VFFA Magazines

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

2023 January

Volume 14 No 2:

• President’s Report
• Secretary’s Desk
• Bad Fire: Good Fire
• The Best Bushfire I Ever Attended
• VALE: Firefighter Colin Burns
• Privately Managed Land vs Unmanaged Land (Public Land)
• Why We Burn Again and Again
• Discipline in the NSWRFS
• The Phantom Speaks Out
• OAD Rule Change Gives Emergency Services The All Clear
• Centurion Fire Rescue Equipment
• Forest Fire Management
• How 1970s Conservation Laws Turned This Paradise On Earth Into A Tinderbox
• Politically Correct Fire Management
• Operational Brief: U-Turn Bays
• VFFA Membership Form (Free to Join)

2022 June

Read

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)
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2021 Winter

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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

Read

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