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The state firefighter championships was recently held at Limestone Park in Ipswich. The events take place over three days and include a large safety expo in addition to the the firefighter championships. The winner runner up and third place getter will now compete in the Australasian competitions to be held in October at Rotorua, New Zealand.

1st    Monto
2nd    Caboolture
3rd    Kilcoy
 
Champion Firefighter    Steve Avis
 

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Safety Expo   Competition Day 1   Competition Day 2

Over the weekend of 20th and 21st June the 2009 South East Region Firefighter championships were held at Limestone Park in Ipswich with the winning teams competing against other regions in the State championships to be held in a few weeks.

 
1st    Mt Tamborine
2nd    Marburg
3rd    Laidley
 
Champion Firefighter    Danny Edser
 

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Day 1   Day 2

At approx 1pm fire crews were called to reports of a fire in the new bar of the Norman Hotel at Woolloongabba. On arrival a section of the hotel was well involved and a second alarm was called. Crews quickly went into action bringing the fire under control and preventing it spreading to the older historic part of the structure, which suffered smoke and water damage only. The bottle shop and beer garden however were destroyed. Initial reports indicate sparks from a grinder ignited a stack of polystyrene boxes in an area under construction. One worker was transported to hospital with minor burns.

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QFRS Scientific officers have spent the night monitoring air quality around the scene of a factory fire in Salisbury. A total of 12 appliances (48 firefighters) and two teams of Scientific officers attended the blaze which broke out just before 9pm in Textile Cr, Salisbury.

The single storey building, approximately 60 by 30 metres, was believed to have been used to store foam and construct foam mattresses. It took firefighters about two-and-a-half hours to bring the fire under control and fire investigators and Police scientific officers will be on scene this morning to determine a cause.

Personnel from Police, Energex, Brisbane City Council and Work Place Health & Safety were also on scene during the incident.

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In order to maintain operational skills in the area of Technical Rescue and Counter Terrorism response, QFRS recently conducted an exercise at the Swanbank Power Station. The scenario involved an explosion in the main boiler room, which left two staff members hanging in harnesses five stories up, and 10 others injured. Then a call was received from a terrorist organisation claiming that the first explosion was only the beginning and a second device was located.

Thirty firefighters from the following QFRS Terrorism Exercise Counter stations participated in the exercise: Ipswich, Bundamba, Karana Downs, Camira, Mt Ommaney, West Logan and the Special Ops team from Cannon Hill. Inter-agency participation included 100 CS Energy, 10 QPS bomb squad and 10 QAS trauma team personnel.

As you can see by the photos below, very precarious work. Hopefully gives you some idea of the kind of situations these folks take in their stride. The shots also do not convey the huge heat stress load being placed on the emergency services workers who are actually operating directly between two giant boilers inside the power station. It was like being in a sauna only with full protective clothing. The exercise was called off a little early due to this hence the photos of the rescue end rather abruptly.

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At approximately 9am a huge fire has broken out at what is believed to be an area used to store toilet paper within the the Index Park Warehouse complex on Sherwood Road Sherwood. The 15,000 m2 (150×100) structure is home to 90 businesses and 400 self storage units and was well engulfed on arrival. As the situation escalated a number of appliances responded, make pumps 10 (5 alarm), 3 aerials, various support units and Senior Officers.

Initially a defensive posture was adopted and attempts to attack the fire appeared to be significantly hampered by lack of available water. With no hydrants anywhere on the complex working a number of pumps were required to relay water from nearby streets to the site of the fire.

An emergency situation was declared, perimeter roadblocks established and residents advised to stay in their homes and switch off air conditioners. As the toxic plume from the fire was going over the top of houses at a safe distance residents were not evacuated. There was some concern over asbestos super six roof sheeting however constant scientific testing was conducted with results proving negligible.

The blaze caused extensive damage and virtually gutted the entire complex. It took 70 firefighters many hours to bring the fire under control with crews remaining on site overnight to monitor the situation.

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