s r e t t a M g n i n i a Tr Volume 1, Issue 1
District 7 HQ Brigade
July 2010
New Newsletter for 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. Inside this issue: You MUST keep your pager on
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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.
Election Results
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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.
Brigade Questionnaire
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2010 Training & Meeting dates
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Pager Training
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Forgotten when our training night is? It’s the last Wednesday of every month starting at 1900 hrs.
Your own CFA email account
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From time to time there will be extra training sessions for targeted activities. These will be communicated via your pager.
On road driving 4 Legislation training
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 sessions 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.
The Brigade Management Team will be regularly monitoring the attendance of all members to ensure we are meeting our training requirements.
Special points of interest: New newsletter for brigade New Web Site for HQ brigade Questionnaire for members 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 shortcut on your desktop
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Training Matters
Why you MUST keep your pager on Like all other CFA brigades, the way we communicate with you is primarily 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.
these will be communicated to you via the pager.
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 operational at all times.
The brigade recently ran a “How to use your pager” session for all members, to ensure you know how to use it properly. If you are still unsure, see Wayne and he will help you.
Even if you are unable to carry your pager with you all the time such as We will be running extra training ses- when at work, you can still leave the sions on a regular basis shortly, and pager on at home and silence it so it does not make a noise. This will
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 protecting the community. The quickest way to contact you is via pager.
Election Results The brigade had its bi-annual election on May 26th. Bob Barry came along and spoke to the brigade about the new area boundaries and districts. The new Brigade Management 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 brigade and providing strong leadership.
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
Congratulations to David Cecil on receiving his 5 year service Certificate from Operations Manager Bob Barry
Brigade Questionnaire 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
assist the District . We will be looking at training people up to fill various roles in the District Office and the Incident Control Centre. 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.
Brigade members participating in the Map reading & GPS training session in April
Volume 1, Issue 1
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2010 Training & Meeting Dates The monthly training session dates for the remainder of this year are:
Don’t forget
Wednesday 28th July (incl. meeting)
there will be
Wednesday 25th August
extra training
Wednesday 29th September (incl. meeting)
nights
Wednesday 27th October
scheduled on
Wednesday 24th November (incl. meeting)
top of the
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.
Brigade members participating in the Map reading & GPS training session in April
Pager Training On Wednesday 30th June, Cindy Harrison-Roberts came to the brigade and delivered a training session on how to use the pagers. Cindy took the brigade through all of the various functions of the pager including:
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.
How to set the alert tones
How to put the pager on silent
How to use the menu’s
For those that have not met Cindy, she is currently our Brigade Administrative Support Officer (BASO). Cindy was involved in the initial role out of the current style pagers.
Preparing for firmware updates
Thank you again Cindy.
Your own CFA email account 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
up. Forgotten you password to brigade’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.
regular monthly one’s
de District 7 HQ Briga
If you want to contact the author of this newsletter email Wayne Noble Wayne.noble@members.cfa.vic.gov.au
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 sit e.
Where on the web http://sites.google.com/site/district7hqbrigade/
On Road Driving Legislation Training 28th July 2010 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.
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 conditions.
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 presentation followed by an assessment. It is imperative that all drivers understand the road laws and CFA
The driver drove this vehicle too close to the shoulder of the road in the 2008 northeast fires