Volunteers hard to come by in long fire season

Volunteers hard to come by in long fire season from ABC AM – Thursday, 18 January , 2007 08:18:00

“…The bushfire crisis in south-eastern Australia is putting unprecedented pressure on volunteer fire brigades.

For the first time, some states are routinely refusing requests to send volunteers interstate for fear of overworking their own fire fighters who may be needed at home.”

… a re-think of recruitment is necessary to make sure that Australia has enough volunteers to last all summer if needed.

Volunteers ‘pay’ for helping community

from the AEMVF website

The contribution of each volunteer in the response to emergencies is worth an estimated $950 a year, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock revealed today as he released the results of a national survey.

Mr Ruddock said the report by Anglicare on behalf of the Australian Emergency Management Volunteer Forum showed these local heroes were an integral part of any response to a crisis or disaster.

“This survey formally recognises the estimated direct financial cost and in-kind contributions of volunteers who give their time so willingly,” said Mr Ruddock. “These people are the backbone of our emergency management structures and they do so at a significant cost.”

The report estimates the average of direct and in-kind contributions made by each volunteer at $950 a year.

“There are more than 500,000 emergency management volunteers,” said Mr Ruddock.

“We see them in action in floods, severe storms, bushfires and other natural disasters, providing assistance at accidents and other life threatening situations – such as surf life saving – and giving personal support to victims and their families.”

The Attorney-General Philip Ruddock, who is the Minister responsible for national emergency management, said the dedication of volunteers had been on show during the current bushfire season.

The survey covered fully employed, self-employed and retired volunteers in the primary emergency services as well as in the Salvation Army, Surf Life Saving Australia, St Vincent de Paul, St John Ambulance, Volunteer Rescue Association, Australian Volunteer Coastguard, Australian Council of State Emergency Services, Anglicare, Adventist Development and Relief Agency Australia.

A copy of the report is available to Download here.

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“We must, continue to reiterate that our volunteers accept that there will be a cost to being a volunteer in the emergency sector, but it must be kept to a reasonable amount. They also absolutely reject any notion of a fee for service, because then they would no longer be volunteers. All they seek is some recognition that they are paying for the privilege of assisting the community when emergencies occur, and are looking for some initiatives to keep the cost down.” Hori Howard Chair of the Australian Emergency Management Volunteers Forum (AEMVF)

Volunteer Training …

States urged to compensate firefighter training from ABC website 5:44pm

“Consultant Stuart Ellis says he believes people are deterred from becoming volunteer firefighters because of the time it takes to be trained.”

CFS appeal: We need your help

from Saturday 30 December Adelaide Advertiser

THE Country Fire Service will not send large contingents of volunteers to fight bushfires interstate this summer, and is considering a separate “fire-season only” force, as it battles a recruitment crisis.

A report prepared for CFS chief officer Euan Ferguson recommends creating another tier of volunteers who would be available only to fight fires over the danger season and not cover other traditional CFS tasks such as car accidents.

This would relax the stringent training currently required for all volunteers, which includes first aid and accident rescue.

The report, submitted to Mr Ferguson last week, emerged from a summit for CFS volunteers held in July to “identify opportunities to increase volunteer retention rates”.

In an interview with The Advertiser, Mr Ferguson revealed two rural brigades – in the Murray Mallee and the upper South-East – had been forced to close down.

They were among regions that included the Mid North, parts of the Flinders, upper Eyre Peninsula, the West Coast and northern parts of the lower Eyre Peninsula experiencing major recruitment problems.

The State Government and CFS officials were also worried about a volunteer “fatigue problem”, prompting the move not to provide help to other states this season.

“This fire season, fatigue is a real issue with our firefighters, that includes volunteers and paid staff of the CFS,” Mr Ferguson said.

“In any one season there’s a certain amount of goodwill we have from volunteers, from their employers and from their families. Because we’ve been so busy this fire season already, we’ve used up a substantial amount of our goodwill.”

Other initiatives already in place this season include increased numbers of full-time Department for Environment and Heritage firefighters, with the 60-strong force taking over much of the work previously done by CFS volunteers during forest and plantation fires on DEH or SA Water land.

The State Government has also provided extra funding for fixed-wing aircraft and increased use of aerial firefighting and bulldozers.

Volunteers continue to decline year by year, from 15,569 at the end of June, 2005, to 15,124 as of June this year. The service has lost 3000 members in the past 10 years.

The CFS attended 7603 incidents last financial year, with volunteers spending 56,166 hours at incidents.

Despite a “summer spike” of 228 new recruits since July as a result of several intensive recruitment initiatives, including a new enrolment hotline, the CFS cannot keep up with natural attrition.

The South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission inaugural annual report – released earlier this month – blamed the extended drought, crop failures and the trend for rural workers to leave the land for part of the fall in volunteer numbers.

The most significant issue to be considered by the CFS was its future training and deployment policies, Mr Ferguson said.

“A lot of people say training requirements are too high, too stringent,” he said. “The most significant issue is looking at our policy for skills training of volunteers so we lower the entry barrier.

“That way we’re being more attractive to more people and that will be very important.

“The outcome of these changes may be that we have a cadre of people who are trained just to fight bushfires.”

SA Volunteer Fire Brigades Association president Ken Schutz said while the drought was one of the factors behind a lack of recruitment, there were a range of other contributing factors.

“Some of the issues relate to the responsibilities CFS volunteers now have – many believe their responsibilities have increased due to the Wangary fire last year and coronial inquest this year,” he said.

“Employers these days also need greater productivity.”

Acting Emergency Services Minister Paul Holloway said the Government was ensuring the CFS was well-equipped, so volunteers “can get on safely and efficiently with the tough job they do”.