Update from Chief Officer Steve Warrington

As we continue to monitor the fire threat right across the state, it’s great to have the opportunity to showcase our skills through the annual State Championships.

Update from Chief Officer Steve Warrington

This weekend is the first of three big events with the Urban Junior Championships at Kerang. All the key dates and details for this year’s events are available here.

The State Championships are one of CFA’s longest and proudest traditions, and I can certainly remember the pride I had in representing my brigade when I’ve competed.

Each event provides opportunities for our people to demonstrate their firefighting capabilities to the public and to enhance these skills through their engagement with other areas of the state.

This will only get better next year, when the Rural and Urban Championships will combine to be held on the same weekend. This is a major step forward for all involved, and we expect it will ensure the longevity of the Championships well into the future.

Following its success last year, I will be personally selecting a group of senior CFA personnel to take part in the Chief’s Challenge, where we take on the best of CFA’s young guns in a four-competitor junior challenge event. I look forward to seeing our young stars in action to testing my own skills against them.

Although those participating will rightly attract the attention, we recognise all who contribute to the Championships, such as marshals, judges, coaches, supporters, caterers and the many more who perform roles that make these events a success.

I’d also like to give you an update on a couple of key initiatives that I know many volunteers are interested in. We have received a large volume of feedback through the Volunteer Workwear Survey, with more than 3300 respondents.

Our project team is now collating all the responses in preparation for the next steps and assessing any changes required as a result of this feedback. We’ll be continuing to consult with stakeholders at each stage of the process.

As well, the tender for the structural helmets for volunteers was released in January and closes later this month.

We look forward to working with staff and volunteers as part of the tender evaluation process, which will include volunteer evaluation of shortlisted helmets at training grounds. An expression of interest process will be run to seek interested volunteers for this part of the evaluation.

Finally, I’d like to encourage you to consider being involved in the Walking Off The War Within event on 23 March in Ballarat.

The walk is held in memory of Nathan Shanahan, a returned soldier and firefighter, to raise awareness of mental health issues among emergency service workers and defence personnel. It’s an important cause and one which I’d strongly support.

/CFA News Release. View in full here.