Happy New Year from the Hutt Valley Volunteer Fire Police!

Training for HVFP resumed on Monday with a trip around the corner and a drill involving three of our key capabilities; lighting, salvage, and traffic management.

Broken up into small teams HVFP members were put to work, creating a 'one lane shunt' to protect an incident scene; establishing salvage kit and a portable dam ready for use; and setting up lighting to light up a building's exterior.

The teams operated with minimal officer supervision, and after each was completed critique was rendered. Each time we do this there's something (or someone) different involved, and we're always learning.

Some images below...

The keen amongst you may have noticed a callout on Monday night for the Unit along the lines of:

(RIMU4928,RIMU4926) .. TRENTHAM, UPPER HUTT: ROOF OFF BUILDING SALVAGE REQUIRED

Yes indeed... Hutt Valley Fire Police now officially have 'Salvage' on their list of capabilities.

Salvage is, for the record, the art of saving property from, and preventing further, damage. In the case of the New Zealand Fire Service, Salvage tasks are usually oriented at situations such as:

• Domestic Flooding (eg burst pipes)
  
• Commercial Flooding (eg sprinkler activations)
  
• Roof Damage / Lifting Roofing Iron (often caused by strong winds).
  

The types of damage that can be prevented through artful Salvage are primarily from Smoke and Water; often only a single room is actually exposed to flames but an entire house can be trashed by the soot, smoke and fumes from that fire - and by the water used to extinguish it.

Rimutaka 4928 is now equipped with Salvage equipment; Aquavac's (vacuum cleaners designed to suck water) and Salvage Sheets (very strong tarps/groundsheets with useful tie-ropes attached) and other useful tools; brooms, squeegies and even an auger. The callout above was actually a Unit exercise, put on to allow HVFP to drill Salvage techniques - and also train with our lighting equipment.

Most appliances carry a very small amount of generic salvage equipment (a couple of Salvage Sheets and some basic hand tools) but only dedicated Salvage Tenders come equipped with a larger range of Salvage equipment. Our friends over at Wellington Fire Support are well equipped for the Salvage role and have been working in this space for a while, but it's a relatively new feather in the HVFP's proverbial cap. With the dedicated Salvage role no longer held by the folks at Tawa Volunteer Fire Brigade, it's a long haul from Kilbirnie station to much of the Hutt Valley; thus HVFP are now providing a first-response capability for Salvage in the Hutt Valley.

For larger jobs, we will have option to call upon Kilbirnie 2426 for backup; likewise they now know that we can provide mutual assistance in Central Wellington should the need arise.

In preparation for taking on this role, Wellington Fire Support received a visit from the HVFP on Monday 7 September. On this evening WFSU provided HVFP with orientation on their Salvage equipment and helped us come to grips with our new equipment.

FP Roberts, Chambers Bedford and SFP Robinson discuss Salvage methods with SSO Arons of Wellington Fire Support (Second from Right)

SSO Ackroyd of HVFP illustrating that with Wellington Fire Support and Hutt Fire Police now cross-trained and thus familiar with eachothers equipment, we can better help our fellow Firefighters across the wider region. (SSO Ackroyd is shown operating an Aquavac from Kilbirnie 2426).

With thanks to the team from the Arapawa Training Centre at Kilbirnie, members of HVFP were brought up to date on First Aid today with training in Primary Assessment & CPR; core skills which all members of the Fire Service need to maintain.

Today we (re)gained proficiency in First-Response CPR on adults, children and infants and in responding to airway blockages; these being some of the most common, most fundamental First Aid aspects.

The focus is twofold; these are skills that are likely to be called upon when on duty as Fire Police, and also these are skills that have a great amount of value both around the home, and the workplace. It does serve to highlight the large amount of value that we as volunteers - and you as our friends, employers and family - gain through our training.

A big thanks to the Training team for making themselves available on a Sunday to allow us to retain proficiency in this most important area.

Also today the Unit had a chance to look over some additional portable power generators that we've added to our inventory. These will be covering for the absence of our Generator/Lighting Plant - which is off having some work done.

The Hutt Valley Fire Police Unit supported the Silverstream and Stokes Valley Volunteer Fire Brigades at their Breathing Apparatus (BA) exercise in a disused dwelling on Eastern Hutt Road. The location of this exercise was on an 80km/h road that generally has a high volume of traffic. The eastern end of the exercise area was about 20 meters from a blind corner which meant that the safety of the fire crews, appliances and the public was the main effort for the Unit.

For the HVFP Unit not only was this a great opportunity to train with other brigades, this was also a very real activity due to its location.

In order to gain benefit from this exercise the Unit held its own exercise as part of the wider event, which involved instruction, training and real time support to the participating Brigades. The aim of our exercise was to protect the scene, close the shoulders of the road and maintain safe two way traffic flow on Eastern Hutt Rd throughout the whole activity. The initial Instruction was for our Officers on the correct placing of speed and shoulder closed signs and the correct spacing and layout of cones for an 80km/h area. Emphasis for the Unit was placed on Officer training and included the awareness of the safety of our own people (HVFP) while working on the road and their positioning so as not to distract motorists as they travelled through the exercise area.

Fire Appliances shrouded by mist... or actually, smoke generated for exercise purposes!

On 26 March, HVFP hopped across the Wainuiomata Hill and visited with the Wainuiomata Fire Police Unit for a meet-and-greet evening. Wainuiomata Fire Police operate as a part of the Wainuiomata Volunteer Fire Brigade and provide similar to support in the Wainuiomata Valley, to that which we provide in the Hutt Valley. The meet-and-greet arranged between our two Units provided an opportunity to get to know eachother, in order that we may better be able to provide mutual assistance when need arises. Right: Wainuiomata 4426 with Trailer fitted, on station.

SO Wayne Nicholson from Wainuiomata FP introduced his team and explained some of their standing operating procedures (SOPs) for operations in the Wainuiomata Fire District. SSO Ackroyd of HVFP did likewise for our Unit. This was followed by walkaround of Wainuiomata 4426, Rimutaka 4926 and Rimutaka 4928, to ensure that all of our guys understand our capabilities and know where to find things in the event we are supporting eachother on the job. Left: SO Wayne Nicholson (Left), OIC Wainuiomata FP, and SSO David Ackroyd, OIC HVFP.

While we were there, Wainuiomata Vol's were getting acquainted with one of the new style fire appliances. As you can see this is an active station; there's also a Wellington Free Ambulance unit based on station, shown in the background next to 4926.

Hutt Valley Fire Police would like to thank Wainuiomata's Fire Police Unit for their hospitality and we look forward to more opportunities to help eachother out in our respective turnout areas.

For the Unit's routine training on Monday 1 December, a traffic control exercise was put on in the vicinity of Rimutaka Prison. With members of the public looking on, members put their traffic control abilities to use, engaging in a one-way shunt on a blind corner.

Left lane coned off. Right lane carrying all traffic in both directions.

Updated! Now with additional imagery after the jump. (click on 'Read More' to view the complete article.)

Monday 1 September saw Hutt Valley Fire Police and Rimutaka 4926 with lighting plant off to Paraparaumu to take part in a training exercise with members Paraparaumu and Waikanae Volunteer Fire Brigades.

The exercise turned out to be a chemical spill in an industrial area near the airport which consisted of two drums of an unknown type of chemical which had fallen over.

Our job as a Unit was to provide lighting to the affected area and to light up the decontamination line / staging point as well as providing traffic control, man power for the BA tender and drinking water for the crews as they came out of BA.

For the new members of the Unit this provided a chance to see how a decontamination line worked and what role we could play, as well as learning new skills For the rest of the Unit it was a chance to polish up on other skills. This training also gave us the opportunity to show the other crews what the Unit was able to do and what gear we could provide in support of an incident.

As the training was coming to a close the radios sprung into life with a call of "NO DUFF" (a genuine event) and then the message that there was an accident out on the main road adjacent to the exercise zone. A motorcycle and a car had collided. Firefighters and Fire Police quickly took control of the scene with HVFP performing traffic control while the fire crews looked after the patients.

Hutt Valley Fire Police would like to thank the CFO, Officers and crew of Paraparaumu Volunteer Fire Brigade for inviting us to take part in their training and look forward to working and training with them in the future.

.
First Image: WAIK381 and AVAL4115 parked near the 'incident'. Second Image: Decontamination Stations set up and ready to go.

At our last Unit Training evening a Traffic Control exercise was undertaken, with the road reduced from 2 lanes to 1 lane (known as a 'shunt') and traffic managed by staff at either end.

This exercise gave the less experienced in our Unit the chance to do some for-real traffic control in a low-stress, educational environment. Light traffic conditions (as well as the rain holding off) made the entire evolution relatively pain-free, and overall the training was quite constructive.

The ability to safely manage traffic around an incident scene is key for Fire Police and the Hutt Valley Fire Police regularly drill these skills to ensure that we can provide the best experience possible for both emergency service crews and motorists, as required at the scene of a fire or other emergency.

Rimutaka 4926 with Lighting Plant provided a 'Scene to Protect'. On training nights - especially where equipment has not been run up for a while - it's good to break out the gear and ensure it still works. This ensures it's readiness in the event of a callout and allows us to quickly identify where remedial maintenance is required.

.
A member of HVFP guides traffic through one end of the Traffic Shunt in the first image. Also above, a wider shot of 4926 with lighting plant fitted, acting as an end-point warning beacon and also lighting up our 'scene'.
Images courtesy FP Mark Foster.

For training on Monday 16 June, members of Hutt Valley Fire Police and Wellington Fire Support both visited the Wellington Fire Communications Centre (Firecom). This was an opportunity to see the 'other end' of the fire turnout process and we had opportunity to chat with the duty shift, and observe some actual inbound 111 calls and brigade responses to a variety of incidents during our short stay.

New Zealand Fire Service, along with NZ Police, Wellington Free Ambulance, Hutt Valley Rescue, Lower Hutt City Council Civil Defence, Toll Rail, and Upper Hutt Community Rescue were involved with 'Exercise Tunnel' conducted at the Rimutaka Rail Tunnel, Maymourn Upper Hutt on Sun 25 May 08.