To deliver increased levels of support for incident response in urban areas with increasing population density and service delivery complexities, CFA has appointed new positions of Commander - Fireground Operations in identified districts.
The new Commanders will be based in Districts 7 and 8.
On Monday, successful applicants will start in these Commander - Fireground Operations roles in District 7, based out of Belmont Fire Station, and District 8, based out of Dandenong Fire Station.
CFA Executive Director Community Service Delivery DCO Gavin Freeman said the introduction of these roles provided dedicated, highly-skilled and experienced employees on each shift available for immediate support and response to fires and other incidents.
“The implementation of these new Commanders will be of great value in assisting command and control capability in these areas whilst supporting existing local arrangements,” Gavin said.
“These new resources will assist CFA with its responsibilities to service delivery to our community and partner agencies.”
The Commander - Fireground Operations positions will:
· support and assist the District Operations Manager with Command, Control and Readiness activities as the Rostered Duty Officer in normal day-to-day business
· provide support to the District Operations Manager with day-to-day service delivery requirements with all tasks and duties defined as the role of the RDO
· coordinate the response of CFA command resources to fires, incidents and emergencies
· respond directly to fires, incidents and emergencies in the absence of other command resources
· provide mentoring and / or support to Incident Controllers on the fireground at fires and incidents including complex urban incidents
· where necessary to take charge of direct fireground operations, including the safety of firefighters
· provide a high level of urban focused interoperability with the MFB where applicable.
The initial deployment of these new positions in Districts 7 and 8, with 10 new appointments coming from the Growth Program 350, commenced their induction on Monday.