Welcome to the Yallingup Rural Website

This is the website of the Yallingup Rural Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade, headquartered 6.2k south of the Yallingup Post Office on Caves Road. The brigade covers an area of around 102 square kilometres. Its neighbours include the Yallingup Coastal, Dunsborough and Wilyabrup brigades. If you are interested in volunteering,  please go to the New Members section of this website. Without volunteers there is no brigade. The brigade is a not-for-profit organisation and any (well appreciated) contributions would be tax deductible. If interested, please go to the Contact Us page.

During emergencies please use the links on the right to access the FESA or DEC websites and listen to ABC Local Radio at 684 AM at 15  and 45 minutes past the hour. This website will NOT  be updated during a fire although it will carry bushfire alerts from FESA in the box on the right. However these could be delayed up to 15 minutes.

The latest news about the brigade follows below:

April 30 Deadline for Submissions on our Future

April 30 is the deadline for submitting recommendations to DFES on the new legislation that will govern the operation of emergency services, including bush fire brigades.

At a presentation in Margaret River Wednesday night, April 3, DFES managers stressed they are currently working from a “blank slate” and are looking for submissions from associations, brigades and individual members on what should be included in the new legislation to replace the three existing emergency  acts. One of these, the Bush Fires Act of 1954, sets out the structure and operations of bush fire brigades. The act is available here.

The submissions will feed into the process of drafting the new legislation. The next step will be the development of a draft options paper which will be circulated for further comment.  The final legislation is not expected until 2015.

DFES is interested in comments relating to anything relating to brigade operations.  This could range from what powers are needed to carry out our work, to the well being of volunteers, to building protection zones.

Specifically they would like the submissions to provide the context in which  issues arise; a description of the issue or challenge; and a comment, suggestion or solution.  They would also like to see any positive parts of the existing legislation be highlighted.

There are forms available on the DFES volunteer portal here.  For more background information and instructions on how to email your comments  go here on our website.

Legislation Review Roadshow in MR Tonight

The DFES Amalgamated Legislation Review roadshow is being held in Margaret River tonight, Wednesday, April 3 at 18:30 at the new Margaret River SES Facility on Clarke Road.

DFES staff will be doing a presentation on the legislation that would combine the existing emergency legislations and will be looking for feedback.

Among the issues be covered will be:

• Functions (who does what and when)
• Powers (tools to help us do our jobs)
• Incident Control (first on scene to escalation)
• Career and volunteer protection
• Training (cost, delivery, standards)
• Fuel load management and enforcement (across the different land types)

Further information from the Association Of Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades is available here:

http://www.avbfb.org.au/Articles.asp?ID=251

Brigade’s Friday Night Double Header

Five minutes to midnight, Friday, December 28 the brigade was called out to a fire at Roy Road, north of Cowaramup.  The 4.4 and 1.4 responded and found over a kilometre of road in flames resulting from a tree coming down on a power line.  The 4.4 attacked the fires in the tree tops with its cannon while the 1.4 focused on fires in the undergrowth. Later the 4.4 drafted water to other trucks from a local farm dam.

MR Dairy Fire

After about three hours the 4.4 was called off to attend a fire at the Margaret River Dairy Company factory on Bussell Highway, about 10 k away. Initially the crew supplied water from a tank behind the factory to SES firefighters attacking the fire. Later the 4.4 was replaced by the Dunsborough 3.4 and then backed up the Yallingup Coastal crew as they got their BA baptism of fire.  The crew was stood down at 6:30 am.  Meanwhile the 1.4 had been stood down at 5:30.

The arson squad was subsequently called in to investigate the fire and damages were estimated at $5 million but the fire was contained to the main building.

From midnight until 5 am the brigade for the first time made good use of the Go Natural snackbars, donated in December. The shire came through with a good breakfast at sunrise.

‘Mobile-friendly’ FESA website

Those of you with Smartphones may be interested in this FESA announcement:

FESA website revised for mobiles

A more ‘mobile friendly’ version of the FESA website has been launched.

The site now prioritises access to critical areas such as Alerts and Warnings, Fire Danger Ratings, Total Fire Bans and Media Releases. Improved navigation and readability has also been a key focal point of the revision project. It is anticipated that the mobile version of the site will provide users with efficient and clear access to key information during incidents. The option to bypass the mobile mode and return to the desktop version of the site at any time is also enabled.

Visit the site on your phone at http://www.fesa.wa.gov.au.

Your feedback on the mobile site is welcome. You can contact FESA’s Online Services Branch by emailing webmaster@fesa.wa.gov.au.

Follow us on Twitter!

Follow FESA on Twitter to be notified of Alerts and Warnings, Fire Danger Ratings, Total Fire Bans and Media Releases.

http://twitter.com/fesa_wa

Sister Brigade VRVBFB ?

Hi all,

As you can see from the photo it is low fire risk in Cuc Phuong national park. I did a thorough walk around just to be sure, nothing but monkeys!

Cheers, Duncan & Julie Vietnam Rural BFB

Recent additions to the site

Over the last few days the following additions have been made to the web site:

• More photos.  See Pictures/Pictures 2012.  Hover the mouse over the photos for more details.  Click on the photos to see a screenshow.
• Training Calendars.  Both the Busselton BFB and FESA LSW calendars are available under Training/2012 Training Courses, together with Joe’s useful assessment & details.  The Course Nomination form is also there if you need it.
• The 2012 AGM minutes are now available under Organisation/Brigade Minutes.