National Volunteer Week

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Published: Wednesday, 24 December 2014 09:33

Written by Shane Fitzsimmons

Afternoon All

Today we join thousands of volunteer organisations around the nation to mark the 25th National Volunteer Week, 12 – 18 May.

The theme is “Celebrate the Power of Volunteering”.

In NSW we saw the power of volunteers clearly demonstrated during the recent bush fire season – the busiest in more than a decade. NSW RFS volunteers responded to 14,956 incidents from August 2013 to March 2014, including more than 6,600 bush, grass and scrub fires.

This week we say thank you to all our volunteers for your extraordinary efforts to protect your communities, not only during a challenging 13/14 fire season but all year round. Whether you participate in firefighting, community engagement, training, logistics, brigade support or communications, you are a valuable and integral part of our service.

On St Florian’s Day recently I had the privilege of honouring twenty individuals and three teams for their achievements– many of them volunteers like Senior Deputy Captain James Burge who received the Commissioner’s Commendation for Bravery, and the Lower Hunter Group 8 Community Engagement Team who were presented with a Commendation for their award winning and nationally recognised model of engaging with local communities.

NSW RFS volunteers come from all walks of life. Our more than 70,000-strong volunteer workforce is made up of men and women of all ages, occupations and backgrounds. As part of National Volunteer Week, we are celebrating this diversity by featuring volunteers on Facebook, and through our Ausgrid photo competition “NSW RFS volunteers – part of our community”. We will also announce the winner of the NSW RFS Cadet of the Year Award on Wednesday at a special ceremony with the Minister for Emergency Services, The Hon. Stuart Ayres MP, at Parliament House.

Once again I invite all of you to celebrate the power of volunteering this week. For more information about what’s happening around the country please visit Volunteering Australia’s website www.volunteeringaustralia.org

Regards

Shane

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)

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Published: Wednesday, 24 December 2014 09:32

Written by Jason Lewington

Extract from Better Health Channel; http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au

If the heart stops pumping, it is known as a cardiac arrest. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a combination of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and chest compressions that delivers oxygen and artificial blood circulation to a person who is in cardiac arrest. It can be life-saving first aid. A heart attack occurs when the heart is starved of oxygen.

A heart attack can ‘stun’ the heart and interrupt its rhythm and ability to pump. This is because the heart does not receive enough oxygen and cannot pump blood around the body. There is no heartbeat (pulse) because the heart is not working. The medical term for a heart attack is an acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

When the blood stops circulating, the brain is starved of oxygen and the person quickly becomes unconscious and stops breathing. Without treatment the person will die.

Read more: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)

Operational Structure - 2014

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Published: Wednesday, 24 December 2014 09:30

Written by Iain Stroud

The flow chart below shows the 2014 Group Captain structure.

Burning without notice

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Published: Wednesday, 24 December 2014 09:28

Written by Iain Stroud

Burning without notice creates unnecessary work for volunteers.

Whilst it has been encouraging to see residents getting on with the job of reducing bush fire fuels around their properties, many people continue to light fires without first ensuring appropriate notifications are in place. Once a 000 call is lodged by a concerned resident dispatchers are obliged to respond our dedicated volunteers, unless they can check our database and see that the burn is registered and checked that everything is ok.

Hopefully these three simple steps may help overcome some of the confusion, and avoid dragging our committed volunteers out unnecessarily.

Read more: Burning without notice