Thanks to our Burnside CFS volunteers
As Adelaide faces a heat wave this week spare a thought for the many men and women who volunteer with the Country Fire Service (CFS).
Most of the City of Burnside area is leafy suburbia with no direct bushfire risk. However on the eastern extremes of the Council area is the Mt Lofty Ranges Fire Ban District. This area extends along the foothills of the southern Mt Lofty Ranges, one of the most fire prone areas in the world due to the Mediterranean climate and the characteristic hot summer months.
Burnside CFS Captain Grant Davis says they will be looking for new recruits later this year. “Applicants must be physically and mentally fit, live within 3 km of the station and be able to respond to emergency incidents,” Grant says. “It is important that applicants live or work close to our station as our aim is to have the fire appliance mobile to an incident soon after a 000 call. You must also be 18 years of age.”
Vacancies are advertised on the Burnside CFS Facebook page but Grant says you can register your interest at any time at https://burnsidecfs.org.au/join-us/
New members undergo a period of in house training on Thursday nights to prepare them for firefighting. “This includes appliance and equipment location training, safety and procedure training and area familiarisation,” says Grant. “New recruits then attend a three day (Friday night and weekend) course run by the CFS to obtain their qualification to start attending incidents.” After that members attend weekly training on a Thursday night along with specialist training in areas such as breathing apparatus, road crash rescue and Hazmat incidents.
A recent recruit is new Australian citizen Jose Nevares of Tusmore. Jose came to Australia from his native Peru in 2003 to study Year 12 at Eynesbury College. He completed a Marketing and International Business degree at UniSA and now works as an IT Product manager in private business.
After gaining residency he felt he wanted to contribute more to his adopted country and could not vote unless he became an Australian citizen. He achieved this at the Ceremony in Hazelwood Park on 26 January. “It is a huge honour,” Jose says. “This great country has accepted me in an official way.”
He also wanted to join the CFS but did not live in the vicinity of a brigade until three years ago. COVID put a hold on recruitment but as soon as he could, he applied, undertook his probation and is now a qualified firefighter with the Burnside brigade. He has attended various incidents of car accidents, fires and trees down. He helped fight a large blaze on Gorge Road at Montacute last month which burnt 45 hectares and at one stage threatened to cross the road and head towards Paracombe and Castambul. Jose, 37, says the CFS is a well-trained and disciplined group. “Safety is paramount,” he says. “We have excellent training and supervision and personal protection equipment (PPE).” Jose works from home three days a week and is available on call for any CFS callouts.
Burnside CFS currently has 40 members representing a mix of the Burnside community, including corporate professionals, other emergency services workers, business owners, students and a range of both male and female members.
Jose receiving his citizenship certificate from Mayor Anne Monceaux.
with partner Hannah-Claire
and with his CFS colleagues.
