QFRS - Fleet 732, Scania, Medium Urban Rescue Pump

[Stretch]

The Northern Region Coastal Spare currently running as 113A (Wulguru)









And a shot of the mid mount pump.

[mitch]

Having holidays up there or something lately?

[Stretch]

Having holidays up there or something lately?

Yeah I had a week up there. Went up for the V8 Supercars

And a bit of fire truck stuff


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[Sawman]

Hi Stretch
Some great photos.

Can you answer some questions for me, as Im a member of an interstate fire service but am interested in how QFRS is set up.

How does the appliance numbering work? I see for eg that this is unit 732 and what is the Alpha, Juliet all about. In NSW they number the Appliances as per the Station Number Darlo Stn is 4 pump and 4 ladders.

Is there a reason that QFRS appliances don't have the same style about them. eg some have full red cabs other have white topped cabs, the reflective stylings are in different styles and patterns. I would have thought that part of company id the trucks should be easy to id by looking the same as one another. I am guessing that it has to do with the age of the vehicle but just wanted to clarify. I know that in NSW we have the new fluro yellow pattern so all of ours aren't currently the same but they are changing them all across to the new styling. I know the yellow vehicles are the Rural side of the QFRS.

Thanks in advance, please understand I'm not saying we do things better, i just noticed the little differences in your photos and was wondering if there was a reason for them

[Stretch]

Hey Sawman. Thanks for taking the time to look at the photos and ask questions, I love it when people ask questions. I'm currently on my phone so when I get on the computer I'll give you a detailed answer to your question.

Cheers
Mitch


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[Stretch]

Alright.

There are two ways that the appliances are numbered.

Method 1

The fleet number (which in this case is 732) stays with the appliance for ever and will never be used on another appliance again. This is a unique identifying number to keep track of the vehicle where ever it moves around the state it will always stay the same. The fleet numbers go up one by one as each appliance is comissioned so the higher the fleet the newer the appliance.

Method 2

Their callsign which you will hear on the radio. It is made up of three components. They are, the region number, the station number, and a letter which identifies what type of appliance it is.

The regions are;

1 - Northern (Townsville)
2 - Central (Rockhampton)
3 - South West (Toowoomba)
4 - North Coast (Sunshine Coast)
5 - Brisbane
6 - South East (Gold Coast and surrounding areas)
7 - Far Northern (Cairns)

Station numbers (the rest can be found on here)

31 - Southport

Alpha Identifier;

A - First Response Rescue Pump
B - Second Response Rescue Pump
C - First Non Rescue Pump
D - Second Non Rescue Pump
E - 4WD Pumper
F - HAZMAT
G - Turntable Ladder
H - Hydraulic Platform
I - Telescopic Ladder Platform
J - Telescopic Aerial Pumper
K - Emergency Tender
L - Technical Rescue
M - Command and Rescue Vehicle
N - Spare
O - HAZMAT BA & HAZMAT Response Unit
P - BA Support
Q - HAZMAT Support Unit
R -
S - BA HAZMAT Support Unit
T - Command and Control Unit
U - Communications Unit
V - Bulk Water Tanker
W - Bulk Foam Carrier
X - Facilities Unit
Y - Light Attack
Z - Spare

As for the different colour schemes, I can't comment on that. I don't know why they change.

Hope this helps

P.S. The fleet numbers appears on the vehicles registration plate as well

EDIT - Fixed up the platform identifiers and info about the rego plates - Thanks Comint.

[Sawman]

Thanks Stretch
Thats clarified things greatly.

[firescan]

The colour scheme has not long changed, to include the half white cabs, those appliances without this colour will have it the next time they are refurbed. And what Stretch has given is correct In addition to the numbering, in some instances the station number can also be broken down, where the first number is the area the station belongs too, and the second is the station number, this has been true for the Northern region up until a while ago when the areas changed a little. Western Command, Northern Region still applies to this where, 1 = Northern 3 = Western Command 5 = Mount Isa, and then each vehicle has an alpha identifier, as Stretch pointed out North coast is the same. where 4 - North Coast 5 = Gympie Area 1 = Gympie Station , giving 451A for their rescue or composite Pumper. Then u get Brisbane and South East... Where it's like they have used the lotto to draw numbers I'm sure it makes sense when it needs too

[Comint]

In addition to the numbering, in some instances the station number can also be broken down, where the first number is the area the station belongs too, and the second is the station number,

That is also the situation in South Western Region (Region 3), where all the Stations in Area 1 start with 1, Area 2 Stations start with 2, Area 3 Stations start with 3, etc.

And with the exception of Region 3, Area 3, Station x1 in each Area is the Main Station.
eg.,
Region 3 Station 11 - Toowoomba - Area 1
Region 3 Station 21 - Warwick - Area 2
Region 3 Station 32 - Dalby - Area 3
Region 3 Station 41 - Goondiwindi - Area 4
Region 3 Station 51 - Roma - Area 5
Region 3 Station 61 - Charleville - Area 6

One of the reasons that the Appliance Callsign includes the Region Number is that Appliances in the more remote areas use Satellite Phones rather than VHF or UHF radios, and any one of the seven Comcentres can answer a call, although the Main Earth Station for the Satellite system is in Toowoomba.

--
Comint

[Rudager]

In addition to the numbering, in some instances the station number can also be broken down, where the first number is the area the station belongs too, and the second is the station number,

That is also the situation in South Western Region (Region 3), where all the Stations in Area 1 start with 1, Area 2 Stations start with 2, Area 3 Stations start with 3, etc.

And with the exception of Region 3, Area 3, Station x1 in each Area is the Main Station.
eg.,
Region 3 Station 11 - Toowoomba - Area 1
Region 3 Station 21 - Warwick - Area 2
Region 3 Station 32 - Dalby - Area 3
Region 3 Station 41 - Goondiwindi - Area 4
Region 3 Station 51 - Roma - Area 5
Region 3 Station 61 - Charleville - Area 6

One of the reasons that the Appliance Callsign includes the Region Number is that Appliances in the more remote areas use Satellite Phones rather than VHF or UHF radios, and any one of the seven Comcentres can answer a call, although the Main Earth Station for the Satellite system is in Toowoomba.

--
Comint

Further to that, in the instances of the old callsign system (eg 901, 930, 517, 601 etc), there were some incidents such as the movie studio fire at Warner Bros. Movie World which attracted duplicate callsigns such as 911 Toowoomba and 911 Hendra, therefore, the system was modified to include regions as well.

[firescan]

One of the reasons that the Appliance Callsign includes the Region Number is that Appliances in the more remote areas use Satellite Phones rather than VHF or UHF radios, and any one of the seven Comcentres can answer a call, although the Main Earth Station for the Satellite system is in Toowoomba.

Not sure what you mean by this?????

[Phil]

the further out you get into Regional Qld the less radio coverage there is. alot of units use Satphones instead of UHF/VHF radios.

[Sawman]

Thanks guys,

Geez the numbering system is starting to sound very complicated to me.

I can understand the Regional Number first clarifies the region, but is that really important?

When we respond Regions don't really come into it. Our stations are just numbered from 1 up and we use that as the identifier, there are no double ups of station numbers.

The half white cabs look great I'm suprised the livery has remained as the dull yellow stripes instead of bright fluro lime yellow ones ( seems to be the rage at the moment with NSW Ambos, Fire, QAS and now I see the Road Assistance guys in QLD are using the British style livery )

[Rohan]

Thanks guys,

Geez the numbering system is starting to sound very complicated to me.

I can understand the Regional Number first clarifies the region, but is that really important?

When we respond Regions don't really come into it. Our stations are just numbered from 1 up and we use that as the identifier, there are no double ups of station numbers.

The half white cabs look great I'm suprised the livery has remained as the dull yellow stripes instead of bright fluro lime yellow ones ( seems to be the rage at the moment with NSW Ambos, Fire, QAS and now I see the Road Assistance guys in QLD are using the British style livery )

your from nsw arent you where there are onkly the 2 different comms centres newcastle and sydney permanetly and then there are the volunteer ones in the fire season if im correct? in qld their are 7 different comms centres opperating full time to control each seperate reigion so if there is an incident in south east reigion but an appliance from south west reigion goes to it because they are closer when they book onto the south east reigion as 311A and 311L for arguements sake and there is another incident in south east reigion that has 611A and 611L at they are very eisily identified as being different incidents does that make a sense?

[Phil]

Rohan,

in NSW there are four Communication Centres

Sydney
Newcastle
Wollongong
Katoomba

each centre controls different areas of the state.

Sydney Comms - Serves the Sydney Metro Area- MN,ME,MS,WE
Katoomba Comms - Serves Regional West Area
Woolongong Comms - Serves Regional South Area
Newcastle Comms - Serves Regional North Area

[firescan]

the further out you get into Regional Qld the less radio coverage there is. alot of units use Satphones instead of UHF/VHF radios.

Yes I know that, I mean the part where any comm centre can take the sat phone call????

The crew rings the comm centre they need, it's not an all out call to the whole state.

[Comint]

in NSW there are four Communication Centres

Sydney
Newcastle
Wollongong
Katoomba

Apparently Katoomba and Wollongong are scheduled to be decommissioned in 2012, leaving only Alexandria (Sydney) and Newcastle, both of which are to be upgraded.

--
Comint

[Phil]

i can understand that the FRNSW would be trying to remove sites however i was unaware of this thank you for that.

[Sawman]

your from nsw arent you where there are onkly the 2 different comms centres newcastle and sydney permanetly and then there are the volunteer ones in the fire season if im correct? in qld their are 7 different comms centres opperating full time to control each seperate reigion so if there is an incident in south east reigion but an appliance from south west reigion goes to it because they are closer when they book onto the south east reigion as 311A and 311L for arguements sake and there is another incident in south east reigion that has 611A and 611L at they are very eisily identified as being different incidents does that make a sense?

Yeah I'm from NSW, in fact the new rumour for NSW is that Katoomba and the Gong are going to close and Sydney Comms will be moved to Homebush beside the RFS Head Office as the training centre at Alexandra is being closed due to EPA (old name) restrictions for live fire training burns. I think Alexandra Station will remain but they will sell the land behind it (currently the training centre). The new training centre is going out to Londonary CSIRO centre near Penrith and the USAR training centre has yet to be agreed upon, i have heard that it definately wont be at Londonary. It all falls inline with the RFS taking on the CAD turn out system as well. Whilst the Comms centres in nsw are responsible are for certain sections of the state on blow up days they can "distribute excess calls" to another comms centre to relieve Sydney Comms.

[Sawman]

Sorry to go off topic a bit but are any of you permo firies with QFRS. If you are can you PM me as I would like to ask a few questions.