JimK wrote:
Plus adding that FRNSW boat was not manned, so add the time to respond from the Station to Sydney Water Police, get the boat going and travel time....
I will admit, I have not had much to do with the Marine 1 project living and working in Sydney's outer west, but have had the pleasure of being on course/training with Firefighters who were part of the Marine 1 Project and spending a couple of days with Port Authority Vessel/Firefighting Crews.
So the rundown I got from some of the firefighters involved with the project, and from my readings, the issue surrounding Training seemed to come down to the Level of Training required and the level deemed necessary by management and the way in which it was to be achieved . . . as said by a couple of firefighters it was a joke. My understand is to operate Marine 1 NSW Maritime was saying members needed to hold a Coxswain Certificate, and how this was going to be achieved seemed to be the issue with training . . . how the training was to be delivered . . . a big issue with FRNSW when it comes to cost issues.
when Marine 1 was available to respond . . . in most counts Marine 1 did proved a quicker response to most incidents on Sydney Harbour then what the Port Authority Vessels of the time were able to provide, as Marine 1 was a bowl rider vessel and was stowed with Firefighting equipped and Breathing Apparatuses (SCBA) Sets to allow for immediate response . . . it just needed a crew.
Port Authority Standard Operational Procedure, is that Breathing Apparatuses (SCBA) Sets are not stowed on Port Authority Vessels, so on notification of an Incident, Port Authority Vessel/Crew must return to Base and pickup Breathing Apparatuses (SCBA) Sets before proceeding onto the Incident.
Interesting to note too, Port Authority Crews are not permitted to board a Vessel to conduct Firefighting operations, all firefighting operations are the domain of FRNSW and Port Authority crews will only engage in first attack fire fighting or engage in non-bording firefighting operations under the direction of the FRNSW Officers. So another response issue comes up here as well, the need for one of the Port Authority Vessels to picked up FRNSW Crew en-route to the incident or within close vicinity to the incident location to commence firefighting operations.
The main killer for Marine 1 in my view, came down to Training and Staffing issues. We were looking at the lost of positions at City of Sydney Fire Station to provide the crewing. Most of us Union members believed Marine 1 should have had a Permanent Crew assigned to it, but not at the cost of existing positions but New Permanent Positions assigned to Marine 1, not the cross crewing system which was proving to not be workable given the training situation.