NSW Fire & Rescue crews were responded to the historic Log Cabin Motel on the banks of the Nepean River in Penrith on the evening of March 9, 2012. On arrival they found a fire in a ceiling space caused by a down light. Approximately 100 persons were evacuated from the premises.
After initially calling for a 2nd alarm response, crews upgraded to a 3rd alarm with firefighting efforts hampered by an electrical supply that could not be isolated. The fire took hold in the roof space, with a further call for a 5th Alarm response. With the fire taking hold, crews were withdrawn from the building for safety and operations continued with aerial appliances and handlines from outside the building.
The fire caused significant damage to the building, and firefighters continued to work through the night to fully extinguish the blaze.
If you’ve visited before, you will notice a few updates to the site. The main change is that you’ll now land on a news/updates page initially. This should make it easier to know when I’ve posted something new in the galleries.
I’ll now be posting a short update when I load a new album. You’ll see a link to the album in the update. You can filter these, for example if you just want to see Fire related updates, click on Fire Rescue at the top or left of page. If you want to jump straight to the photos, look to the left for the link to the Photo gallery.
On the content front, I’ve been working through my archives to and loading older photos, particularly for Fire appliances. In the galleries I’m also setting up smart galleries so you can see all the photos in one place, of a particular type of appliance, station or individual appliance.
I hope you enjoy the updates and find the site useful. Please leave comments or send me an email, particularly if there’s anything you want to see or if you want me to come out to your station.
WA Fire & Rescue run one Incident Control Vehicle (ICV) in the Perth Metro area. The main role of the ICV is to enable communication, command and control at large scale incidents.
ICVs are equipped with Radios and other communications equipment such as facsimile, mobile telephone and data/internet capabilities to enable connectivity with the Communications Centre, and with crews at the incident. The ICV is also a location for the Incident Controller (IC) and Incident Management Team (IMT) to operate from.
Earlier models predominantly provided communications terminals and a small workspace internally, and carried awnings or tents to establish a larger working area outside the vehicle.
The outside of these earlier models was often utilised for ‘battle boards’ showing resource deployment, and Incident maps
The latest ICV for FRSWA saw a major upgrade, featuring a custom made body on a Scania Crew Cab Chassis. The ICV features a slide out section, which increases the internal workspace. The internal space provides separate communications and IMT space. A dedicated stairway and window enables the separation of crews reporting to the ICV from the IMT operations, reducing distraction and clutter.
Vehicle Details
ICV2: 1988 Nissan W40
ICV3: 1985 Toyota Coaster
ICV5: Scania P310 Crew Cab, with Purpose Built rear Body section.
In June 2011 I travelled with a friend to the USA, on a roadtrip around California and to Las Vegas. While in Vegas, we took a day tour to the Grand Canyon.
The tour took us by bus to Boulder City Airport where we boarded a small plane to an airport at Grand Canyon West. We caught glimpses of the Hoover Dam and Lake Meade ahead of the Grand view of the Canyon. Already enjoying some great views, the tour then stepped up with a Helicopter taking us into the Canyon and landing on the floor, next to the Colorado River. We took a small walk to the waters edge where we boarded a small boat for a short trip up the river before floating back down to the pontoon. After another great helicopter flight out of the Canyon we were driven to the edge at Quartermasters Point for lunch and a view from the top.
After all the excitement we took the return flight and bus back to our Hotel before enjoying another night on the Strip.
Music:
“On the fly” by Kukkiva Kunnas (wmrecordings.com/releases/wm047.htm)
“Orange Flame” by Maguett (myspace.com/maguettone)
On Christmas Day, 2011 I was starting the return drive from Melbourne to Sydney after lunch. Early into the drive there was heavy rain from a large storm cell. After driving through this for a short time, the raindrops appeared to be getting heavier.. so I thought. I realised very quickly that it was actually large hail stones.
I was just passing a small Shopping Centre so pulled in to seek refuge. Seeing large hail hitting my windscreen and thumping on the roof. Unfortunately the only shelter was the small awning around the centre, and many others had already made it under the shelter. I drove around the centre until I found one last spot.
Once under the shelter I took a few photos, while hail stones ricocheted around us. I picked these hail stones up off the ground – they’d started to melt but were still marble sized. I couldn’t see it at the time, but the minute or so I had taken to get under shelter was enough time for almost every panel on my car to suffer dozens of small dents.
After a short time the hail ceased as the storm cell moved South-East toward Melbourne City. Driving North there was still heavy cloud moving over head, but stunning blue sky peeking through.
There was a clear edge to the rain band. (Looking East toward Tullamarine)
As I made it further north, the tempature picked up and the sky opened to a beautiful Summers afternoon. Looking south back to Melbourne from the Clarkefield area it was clear the City was still receiving attention from the storm.
