Belgrave fire fighters make the grade

By SHAUN INGUANZO
SCHOOL is out for Belgrave fire fighters following the early completion of their formal skills assessments.
CFA region 13 training development manager Mick Ryan said 31 December, 2005, was the cutoff point for all fire fighters to have completed their Public Safety Training Package (PSTP) formal qualifications.
Belgrave CFA captain Phil Keep said his brigade has completed its PSTP training two weeks ago.
Fire fighters will otherwise not be able to attend incidents that he or she does not have a formal qualification for. Mr Ryan said the PSTP was a universal qualification package available to all emergency services.
He said the qualifications, called competencies, were studied and examined depending on the fire station’s type of call outs.
“Belgrave is one of those which studies a pretty wide range of competencies such as wildfire, structure and hazmat (hazardous material) incidents.”
He said the PSTP was introduced in 2000 to recognise fire fighters’ skills and ensure a national standard was reached in training.
He said that standard was also measured on the same level as other emergency services.
“The idea of the PSTP is that there are a lot of commonalities between emergency services.
“Ambulance, police and fire brigades all need to read maps for instance.”
While the PSTP is a requirement of all fire brigades, Mr Ryan said Belgrave had been enthusiastic and proactive in obtaining the qualifications.
“Belgrave is one brigade that was very proactive when the PSTP first came along.
“It managed the process within the brigade well because they set themselves an achievable plan to meet goals.
“They have met these goals somewhat earlier than the requirement.”
The PSTP will still be available following the 31 December, for new recruits who have not had sufficient time to complete the competencies.