LATEST ARTICLES
Unpaid Professionals – Ed Bland – Bridgetown Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade
This week, we share an interview with Ed Bland, a member of Bridgetown Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade, Fire Control Officer (FCO), and fire intelligence officer for the Shire of Bridgetown-Greenbushes. Ed is also the [...]
International Firefighters’ Day Memorial Service 2021
Minister Reece Whitby MLA, Bushfire Volunteers' Lorraine Webster, Member Rhys McDonald and John Mangini, and FES Commissioner Darren Klemm at the International Firefighters Day 2021 Memorial Service in Kings Park, Perth Yesterday, Bushfire [...]
6PR’s Oliver Peterson interviews President Dave Gossage AFSM re Mitigation
Bushfire Volunteers' President Dave Gossage AFSM was interviewed by radio 6PR's Oliver Peterson today regarding the unusually high smoke levels over the last couple of days and the value of bush fire mitigation, including prescribed/planned [...]
Unpaid Professionals – Jenelle Parkinson – Myalup Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade
This week, we share an interview with Jenelle Parkinson, a member of Myalup Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade. Jenelle shares some of her personal story about how, as a single mother of young children, her [...]
2021 State Election Candidate Survey
In the past 10 years, the annual expenditure of the State Government Department responsible for Fire and Emergency Services (FESA/DFES) almost doubled, ballooning to nearly half a billion dollars this year. At the same time, [...]
Dept of Premier and Cabinet: re Wooroloo fire inquiry
On the back of feedback from various volunteers who attended the devastating Wooroloo fire, the association published this statement calling on the government to commit to an open, independent and inclusive review of its management. [...]
Nominations for DFES training facility project team
The association has been given a short amount of time to nominate volunteers who would like to be part of DFES project teams regarding the development of a new training facility that will apparently provide [...]
LGIS: Keeping Bushfire Volunteers safe and well
One of the many things the association has been working on behind the scenes for years is engaging with the Local Government Insurance Scheme (LGIS) to develop information and tools that help Local Government [...]
Xinhua News: Chinese business community in Australia helps local organizations in bushfire recovery
The Chinese business community in Australia's state of Western Australia (WA) made donation to and help local organizations in the recovery from the devastating bushfire that hit the state earlier this month. David Sun, president [...]
The Nationals: Modern technology to boost emergency services capabilities
The Nationals WA have committed to roll out drone technology across regional WA to give emergency services volunteers the latest equipment to assist with search and rescue and firefighting efforts. Leader Mia Davies announced The [...]
ABC South West Andrew Collins interview with Bushfire Volunteers’ Sinead Burke regarding The Unpaid Professionals
ABC South West WA Drive presenter Andrew Collins spoke with our Communications Manager Sinead Burke today about the association's wonderful new podcast The Unpaid Professionals. Andrew played a short excerpt from one episode featuring Fred [...]
Wooroloo fire must have open, independent and inclusive review
Key points Bushfire Volunteer association calls for immediate commitment for open, independent and inclusive review of management of Wooroloo fire Association says Government review culture unhelpful and potentially dangerous The peak body for Western Australia’s [...]
Interview: Oliver Peterson and Bushfire Volunteers’ President Dave Gossage AFSM regarding Wooroloo fire
6PR Perth Live presenter Oliver Peterson interviewed Bushfire Volunteers' President Dave Gossage AFSM this afternoon regarding the Wooroloo Bush Fire and the recovery effort ahead. Dave announced the association's call for an independent, fully inclusive [...]
The West: Perth Hills horror bushfire threat downgraded to watch and act
Image of the efforts of DFES battling the Wooroloo bushfire The giant fire that has been threatening the Perth Hills for the past six days has been downgraded from emergency warning level to watch and [...]
Federal and State Gov’t: Joint media statement – Disaster assistance following Wooroloo bushfires
Disaster assistance has been made available to assist communities in the City of Swan and the Shire of Mundaring recover from the extensive damage caused by bushfires in the region this week. Assistance is being [...]
Australian Emergency Law: Employment protection for volunteer firefighters in WA
The valuable legal opinion below is courtesy of Michael Eburn, PhD and Barrister, from Australian Emergency Law Today’s question arises from the fires currently burning in the Perth Hills. My correspondent wants ‘some easy-to-understand advice [...]
Employment protection for emergency volunteers
The association has put together the short summary of employment protection measures below to provide information and assurance to members who are anxious about potential fallout from volunteering at major incidents. Please contact us if [...]
Countryman: Volunteer fireys tell it how it is
Bushfire Volunteers President Dave Gossage AFSM. Photo: The Countryman/Cally Dupe A new podcast aims to unearth and share the stories of some of WA’s 20,000 unpaid — but extremely valuable — volunteer firefighters [...]
The West: The eleven big questions about the Wooroloo fire answered
Photo: The West Online 1. Did COVID lockdown impact firefighting efforts? Fire authorities confirmed that COVID precautions were “troublesome” for their people fighting the fire. “We have restrictions on the number of firefighters [...]
State Gov’t: Extended outage payment doubles for those affected by bushfire
State Government doubles extended outage payment from $80 to $160 Those impacted by the bushfire and have lost power for more than 12 hours can apply The State Government has authorised extra power outage payments [...]