Download - Training Matters July 2010
District 7 HQ
Brigade
Welcome to the new newsletter for the District 7 HQ Brigade.
The object of this newsletter is to assist in communicating news items to
members. The name of the newsletter “Training Matters” is to
emphasise the importance of training.
For the brigade to provide a useful service to the District, members need to be
skilled up to perform the various tasks we may be required to assist with. We
can only do this through training.
Just like any other brigade, we need to train regularly to keep our skills up to
be able to perform well when we are required.
It is a requirement of the brigade that all members attend a minimum of
3 meetings per year and 8 training nights and/or skills maintenance ses-
sions per year. Considering there are 365 days in a year this is not much to
ask. After all we are an emergency service organisation and the community
are depending on us to be able to perform well in trying situations.
Forgotten when our training night is? It’s the last Wednesday of every
month starting at 1900 hrs.
From time to time there will be extra training sessions for targeted
activities. These will be communicated via your pager.
The Brigade Management Team will be regularly monitoring the
attendance of all members to ensure we are meeting our training
requirements.
Special points of in-
terest:
New newsletter for
brigade
New Web Site for HQ
brigade
Questionnaire for mem-
bers to complete
Driving Legislation
training session in July
Keep your pager on as
this is how we contact
you
New Web Site for Brigade
Another initiative we
have launched to assist
in communicating with
members is the District
7 HQ Brigade web site.
The site is full of useful
information such as the
training calendar and
latest news sections.
Each week the site is
having more and more
information added to it,
so check it out
regularly. To find the
site type the following
address into your web
browser:
http://
sites.google.com/site/
district7hqbrigade/
Hint: Create a short-
cut on your desktop
You MUST keep
your pager on
2
Election Results 2
Brigade
Questionnaire
2
2010 Training &
Meeting dates
3
Pager Training 3
Your own CFA
email account
3
On road driving
Legislation training
4
Inside this issue:
New Newsletter
for District 7 HQ Brigade
Training Matters
July 2010 Volume 1, Issue 1
Like all other CFA brigades, the way
we communicate with you is primar-
ily via your pager. It is important you
always ensure the battery is
changed and not left to go flat.
Batteries are available from the
District Office free of charge. You
are encouraged to take several
home with you each training night.
The brigade recently ran a “How to
use your pager” session for all mem-
bers, to ensure you know how to use
it properly. If you are still unsure, see
Wayne and he will help you.
We will be running extra training ses-
sions on a regular basis shortly, and
these will be communicated to you
via the pager.
Even if you are unable to carry your
pager with you all the time such as
when at work, you can still leave the
pager on at home and silence it so it
does not make a noise. This will
allow you to read any messages
when you get home.
If you don’t want to use a pager then
perhaps you have joined the wrong
organisation. The BMT expect ALL
members to keep their pager opera-
tional at all times.
We will shortly commence a weekly
pager test so you can check your
pager is working properly. You will
receive more information about this
shortly.
Remember, we are an emergency
organisation here to assist in pro-
tecting the community. The quickest
way to contact you is via pager.
assist the District .
We will be looking at training people
up to fill various roles in the District
Office and the Incident Control Cen-
tre. It is important you complete the
questionnaire so we can see what
skills you have to offer.
Please also provide us with your
email address if you have one, so
we can be sure we have the correct
address.
Attached to this months edition of
Training Matters is a questionnaire.
Can ALL members please complete
the questionnaire and return it to
Wayne Noble in the enclosed self
addressed envelopes.
Completing the questionnaire will
assist us with tailoring our training
program.
It will also assist us to see how each
individual can best be placed to
Why you MUST keep your pager on
Brigade Questionnaire
The BMT is made up of:
Brigade OIC - Geoffrey Grey
Captain/Chairman - Les Kelly
Lieutenant - Lauire Hill
Lieutenant - Janis Hill
Lieutenant - Ian Board
Secretary - David Cecil
Training Officer - Wayne Noble
Comm’s Officer - Daryl Nash
The brigade had its bi-annual elec-
tion on May 26th. Bob Barry came
along and spoke to the brigade
about the new area boundaries and
districts. The new Brigade Man-
agement Team (BMT) members
have taken up their positions as at
the 1st July. The brigade thanks
those outgoing BMT members for
their service over the last 2 years.
The new BMT members are all
looking forward to serving the bri-
gade and providing strong leader-
ship.
Election Results
Page 2 Training Matters
Congratulations to David Cecil on
receiving his 5 year service
Certificate from Operations
Manager Bob Barry
Brigade members participating in
the Map reading & GPS training
session in April
The monthly training session dates for
the remainder of this year are:
Wednesday 28th July (incl. meeting)
Wednesday 25th August
Wednesday 29th September (incl. meeting)
Wednesday 27th October
Wednesday 24th November (incl. meeting)
December To Be Announced
All training sessions start at 1900 hrs (7pm)
At the District Office.
Please send your apologies if you are unable
to make a meeting.
up.
Forgotten you password to bri-
gade’s online? Wayne can issue you
with a new one. As all you have to
do is ask.
CFA connect is where you will find
news items and messages from the
CFA. You can access it through
Brigades online.
Did you know that every CFA
member has their own CFA Email
account?
This was one of the topics covered
when Wayne presented a session
on how to use Brigade’s online,
email & CFA connect in March.
If you need help setting up your
email account, let Wayne know and
he will organize to meet you early
one training night to help you set it
2010 Training & Meeting Dates
Your own CFA email account
The members of the brigade really
appreciated Cindy coming along to
give the session and there has been
a lot of positive feedback from
those that attended.
For those that have not met Cindy,
she is currently our Brigade Ad-
ministrative Support Officer
(BASO). Cindy was involved in the
initial role out of the current style
pagers.
Thank you again Cindy.
On Wednesday 30th June, Cindy
Harrison-Roberts came to the bri-
gade and delivered a training ses-
sion on how to use the pagers.
Cindy took the brigade through all
of the various functions of the
pager including:
How to set the alert tones
How to put the pager on silent
How to use the menu’s
Preparing for firmware updates
Pager Training
Don’t forget
there will be
extra training
nights
scheduled on
top of the
regular
monthly one’s
Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 3
Brigade members participating in
the Map reading & GPS training
session in April
If you want to contact the
author of this newsletter
email Wayne Noble
guidelines on driving CFA vehicles.
That is what this session is about.
You need to attend regardless of
whether you drive lights & sirens
or just under normal road condi-
tions.
Geoffrey Grey will be conducting a
Driving Legislation training
session for our July Training night,
starting 1900 hrs at the District
Office.
All members will benefit from this
session regardless of what area of
the HQ brigade you are involved
in.
This session is compulsory for
anyone who may need to drive
a CFA vehicle, be it a car, bus
or truck.
If you do not attend this session
you will not be driving a CFA
vehicle this summer.
The session will be a theory pres-
entation followed by an assess-
ment.
It is imperative that all drivers
understand the road laws and CFA
On Road Driving Legislation Training 28th July 2010
Don’t forget to check out the Brigade Web Site at:
http://sites.google.com/site/district7hqbrigade/ Keep up to date with what is happening in the
brigade.
Regularly visit the web site.
District 7 HQ Brigade
Where on the web
http://sites.google.com/site/district7hqbrigade/
The driver drove this vehicle too
close to the shoulder of the road in
the 2008 northeast fires