Firies

Mooney Mooney RFS provides bushfire, boat fires, motor vehicle accidents and village fire protection for Mooney Mooney and the Hawkesbury River communities.

September 2013 Update

Hi all Mooney and Cheero Residents,

It’s been a while since we passed on some info about your Volunteer Rural Fire Brigade activities, so I have notedfor your information some items that we have been doing and are about to do

Brigade Activities

With the handover of the fire boat to Mooney Mooney brigade we have also taken on a larger response area which includes the river communities from Marlow Creek in the west to Little Wobby Beach in the east and includes the full length of Mooney and Mullet Creeks. To cover this are with the main RFS brigade based at Mooney Mooney it is not physically possible so Community Fire Units have been established.

Community Fire Units

Over the past several months the brigade has been very active in starting CFU (Community Fire Units) in the remote river communities of Marlow Creek, Little Wobby Beach and Bar Point. To date we have established new groups in each of these locations with more members being added every day. These CFU groups are designed to assist in property protection until the main RFS fire fighting crews and equipment can be delivered to the remote river access communities.

Members

To date Mooney Mooney Brigade has over 70 members across the main RFS brigade at Mooney Mooney and the Community Fire Units and we expect this to continue to grow upwards of 90+ members. The main RFS brigade atMooney Mooney still requires new members to cope with the increased area we are covering All members go through basic fire-fighter training and there are plenty of courses to upgrade your skills, anyone who already has a truck drivers licence would be a valued asset to the brigade.

Please remember that there is no age or gender limit in the brigade. We currently have members both Male andFemale and ages ranging from 16 to 65 so please don’t think your too old or the wrong type of person to join and be part of this great community asset.

Activities

Saturday 31st August – 9 crew members went to the Mangrove Dam HR 7 on Mooney truck led by Mike Danielsand 2 members as additional crew for Mt Whites truck. From all accounts everyone had a great day and got lots of burning done and smoke filled lungs! About 4 members who went participated in a HR for the first time and got to see what really happens. All the training done came to fore and all members returned home safely.

Tuesday 3rd September – our first mid-week crew for a long, long time went to a HR at Woy Woy led by Andrew Marsh. This was a National Parks burn and there was a lot of hurry up and wait and the guys finally got to do some burning late in the day. on the way to the HR and on the return trip they are called to MVA’s on the M1 (F3) so at least they had something to talk about.

Saturday 7th September – a crew of 5 will be going to Berowra Waters to assist with the McCallums HR led by Campbell Murdoch

Fire Boat – once again Rob Moxham (oyster farmer) has cleaned the bottom of the boat and its running nice and quick and smooth again. Thanks Rob for you donation of time and efforts to assist the brigade.

Chainsaw - Ross Tierney and Matt Ellison passed their chainsaw course a few weeks ago without incident so we now have 6 accredited chainsaw operators. Thanks to Gordon for getting the gear all ready and up to speed (Again!!!)

Thanks to all the crews who have been out and congratulations on the great job you keep doing and making Mooney the best brigade in the district. Thanks also to all those members who have been assisting with the CFU, the boat, general maintenance and the running of the brigade.

Mooney Mooney RFS Open Day 2012