VFFA Magazines

The magazine known as “the volunteer fire fighter” is the official magazine of the Volunteer Fire Fighters Association.

2022 June

Volume 14 No 1:

  • President’s Report
  • From the Secretary’s Desk
  • The Imbalance of Power
  • Ladies Firefighter Training and Information Day
  • RFS Volunteer Profile
  • Fire Investigation in the NSW RFS
  • Trip Down Memory Lane
  • Saving our Forests and controlling our Climate
  • The Drift of the Forests
  • Traditional Management
  • Volunteer Profile
  • Kosciusko National Park: A Habitat for Mega Fires
  • To Burn or Not to Burn
  • Firestorms
  • Are Drones, UAVs or RPAs part of our future?
  • Our Megafires are a Political, Not a Climate Crisis
  • Logging and Bushfires, Is there a Connection?
  • Australian Bushfire Historic Imagery from 25 January 1952
  • Major Bushfires in Australian History
  • Opportunities for Improved Fire Management in Australia
  • Forestry Corporation NSW
  • When the Bushfire came, I Cheered!
  • VFFA Membership Form (Free to Join)
  •  

2021 Winter

Volume 13 No 1:

  • President’s Report
  • Bushfire Preparation
  • Small Planes, Helicopters and Drones
  • Justice for Volunteers
  • Recognition of your Service
  • Standing by your Mates
  • The Tumut Valley Fire (1965)
  • Forest Hazard Reduction
  • Wildfires, Fuel and Hazard Reduction
  • Farm Fire Safety
  • 2019/20 Giro & Bretti Fires (Photos)
  • VFFA Membership Form (Free to Join)
  • VFFA Supporters Directory

2020 Winter

Volume 11 No 2:

  • President’s Report
  • National Disaster Arrangements
  • RFS Tanker Design
  • Six Shades of Fire Lighters
  • RFS Catering Volunteers
  • After The Gospers Mountain Fire
  • Bushfire LIVE
  • Goin’ Bush
  • What did we do to deserve this?
  • Hazard Reduction Works
  • Book Review: Fire Country
  • VFFA Membership Form (Free to Join)

2019 Summer

Volume 11 No 2:

  • President’s Report
  • Update on RFS Volunteer abandoned
  • Bushfire Cycle Revisited
  • Landline
  • Koalas & Catastrophic Fuel Loads
  • Deputy Premier
  • Potato Point
  • Roy Butler – NSW Member for Barwon
  • Belowra Station Opening
  • Goin’ Bush
  • NSW Member for Murray
  • RFS Volunteers Hand Their Medals Back
  • NSW Farmers: An early start to bushfire season
  • More than a Tummy Bug
  • The Base Camps
  • NSW Member for Orange
  • Angel Flight
  • The Phantom Say’s
  • VFFA Membership Form (Free to Join)

2019 Winter

Volume 11 No 1:

  • President’s Report
  • Update on RFS Volunteer abandoned
  • Who is the RFS’s minister for free speech?
  • Meet Gracie, the Flying Doctor Guide Dog
  • Fire and the Eucalypt
  • Beyond our Patches – Interagency Cohesion
  • Goin’ Bush
  • Never Seen The Outback Like This
  • Shoalhaven, NSW (Visitor guide)
  • The Red Heart’s Hidden Secrets
  • House fire at Spencer
  • Welcome to Spencer
  • 70 Years of Land Rover
  • NSW State Election
  • Mental Health of Volunteers
  • NSW Farmers: Bush Fire Management, A whole community responsibility
  • Angel Flight
  • The Phantom Says’
  • VFFA Membership Form

2018 Summer

Volume 10 No 2:

  • President’s Report
  • Why would anyone join the RFS?
  • Ootha NSW
  • Dubbo… simply the place to be
  • Naradhan gets a visit from Corrimal Rotary Club
  • Goin’ Bush
  • How is your prostate?
  • 70 Years of Land Rover – Cooma 2018
  • Discover your undiscovered in the Queanbeyan-Palerang Region
  • Outback Radio 2WEB – 40 Years of Service
  • 4WD ACT / NSW
  • Pat Callinans 4×4 Article: Smartphone Photography
  • Community Expectations
  • Welcome to the NSW Rural Fire Service
  • Shooters, Fishers & Farmers
  • Yankee’s Gap Fire
  • NSW Farmers
  • Angel Flight
  • The Phantom Says’
  • VFFA Membership Form

2018 Winter

Volume 10 No 1:

  • President’s Report
  • Tathra – Bushfire lessons learnt
  • NSW Farmers Association – Bushfires and Mental Health
  • Minister, your chickens have come home to roost!
  • Bargo gets a new station at last!
  • Vale – Ken Lucas
  • RFS Head Office – The Big Move West is on
  • Goin’ Bush
  • From the fire ground and Durran Durra
  • Welcome to Cooma: Capital of the snowy mountains
  • Come visit Australia’s Alpine Playground
  • Aus Explorer – Charles Sturt: In search of a chimera
  • 21 is not enough
  • Vale – Jack Mullins
  • Angel Flight wins I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here 2018
  • John Hojel, Thank you
  • Vale – Chris Nesbitt
  • Said Hanrahan
  • After the flames have gone out
  • The Phantom Says’
  • How low can they go
  • VFFA Membership Form

2017 Summer

Volume 9 No 2:

  • President’s Report
  • VFFA goes to Henty Machinery Field Day 2017
  • Petition | Ben Shields – Mayor Dubbo Regional Council
  • NSW Farmers Association
  • A Story of a Really Top Bloke
  • Naradhan gets a new Fire Station
  • Angel Flight helping another Australian Family
  • Glossodia Rural Fire Brigade – Graeme Jay – Life Membership
  • Goin’ Bush – Sand Driving and Summer Fun
  • Dubbo NSW – A Vibrant Regional City
  • Touring Technique – Recovery Points
  • Touring Technique – Winch Maintenance
  • The Curious Story of Rudolf Diesel
  • Mortimer’s of Orange Wines
  • Is Four Wheel Driving in Africa as good as it is in Australia?
  • Protect Yourself from Vexatious Allegations
  • HR @ Kurrajong Heights
  • A Discussion About Some Concepts to Make Wildland Firefighting “Safer”
  • Remember When We Were Managed by Local Councils
  • The Phantom Says’
  • Weeds in the System
  • What Sort of Message are we Sending to the Public?
  • VFFA Membership Form

2017 Winter

Volume 9 No 1:

  • President’s Report
  • Sir Ivan Fire
  • NSW Farmers Association
  • Congratulations Greg Green
  • Potato Point Remains at Great Risk
  • Does the RFS Value its Volunteers as Customers?
  • Federal Coalition begins Decentralisation Process
  • Upside Down Country and the Problem with the RFS
  • Angel Flights Jarrod Roesler
  • Goin’ Bush
  • The Original Adventure Seekers
  • Winter Driving Tips
  • Town in Feature – Forbes NSW
  • Tablets – Take Two and Call Me in the Morning!
  • Touring Technique – Soldering and Crimping
  • Australian Explorer – Soldier of Fortune
  • Project 130 – Weight Matters
  • Protecting my 4WD Assets
  • Live and Learn – The Psychology of Survival
  • The Fire Fighter
  • Inherently Safe System
  • 2016 Fall Fires in the Appalachian Mountains
  • The Phantom Says’
  • Fire Service Danger Meter
  • VFFA Membership Form

2016 Summer

Volume 8 No 2:

  • President’s Report
  • A Week is Certainly a Long Time in Politics!
  • The Orange Bi-Election – Shooters, Fishers & Farmers
  • Adaminaby RFS’s Bill Mansfield
  • NSW Farmers Association
  • Tumble Down Dick RFB
  • Fire & Rescue NSW Commissioner Retires
  • Angel Flight
  • Goin’ Bush 4WD Training – Do you need it?
  • Wedge-tailed Eagle
  • Town in Feature – Cowra
  • How many of you have a love for and play a Guitar?
  • The Simpson Desert like a few have ever seen
  • Yamaha Jet Trekkers Raise Over $140k for Children in Need
  • Easy Beef Stroganoff
  • How to Read a Tyre Sidewall
  • Consultation Draft
  • Fire in 1788
  • On the Receiving End
  • Leadership – Your Decisions make all the Difference
  • Lessons from History: Monkey-Eaters in the Scrub
  • Discrimination & Favouritism in the RFS
  • Health and Safety Representatives (HSR) – A proactive approach to safety
  • The Phantom Says’

2016 Winter

Volume 8 No 1:

  • From the President’s Desk
  • Yes Minister
  • Responses from the Coonabarabran Community
  • NSW Farmers Association
  • Burning Questions for Potato Point
  • Trundle ABBA Festival
  • Decentralisation
  • Guy Zangari Member for Fairfield
  • Why the NSW Rural Fire Service Should Relocate to Parkes
  • Goin’ Bush
  • Using a Snatch Strap Safely
  • Great Family Fishing Trips
  • In the Footsteps of Burke & Wills
  • GPS reception not what it should be?
  • The Compass Termite
  • VFFA proudly supporting Angel Flight
  • Blazeaid – Simply Incredible People
  • The Growth of the RFS Bureaucracy
  • Snowy Mountains Horse Riders Association (SMHRA)
  • The Tasmanian Fires of 2016
  • Angel Flight
  • RFDS – Nightmare bite ends in flight
  • The Phantom Speaks Out

2015 Summer

Volume 7 No 2:

  • From the President’s Desk
  • President’s Profile
  • Almost 3 Years since Wambelong
  • Fire Trails
  • NSW Farmers Association
  • Peter J. Cannon OAM
  • Glossodia RFS’s Parmenter Family & their Supporting of Bear Cottage
  • Angel Flight
  • Taking a look at Bargo RFS
  • Goin’ Bush
  • Off Road Leisure – NSW Outback Town of Bourke
  • With thanks to our NSW Ambo’s
  • Winching Safely
  • Travelling the Outback – Summer 2015
  • Book Review
  • UAV Hobbyist and Wildfires
  • Megafires, Paramilitaries and Global Warming Enthusiasts
  • So, Marine Rescue NSW…who are they?
  • Drones and Small Remote Brigades
  • Workplace Injury
  • Fire from the Sky
  • Early Days of Aerial Burning
  • The Phantom Speaks Out

2015 Winter

Volume 7 No 1:

  • Photo Competition
  • NSW Storms – April 2015
  • ANZAC Day and RFS Volunteers
  • Peter J. Cannon OAM
  • St. Albans Rural Fire Brigade
  • Wambelong Fire Enquiry Update
  • Restore Bushfire Security to Our Vulnerable Community
  • Vale – Lawrence David Norton
  • RFS – New Isuzu Category 1 Tanker
  • Belowra Continues the Bush Fire Brigade Tradition
  • High Fire Field Day
  • New Station for Tinpot Brigade
  • The People of Clare Ask – Can Anyone Hear Us?
  • Decentralisation of NSW Rural Fire Service
  • Fire Experts with a Common Objective
  • Oh, When Will They Ever Learn?
  • The Phantom Speaks Out

2014 Summer

Volume 6 No 2:

  • Photo Competition
  • We want our Blue Shirts back, is this too much to ask?
  • The Benefits of a CFU
  • In 1985 we had 600m, but National Parks won’t give an inch today!
  • Long Service Awards presented at the 85 Year Reunion of Naradhan RFS
  • Base Camp…or the Sheraton?
  • Waratah Brigade gets a Brand New Isuzu Grasslands Tanker
  • Farm Fire Management Suggestions and Fire Service Issues
  • Country Women’s Association NSW
  • Meet the new NSW Deputy Premier
  • NSW Volunteer Rescue Association Inc.
  • BlazeAid.com
  • Pioneer Use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for 2014 Wildfires
  • Remembering Bushfires
  • The Path of Natural Justice
  • Brigade Camaraderie, The True Spirit of the RFS
  • The Phantom Speaks Out
  • The Alarming Truth

2014 Winter

Volume 6 No 1:

  • Eighteen Months on from the Disastrous Wambelong Fire around Coonabarabran
  • The Williamtown Meeting
  • BlazeAid
  • Brigade in Focus
  • The Firefighters Pocket Book
  • The Impact of Climate Change on the Way We Build
  • Victorian Fire Politics
  • A Tale of Two Bushfires in the Outer-Suburbs of Perth
  • Work Health and Safety – Bullying in the Workplace
  • Fire Fighter Rescue
  • Have You Experienced a Major Fire Event?

2013 Summer

Volume 5 No 2:

  • Southern Highlands October 2013 | Weatherzone joins up with VFFA
  • VFFA Region South
  • Lithgow and the Hawkesbury Fires
  • Summer Wildfires…What are we doing?
  • Death by Fire and Culpable Neglect
  • Coonabarabran / Warrumbungles
  • Thanks to our NSW Ambos
  • Coonabarabran – Vale Valentino
  • West Pittwater runs a BF Course
  • Can Australian and US Smoke Alarm Standards be Trusted? Part 2
  • Boxes for BlazeAid’s Star Picket Drivers
  • The Burning Issue
  • The Phantom Speaks Out Awards
  • Work Health & Safety
  • Rural Fires Act & Government Laws Restrict Property Protection
  • Fire Risk Management Model – The Canobolas Model
  • Benefits of a Bushfire Community Protection Plan (CPP) for Nerrigundah
  • The Worsening Victorian Fire Risk in the Mountains
  • Fuel Reduction Burns in Victoria
  • Alan Grant McArthur – the founder of Australian Bush Fire Science
  • Mussel a Fire Fighters Friend

2013 Winter

Volume 5 No 1:

  • Why I Support the VFFA
  • Coonabarabran Fires 2013
  • A Disaster Waiting to Happen
  • Dear Commissioner, Why Not Use Local Knowledge?
  • Photo Gallery – Mt Forest Yarrabin Fire 2013
  • A Tough Day at Tarcutta
  • Structure and Rating of Forest Fuels
  • Canobolas Model – Where is it?
  • Attitudes to Fire and the Environment
  • Bushfire Myths
  • A Tale of Two Deployments
  • Photo Gallery – West Head Fire 2013
  • Recruitment and Retention – No Simple Answers
  • Frustrations of Dealing with a Modern Day RFS
  • RFS Volunteer Fire Fighter Discipline Procedures in need of Reform
  • Macalister Flood Risk
  • The Truth About the Proposed Emergency Services Levy
  • Ashes of the Fire Fighters
  • Historical Hand Pump
  • The Phantom Speaks Out
  • State Mitigation Support System
  • The Changing Relationship of NSW Local Government and the RFS
  • NSW Farmers and Bushfire Matters
  • Smoke Alarms Testing Standards Under Fire

2012 Summer

Volume 4 No 2:

  • Wallaga Lake Community Fire Unit
  • Fuel Moisture
  • Volunteers give Julie a Fitting Farewell
  • The Berridale Bush Fire Brigade
  • The Victoria Fire Risk in the Mountains
  • There are Funds Available Out There
  • Review of the Emergency Services Levy
  • Emergency Services Levy
  • WA Emergency Services Levy
  • A Story about “The Gorge”
  • World Fire Safety Foundation
  • VFFA Smoke Alarm Warning
  • Volunteer Rural Fire-fighter Recruitment & Retention
  • NowForce Made for Urban Centred and Rural Emergency Services
  • Grass Fire at Mushroom Farm
  • Captain’s Report and Brigade History
  • VFFA Relief Fund Proposal
  • Photo Gallery
  • Fire Fighting Yesteryear
  • NSW Board of Fire Commissioners Treaty
  • Burn Off Brigade
  • Firefighting in the USA
  • Living Beside a National Park
  • Wildfire Education and Experience – NAPA – Our US Experience
  • NSW Farmers and Bushfire Matters

2012 Winter

Volume 4 No 1:

  • Independent Hazard Reduction Audit Panel
  • Denis McIntyre
  • Alan Brown
  • Estimating Wind Speed
  • National Corridors Plan Concern
  • The NAPA Pilot Proposal
  • Volunteer Rural Fire-Fighters Could Face Prosecution under New National Safety Laws
  • RFS Library
  • Challenge Testing – Recognised Prior Learning
  • BAL Compliance, ‘to Seal or not to Seal’ that’s the Question
  • Encouraging our Volunteers
  • Fire Tragedy in the Blue Mountains
  • NSW Farmers and Bushfire Matters
  • Photo Galler
  • The Good Ol’ Days
  • The Gravy Train
  • Vale – Dennis Joiner

2011 Summer

Volume 3 No 2:

  • Kurrajong Heights Brigade’s Submission Regarding the Proposed RFS Cad-Based Callout System
  • BFCC & RFSAC
  • Volunteer Representation NSW RFS Reform Paper
  • Blue Mountains Achilles Heel
  • Volunteer Fire Fighters and Injury Compensation
  • Brigade Websites
  • The RFS Radio Network as seen by a Volunteer
  • Reality Check, from a Grumpy Old Bush Firefighter
  • After the Flames and Fury – Impressions of Change
  • When NSW is in a State of Financial Uncertainty…yet more Greed
  • State Mitigation Support Service (SMSS)
  • Photo Gallery | Mosaic Zoning Approach to Hazard Reduction
  • Fire Trucks
  • Newell Highway Hazard Reduction Burns
  • Rail Line Burn – Mickibri
  • A More Efficient and Effective RFS Operational Structure
  • Subsidy for the Retrofitting of Bushfire Protection Measures to Older Dwellings in High Risk Bushfire Zones
  • Ionization Smoke Alarms are Deadly
  • Bush Fire at The Dish – 1 December 2004
  • The Canobalas Bush Fire Model
  • Values
  • Book Review

2011 Winter

Volume 3 No 1:

  • How can we Protect Residents from Bushfires?
  • The VFFA Welcomes New NSW Police & Emergency Services Minister Mr Michael Gallacher
  • Volunteers and Occupational Health and Safety
  • Car Fires – The Hidden Dangers
  • RFS Volunteer Fire Fighter Discipline Procedures in Need of Reform
  • The Combo Con
  • State Mitigation Team
  • Decentralisation – It’s Time!
  • RFS to Pay $6 Million Tax Debt
  • RFS uses Volunteer Funds to Pay the Fringe Benefits Tax incurred by Staff
  • Shipley Re-instated
  • Tropical Cyclone Yasi Clean-Up
  • Fuel Loadings over Spring and Summer 2010/11
  • Bargo Volunteer Rural Fire Brigade goes CABA
  • Volunteer Firefighters Don’t Just Fight Fires

2010 Summer

Volume 2 No 2:

  • Communications Gone out the Window
  • Understanding Roles
  • The Fire Shed Siren Rises from the Ashes
  • Hon Melinda Pavey MLC
  • Safety Fears Over New Fire Trucks
  • Photo Gallery
  • Self Employed Injured Fire Fighters’ Compensation
  • The World Fire Safety Foundation
  • Grose Head South Fire
  • Catastrophe – Fuel Mitigation or More of the Same
  • The Yellow T-Shirt
  • Local Concerns But Who’s Listening
  • NSW Volunteer Firefighters Demand an Increase in Hazard Reduction Burning
  • Windellama Bushfire Brigade
  • 2003 The Year That Fffffed Me About
  • What’s in a Name?
  • Using Headers during Harvest
  • Did The Goal Posts Move Again?

2010 Winter

Volume 2 No 1:

  • Victorian Fires 2009
  • Active Fuel Management in National Parks
  • Community Sees Danger in NSW Catastrophic Fire Ratings
  • Hon Melinda Pavey MLC
  • Workers Retreat Battle
  • VFFA profile
  • Black is all I See
  • Commonwealth Senate Select Committee Inquiry
  • Volunteer Fire Fighters want changes to Tax Laws to go Further
  • Independent Bushfire Research Institute
  • If It Ain’t Broke
  • Fire Behaviour – Threshold Windspeed
  • Let’s Move The Goal Posts – Again
  • Photo Gallery
  • Bushfire and Native Fauna Population
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