Fire and Rescue

Melbourne Metro Fire Brigade

For those of you that do not know, Firefighters date back to colonial times when Benjamin Franklin accidental set his Philadelphia residence on fir,e after a rather raucous party of drinking, dancing, and French women of questionable repute (or as Ben called it, a Tuesday) Thinking quick he offered some homeless people a loaf of bread to put out the fire. They promptly did so, but by the time they were done Ben had already eaten the promised bread, and thus the volunteer fire service was born.

For over two-hundred years not much changed in the fire service, than one day, I became a volunteer firefighter. It is a past time which I enjoy, and it is full of people whom I think of as my second family. And even though I am not always the most faithful or skilled member of the fire service, after so long it does sort of get in your blood. Maybe that is why I grow so disproportionately excited in Australia whenever I see a red truck of flashing lights and ladders go racing past me, as it heads off to face dangers unimagined (like an overheated car, or the ever dangerous burnt food on a stove.)

Among the many things I had hoped to accomplish was to investigate the fire service of Australia, though other matters sometimes seemed to get in the way. I was given a first hand chance in Cairns, when at 3 AM the hostel's fire alarm sounded. Most residents of course just rolled over and refused to move or even evacuate, but I (like a small child) was drawn to what I knew would inevitably follow. I watched as three fire trucks rolled up and bleary eyed yellow-coated men climbed off them (wearing those unfortunate salad bowl helmets). They went about their business of silencing the alarm, followed by a customary sweep just to ensure that it was dust which set off the annoying thing. They left as quickly as they came and we all retired to sleep. For me it was a novel experience to be one of the angry sleepy guests as opposed to the angry sleepy  fireman. The that can usually be found asleep in one of the jump seats. (I told you I'm not the best.)

My next encounter happened in Brisbane, when one of the hostel's resident hippies (damn long haired hippies) burned his salad and tofu causing the fire alarm to go off. Again I was drawn to the scene as we waited for the arrival of our nomex and kevlar clad saviors. This time though I was able to engage one of the arriving fireman in a conversation, asking mainly why they weren't using a thermal imaging camera (just to be sure.) He responded to me that TIC's are not as widely used in Australia as they are in America (though he admitted that they owned one... somewhere.) I was invited back to take a look at the station and my new friend also had several questions about firefighting life in the States. Of the answers that seemed to most surprise him was the fact that our trucks were made by the Pierce manufacturing company, which he had never heard of.

Scania Heavy Pumper: A first turnout appliance
with heavy pumping capabilities 4500 L/m
and the ability to carry rescue equipment.

Most Australian fire trucks are made by the a company called Scania or Simon, though they do have six imported American La France pumpers all of which belong to the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service. In all my time in Australia the closest thing I have ever seen resembling any sort of ladder truck is a few models more closely resembling what we colloquially call a Squirt. However, when I was in Brisbane I did finally find a truck called, an Aerial Ladder Platform which has a boon height of approximately 40 meters (120 feet), and works closer to what we in the states (specifically in Saddle Brook) would call a Snorkel. Probably the worst part about the Australian fire trucks is that they are completely covered in roll-up doors, which is just kind of ugly.

However, it probably has more to do with the fact their their pumpers are meant to operate in urban settings with restricted room. The Australian fire services such as the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (the Aussie way of saying Melbourne Fire Department) is different from our American fire service due to the fact that most of the population of Australia is clustered around metropolitan areas. Thus, the Melbourne area MFB, handles not only the city, but the suburbs surrounding the city of Melbourne as well. This sort of regionalized approach to the fire service cuts down on the need for volunteer firefighters like myself. There are however, reserve volunteer firefighters, and volunteer fire departments do exists in many of the more rural distant areas of the country (far far from the cities.) This of course doesn't even count the small outback towns with population quotas of 8 people, (where their idea of a fire department is having Ma fetch the water from the well while Jimmy and Pa try to stamp out the fire with their boot heels.)

Turnout gear seems pretty simple (aside from the salad bowl helmets, though even those are common enough in the States that it is barely worth mentioning.) Interestingly enough though, all fireman where white helmets, except for officers who wear yellow, and the commissioner (the chief) wears a a black hat. This is the complete reverse of American standards where we all wear black hats and the chief wears white. And of course, the Aussie turnout gear is yellow with thousands of reflective stripes, because in Australia you would think everyone lived on the side of a major highway, with the way the entire country seems obsessed with being bright enough to be seen by cars. (I once had to wear a reflective traffic vest while I spent the entire day working in an office building lifting boxes. It helped keep me safe from all the indoor flying cars that were around.)

The SCBA (Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus) that the Australians use also seemed pretty standard by our terms. It runs off the same positive pressurized system as the ones we use in the States. Most even have a 45 minute air supply, though some can be fitted for dual bottle use for extended oxygen supply. The most interesting thing about their Scott packs (as we say in the SB) is that in Queensland they called them CABA's or Compresses Air Breathing Apparatuses, or even just BA's (not that kind of BA) or Breathing Apparatuses.

The Heavy Rescue truck comes with a detachable back end,
because why lug an entire truck around when you can
just set down the equipment cabinents and go get coffee.

Now when we get to the most important equipment in a firefighter's arsenal, the hose, we find a wide variety of hoses for different jobs, and it is clear that the Aussie firefighters do like playing with their hoses, (because lets get that joke out of the way now.) When the Aussies need a low-pressure lines, they have a hose with a diameter of 38 millimeters and a pressure rating of 4500 KPA (Kilo-Pascals) (roughly 650 PSI). More powerful lines have a diameter of 25 millimeters and a pressure rating of 6500 KPA (roughly 1000 PSI). On larger 64 millimeter supply lines, the Australians use a CFA-3 Thread coupling, which is described best by wikipedia: used mainly on the Australian 64 mm hose, it provides a very secure coupling, obviously (Obviously!) the threading of the coupling is repeated 3 times, it is non-hermaphrodite. Other than that all hose comes in lengths of of 20 meters (60 feet) and have fairly standard looking couplings and nozzle fittings including both a male and a female ends, (that's what she said.)

I think probably one of the most interesting things I have uncovered is that the fire classes are different. Class A is exactly the same as it is considered ordinary combustibles. However, in Australia Class B is for flammable liquids and Class C is for flammable gases, but in America both liquid and gases a classified as Class B. Similarly, Class D (combustible metals) is the same for both countries, but what we call Class C (Electrical equipment/fires) is called Class E in Australia. Even weirder Europe has no class for electrical fires... so I guess at least Australia has the upper hand in that situation.

Now, if you are not a firefighter all the little minutia I just explained is probably meaningless, but I can tell you one big difference between the Australian and American fire service that all laymen can understand, Australia has a lot more brush fires. They call them call Bush Fires and they are rampant. In the states we call them Forest Fires and they are only mostly a problem if you live in California (and lets face it, anyone who actually chooses to live in California is probably asking for it, at least on some level.) However, in Australia bush fires are a big problem resulting a lot of days called Black Sunday and Black Friday. Contrary to what you might think these are not major shopping days. They are in fact days when entire swathes of the country have gone up in horrific and deadly flames, most of which has made a lot of the populace terrified of fire. That is also why many of the fire brigade's training and efforts are also directed at forest fire fighting techniques as well as structural fire fighting.

That is also why when you travel across Australia you will always see defensive fire lines being burned in the outback's underbrush. These lines of burnt forest are meant to act as fire blocks against any uncontrollable bush fires... and unlike in America, they happen every year. Basically you are looking a large area of dry forest under a constantly baking sun and often plagued with droughts and lack of water supply. This is a recipe for major disaster on a yearly cycle. It is also a problem that plagues all areas, both rural and urban.

Truthfully though, there is not much difference between Australia and America in terms of tactics, training, and even job requirements. For instance an Australia firehouse has exactly what you would expect it to have, a common room, a truck room, a kitchen, a bunk room, etc. In the grand scheme of things we are not very different from our Australian cousins, or more accurately they are not much different than us, (as many of their equipment, training, and general approaches to firefighting were adapted from American standards.)The only real difference is that in Australia you need a Class C license to drive a fire truck. Not in America. (Because who cares if you’re not qualified to drive a tractor trailer, you can still be behind the wheel of hundreds of tons of steel and water as you weave you way through rush-hour traffic at 60 mph.) Of course this is also a country that requires you to get a different type of driver's license depending on whether you want to drive manual or automatic transmission cars.

If I take anything away from this trip it is that firefighting is a true community (even if they call it a brigade and not a department). Even when I am on the other side of the world I still meet dedicated, hardworking, and welcoming people who are just as willing to risk their lives for others as any member of the fire service back home. Now if only their trucks didn't have those damn roll-up doors.