RFS District Operations Brigade opens in Harden

Harden Fire Control Centre will officially host a new brigade as the District Operations Brigade for the South West Slopes Zone of the Rural Fire Service was formerly created last week. In a first for the Zone, the new brigade will be responsible for providing operational support to all other RFS brigades within the Hilltops and Cootamundra-Gundagai local government areas and will also provide assistance with logistics and communications support to the Fire Control Centre during periods of high fire danger and major incidents. Those volunteers present at the brigade's creation adopted a constitution, elected the brigade’s first executive and field officers and mapped the future structure of the brigade. Brigade Captain David Robinson said this brigade is a new way of looking at things and serving the field operations members, keeping the logistics running. The new brigade will have several specialist streams, each under the guidance of a dedicated Senior Deputy Captain and Deputy Captains, with Mr Robinson saying the idea is to keep the chain of command short. "In operational times the fire control centre will just contact the senior deputy of the function they need so they will be able to respond quickly," he said. Mr Robinson said the RFS has got a lot of resources and when a fire is being fought by brigades out in the field, they have their hands full, so the new District Operations Brigade was created to offer support in manpower and to deliver resources where they are needed the most. "The RFS in Harden have been talking about this for a long time and they've finally taken the plunge. We're trying to kick it off and make it a success," he said. The brigade streams are Remote Area Firefighting, Logistics Support, Specialist Operations and Communications and Engagement. Within these streams are remote area operations, heavy plant management, chainsaw operations, community engagement, major incident liaison roles with urban and rural communities and staging area establishment and management. The delivery and management of plant including mobile coolrooms, fuel trailers, portable amenities, the Compressed Air Breathing Apparatus (CABA) support trailer and the community engagement trailer, as required during incidents, also fall within the role of the brigade. Additionally, the brigade has responsibility for 2 Category 1 tankers, 2 Hilux personnel carriers and a 12-seat bus. Recruitment for the brigade is ongoing, and volunteers are being sought from all local government areas in the Zone. Mr Robinson said while the zone is run from Harden, they want people all over both local government areas so they can respond quickly and don't lose local knowledge. The brigade offers a wealth of opportunities for members to gain new skills, maintain their specialist competencies and obtain new competencies if they wish. The RFS is an equal opportunity volunteer organisation and has roles for people from age 16 and up with a variety of skills and abilities. Mr Robinson said a lot of the new members who are coming aboard to the brigade are already members of other Brigades and are wanting to get involved and learn some of the specialist capabilities to become dual members. "The Rural Fire Service prides itself on the fact that to be a useful member you don't have to be on the back of a truck fighting a fire. There's hundreds of other roles that we need in emergency times and people might prefer to do that sort of thing," he said. Whether you see yourself being dropped on a mountain top by helicopter to control a lightning strike, delivering community information when a village is threatened by a wildfire, educating and building resilience in communities, or assisting with a crew shift change on a fireground, this brigade has a role for you. For further information or to join the RFS and the Operations Brigade, contact the Harden Fire Control Centre on 02 6386 1700.