Originally Posted by
Sunfish
Either my medication is haywire or it’s crazy time at Pprune.
12000 Professional rural firefighters? You couldn’t even afford their annual leave costs. They get meals, rest breaks, allowances, annual leave and paid training. Furthermore, they only work eight hour shifts as far as I can tell. Then what do you do with these folk outside the fire season? 12000 wouldn’t be enough anyway. By way of example, an “easy” 300 acre bushfire absorbed about twenty five tankers and 150+ firefighters for about twelve hours before Christmas. You have no idea of the scale of the fire response required - community supported volunteers are the only cost effective solution when you consider the scale and logistics required.
A squadron of CL415’s? Firefighters would die of old age waiting for Canberra Committees to release them. ...And who decides when there are competing priorities/ ScoMo and Bridget Mackenzie? Marginal seat analysis?
I have two Coulson Sea Kings and a fixed wing water bomber ten minutes from here. They can most certainly beat our tankers to most fires. Would I replace them with a Canberra based squadron? We would all be incinerated before Canberra could get off its backside and react.
Sunny
it is equal to police force numbers in the same towns = same shifts mate! so it is an easy example of what over decades has proven effective numbers (speeding, murder, rape under some control) and you still have volunteers to supplement as opposed to being the reliance. (very possible and insurance companies support such things with big $'s billions, look it up)
Again your reply is purely a reactive one, out of active fire fighting season is pro active preventative work on many levels not possible with volunteers.
Fire prevention and training would take many of the off fire months and then they would need 4-5 weeks annual leave - not much spare time outside the fire season mate.
You also fail to see the proactive measures of fire fighting and prevention available for a professional force compared to a voluntary one.
A squadron of CL415’s? Firefighters would die of old age waiting for Canberra Committees to release them
Incorrectly in my opinion fires are a state issue - so yes currently waiting for Canberra is a death issue.