Association President & Vice President 2005/06
At the Association's Annual General Meeting held Sunday 11th September 2005, Ex Captain Hans van Hamond (Wendouree) and Ex Captain Rob Waterson (Cohuna) were re-elected President and Vice President respectively of the Association, for the next 12 months.

Retirements and Appointments
The Association's September meeting was the final meeting for retiring Executive Members Ron Hooper (Region 22), Alan Magee (Region 2) and Ken Miller (Region 11).  Ron, Alan and Ken were each thanked for their contribution to the Association. 
Ex Captain Phil Slender (Tatura) replaces Ron, Lieutenant Mark Kelly (Dunolly) replaces Alan and Captain Geof Bassett (Lakes Entrance) replaces Ken.

Re-Appointment to VFBV Board
Brigades were advised of an impending vacancy on the Board of VFBV due to Rob Watersons’ term expiring in September 2005.  The only application received was from Rob Waterson, and the Association at its Annual General Meeting, resolved to re-appoint Rob for a term of three years.

CFA Board Vacancy
The Association has agreed on a panel of four names in a priority order to be submitted to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services from which an appointment to the CFA Board is to be made.  Captain Peter Marke, one of the current representatives of urban volunteers on the Board and whose term expires 31st December, is included on the list.

Structural Apparel
The Association has been represented on the Working Party selecting the new structural apparel and has been frustrated at the length of time it has taken to get this new protective clothing into service.  Field trials of the new structural apparel were initially scheduled to take place between March and May 2004.   By August 2004, the trials had not commenced and the Association wrote to the CFA seeking to have the trials expedited.   As the trials had still not commenced by July 2005, the Association wrote to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services requesting that the CFA be required to commence the field trials without further delay. The Association is pleased to note that measurements have now been taken of those firefighters taking part in the trials and the individual ensembles are currently being manufactured.

FEM
With the proposed changes to the management of FEM within CFA, Regional Council 23 requested the Association obtain an assurance from the CFA that the CFA did not intend to “sell” the FEM business.  The Association was pleased to receive the CFA's assurance that there is no plan or intention to sell off the Fire Equipment Maintenance business.

Meeting with Integrated Brigades
On 31st July, the Association held a meeting with volunteer officers of Integrated Brigades and some brigades identified as future Integrated Brigades.  Some of the issues discussed included Brigade Management Teams, brigade budgets, officer structure including re-introduction of position of Captain, shortage of career staff, duty crews, recruiting, operation of watchrooms, officer training and minimum skills.  All attending agreed that the meeting was worthwhile and another meeting will be held on 30th July 2006.

Items Raised with the CFA on Behalf of Regional Councils etc.:
• option of position of Captain at integrated brigades;
• communicating to First Lieutenants of integrated brigades when corresponding to Captains of fully volunteer brigades;
• standard policy and process for alarming key cabinets;
• implementation of a BA warning system and expediting the trials being conducted at Dandenong;
• provision of a database of CFA approved equipment and its accessibility on Brigades On Line;
• standard first aid kit maintained by the PE Section for every vehicle and workstation;
• usage of the current structural jacket;
• turnout response time of four minutes;
• inclusion of appropriate information from the Intranet, on Brigades on Line also;
• request to expedite the manufacture of road rescue vehicles currently at McDonald Johnson;
• condition of the spare road rescue vehicle delivered to Casterton;
• appointment of a PPE Officer and lack of any advancement with PPE; 
• new structural glove distributed to all structural brigades;
• lengthy delays of power company attending storm damage incidents;
• issues arising from re-alignment of CFA boundaries with Municipal and DHS Regional boundaries;
• inappropriateness of persons presenting service awards;
• clarification of 3.4 Hino tankers weight issue;
• date for issue of updated pumper tanker manuals;
• provision of a single fly ladder on NSW type pumpers.

CFA has Responded to the Association in Respect of the Following Matters:
• FEM issues raised by Wangaratta brigade;
• lack of opportunity to be placed on Train Small Groups training course;
• practice of not recognising prior volunteer service of career firefighters;
• additional time be allowed for comment on Guidelines for Operating Private Equipment at Fires; 
• inability to supply adequate uniforms to some brigades in Region 22;
• results of the Association's Long Service award survey;
• Cohuna’s application for Road Rescue equipment;
• changes to the administration of FEM;
• National Medal presentations;
• Minimum Skills program;
• modification to radios in brigade owned cars;
• operation of the alarm on brigade key cabinets following works by communications technicians;
• issue raised by Craigieburn regarding a Senior Volunteer Officer;
• CFA & Brigades Donations Fund issue of duplicate documentation forwarded to brigades via Regions;
• delay of 2 years for processing several applications for National Medals by the Shepparton brigade;
• proposed changes to the governance of FEM;
• lack of detailed information received from Country Call Taking Centre in Ballarat;
• CFA corporate support for State Championships; 
• short notice given to brigades of the Memorial Service;
• updating CFA Electric Timing Equipment and disc at top of the ladder staging be enclosed in a wire cage;
• clarification of interpretation of different Hazard Classes;
• developing a Discipline Policy for Junior members;
• BA sets supplied to brigades and a National Warning for BA wearers.

Association Meeting Dates 2006
The Association has agreed to the following meeting dates for 2006.  Regional Councils are encouraged to schedule their meetings to accord with the Association's General Meetings.

General Meeting Sun  4th December 2005
Open Forum  Sat  8th April 2006 
General Meeting Sun  9th April 2006
General Meeting Sun  18th June 2006 
Integrated Brigades  Sun  30th July 2006 
A.G.M.    Sun  10th September 2006 
General Meeting Sun  3rd December 2006 

Championship Items

The Association has approved the following venues for the State Championships to be held from 2007 to 2009:

           Juniors                      Seniors
2007   Tatura                       Bendigo
2008   Traralgon                  Swan Hill
2009    Hamilton                  Warrnambool

Pumper Event
 Following trials of appropriate service branches for the Pumper Event, the Association will use Acron 1717 branches set on a straight jet with the pump operated at 500kpa at 360 litres of water per minute at future State Championships. Alternatively, Protek 366 branches can be used at local competitions on the same settings.

P E DAVIS
Secretary
Web Site:   www.vicnet.net.au/~vufba/ 
E-mail:   vufba@vfbv.com.au