CFA’s SMS gateway service will cease in May 2021 after this year’s Fire Danger Period.
The gateway service was provided as a solution for members who were not allocated a pager (probationary and non-operational members etc.). This has now been superseded and will be replaced by the introduction of the new Supplementary Alerting Service (SAS) app.
With the availability of the new Supplementary Alerting Service (SAS) app, the gateway is no longer required.
Members are encouraged to transition to the Supplementary Alerting Service (SAS) app prior to the closure of the gateway in May.
CFA worked with EMV, SES, Ambulance Victoria and ESTA on the development of the SAS which works together with EAS Paging to provide members with increased functionality and enhanced communication during fire and incident response.
You can find the app by searching for Supplementary Alerting Service in both the Android and Apple app stores. You can access the desktop version here.
EAS will remain the number one means of communicating emergency callouts and dispatch to CFA members.
With the SAS app members can:
- Set availability for turnouts and indicate if they are responding to an event
- See who from their brigade is responding and view their ETA
- View responding-member qualifications and competencies
- Chat with fellow brigade members
- Experience one-touch navigation to their station or the incident
Members will continue to receive SMS notifications from the gateway service until its closure. To stop this occurring, brigades will need to remove their members from the service manually. This can be actioned by contacting your District HQ and requesting members be removed from the SMS Gateway service.
For more information on transitioning your brigade to the SAS visit the CFA Intranet.
Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Operational Communications Jason Lawrence said the gateway service was provided as a solution for members who were not allocated a pager (probationary and non-operational members etc.) and has now been superseded and will be replaced by the introduction of the new Supplementary Alerting Service (SAS) app.
“With the SAS now up and running the SMS Gateway service is no longer needed as a means of communicating pager messages to those members who don’t have a CFA pager,” Jason said.
“The SAS app has a number of additional features and functionality that couldn’t be provided via the SMS Gateway service.
“The SAS will also evolve and be enhanced over time to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of our members."
Members are reminded that the EAS remains the primary means of receiving pager messages due to its reliability across Victoria, and CFA members will be expected to continue to use and carry their pagers.
“We believe both the EAS and SAS have an important place in providing an efficient and effective service to the communities we serve,” Jason said.
More information on the closure of the SMS gateway can be found on the CFA Intranet.
For training materials and frequently asked questions visit www.cfa.vic.gov.au/sas