfortunately, only physical signatures are considered valid. You will have to mail or email us a page of our petition with your physical signature.
SOURCING ADEQUATE AND AFFORDABLE EQUIPMENT
Better equipment means a more effective response: a response is only as good as its equipment. RFM is sourcing affordable and reliable equipment (including fire units and vehicles) from manufactures for its community fire groups.