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The Advertiser
01-06-2025
- General
- The Advertiser
Firies forced to use paper maps to find emergencies
More than two years after a cyber attack crippled communication systems, firefighters in one state are still being forced to use personal phones and printed maps to navigate to emergencies. Fire Rescue Victoria is investigating the cause of five system outages last month, which lasted up to seven hours at a time. The United Firefighters Union says the outages are risking public safety, a claim FRV strongly denies. The Station Turn Out (STO) system, used to dispatch crews to emergencies failed, with firefighters receiving phone calls from dispatchers asking if they had received notices to attend emergencies. The notices had never arrived. Firefighters and dispatchers had to rely on fallbacks and workarounds like manual phone calls, pagers, and pen and paper to respond to emergencies. The union says one outage occurred in late April, followed by the five in May. The same system also provides emergency tones throughout stations, delivers routing information to firefighters and advice on hydrant location. In its absence firefighters relied on a combination of Google Maps on their personal phones, Melway street directories, and separate apps. The union said neither the outages nor resolutions were communicated by management to firefighters -instead they became aware through communication between stations or a call from Triple Zero Victoria. In a letter sent to Commissioner Gavin Freeman seen by AAP, United Firefighters Union Secretary Peter Marshall said the failure of the critical systems put firefighters and the community at risk. "The failure of these systems has potentially grave impacts," Mr Marshall told AAP on Sunday. "Firefighters are resourceful in protecting public safety, but these failures make that job more difficult and dangerous." On Sunday, Fire Rescue Victoria confirmed it had experienced "intermittent technical issues" since May 24. "We are working closely with Triple Zero Victoria and external experts to investigate the underlying cause of these STO/Firecom outages and resolve the ongoing issue," a spokesperson said in a statement. "When STO/Firecom outages occur, FRV has contingency plans in place which ensure there is no impact to emergency response. "At no time has public safety been compromised and the community should continue to contact Triple Zero (000) as usual in an emergency." Victorian health minister Mary-Anne Thomas said cyber attacks were a real and present threat to both the private and public system. "It's important that all our public services have contingency plans in place should there be an incident, and that's what FRV implemented," Ms Thomas told reporters on Sunday. Questions still remain over the December 2022 cyber attack. The hack significantly affected Fire Rescue Victoria's technology and communications systems and exposed sensitive information. It also left the Firecom firefighting information system offline for a year, and affected the rostering system for much longer. More than two years after a cyber attack crippled communication systems, firefighters in one state are still being forced to use personal phones and printed maps to navigate to emergencies. Fire Rescue Victoria is investigating the cause of five system outages last month, which lasted up to seven hours at a time. The United Firefighters Union says the outages are risking public safety, a claim FRV strongly denies. The Station Turn Out (STO) system, used to dispatch crews to emergencies failed, with firefighters receiving phone calls from dispatchers asking if they had received notices to attend emergencies. The notices had never arrived. Firefighters and dispatchers had to rely on fallbacks and workarounds like manual phone calls, pagers, and pen and paper to respond to emergencies. The union says one outage occurred in late April, followed by the five in May. The same system also provides emergency tones throughout stations, delivers routing information to firefighters and advice on hydrant location. In its absence firefighters relied on a combination of Google Maps on their personal phones, Melway street directories, and separate apps. The union said neither the outages nor resolutions were communicated by management to firefighters -instead they became aware through communication between stations or a call from Triple Zero Victoria. In a letter sent to Commissioner Gavin Freeman seen by AAP, United Firefighters Union Secretary Peter Marshall said the failure of the critical systems put firefighters and the community at risk. "The failure of these systems has potentially grave impacts," Mr Marshall told AAP on Sunday. "Firefighters are resourceful in protecting public safety, but these failures make that job more difficult and dangerous." On Sunday, Fire Rescue Victoria confirmed it had experienced "intermittent technical issues" since May 24. "We are working closely with Triple Zero Victoria and external experts to investigate the underlying cause of these STO/Firecom outages and resolve the ongoing issue," a spokesperson said in a statement. "When STO/Firecom outages occur, FRV has contingency plans in place which ensure there is no impact to emergency response. "At no time has public safety been compromised and the community should continue to contact Triple Zero (000) as usual in an emergency." Victorian health minister Mary-Anne Thomas said cyber attacks were a real and present threat to both the private and public system. "It's important that all our public services have contingency plans in place should there be an incident, and that's what FRV implemented," Ms Thomas told reporters on Sunday. Questions still remain over the December 2022 cyber attack. The hack significantly affected Fire Rescue Victoria's technology and communications systems and exposed sensitive information. It also left the Firecom firefighting information system offline for a year, and affected the rostering system for much longer. More than two years after a cyber attack crippled communication systems, firefighters in one state are still being forced to use personal phones and printed maps to navigate to emergencies. Fire Rescue Victoria is investigating the cause of five system outages last month, which lasted up to seven hours at a time. The United Firefighters Union says the outages are risking public safety, a claim FRV strongly denies. The Station Turn Out (STO) system, used to dispatch crews to emergencies failed, with firefighters receiving phone calls from dispatchers asking if they had received notices to attend emergencies. The notices had never arrived. Firefighters and dispatchers had to rely on fallbacks and workarounds like manual phone calls, pagers, and pen and paper to respond to emergencies. The union says one outage occurred in late April, followed by the five in May. The same system also provides emergency tones throughout stations, delivers routing information to firefighters and advice on hydrant location. In its absence firefighters relied on a combination of Google Maps on their personal phones, Melway street directories, and separate apps. The union said neither the outages nor resolutions were communicated by management to firefighters -instead they became aware through communication between stations or a call from Triple Zero Victoria. In a letter sent to Commissioner Gavin Freeman seen by AAP, United Firefighters Union Secretary Peter Marshall said the failure of the critical systems put firefighters and the community at risk. "The failure of these systems has potentially grave impacts," Mr Marshall told AAP on Sunday. "Firefighters are resourceful in protecting public safety, but these failures make that job more difficult and dangerous." On Sunday, Fire Rescue Victoria confirmed it had experienced "intermittent technical issues" since May 24. "We are working closely with Triple Zero Victoria and external experts to investigate the underlying cause of these STO/Firecom outages and resolve the ongoing issue," a spokesperson said in a statement. "When STO/Firecom outages occur, FRV has contingency plans in place which ensure there is no impact to emergency response. "At no time has public safety been compromised and the community should continue to contact Triple Zero (000) as usual in an emergency." Victorian health minister Mary-Anne Thomas said cyber attacks were a real and present threat to both the private and public system. "It's important that all our public services have contingency plans in place should there be an incident, and that's what FRV implemented," Ms Thomas told reporters on Sunday. Questions still remain over the December 2022 cyber attack. The hack significantly affected Fire Rescue Victoria's technology and communications systems and exposed sensitive information. It also left the Firecom firefighting information system offline for a year, and affected the rostering system for much longer. More than two years after a cyber attack crippled communication systems, firefighters in one state are still being forced to use personal phones and printed maps to navigate to emergencies. Fire Rescue Victoria is investigating the cause of five system outages last month, which lasted up to seven hours at a time. The United Firefighters Union says the outages are risking public safety, a claim FRV strongly denies. The Station Turn Out (STO) system, used to dispatch crews to emergencies failed, with firefighters receiving phone calls from dispatchers asking if they had received notices to attend emergencies. The notices had never arrived. Firefighters and dispatchers had to rely on fallbacks and workarounds like manual phone calls, pagers, and pen and paper to respond to emergencies. The union says one outage occurred in late April, followed by the five in May. The same system also provides emergency tones throughout stations, delivers routing information to firefighters and advice on hydrant location. In its absence firefighters relied on a combination of Google Maps on their personal phones, Melway street directories, and separate apps. The union said neither the outages nor resolutions were communicated by management to firefighters -instead they became aware through communication between stations or a call from Triple Zero Victoria. In a letter sent to Commissioner Gavin Freeman seen by AAP, United Firefighters Union Secretary Peter Marshall said the failure of the critical systems put firefighters and the community at risk. "The failure of these systems has potentially grave impacts," Mr Marshall told AAP on Sunday. "Firefighters are resourceful in protecting public safety, but these failures make that job more difficult and dangerous." On Sunday, Fire Rescue Victoria confirmed it had experienced "intermittent technical issues" since May 24. "We are working closely with Triple Zero Victoria and external experts to investigate the underlying cause of these STO/Firecom outages and resolve the ongoing issue," a spokesperson said in a statement. "When STO/Firecom outages occur, FRV has contingency plans in place which ensure there is no impact to emergency response. "At no time has public safety been compromised and the community should continue to contact Triple Zero (000) as usual in an emergency." Victorian health minister Mary-Anne Thomas said cyber attacks were a real and present threat to both the private and public system. "It's important that all our public services have contingency plans in place should there be an incident, and that's what FRV implemented," Ms Thomas told reporters on Sunday. Questions still remain over the December 2022 cyber attack. The hack significantly affected Fire Rescue Victoria's technology and communications systems and exposed sensitive information. It also left the Firecom firefighting information system offline for a year, and affected the rostering system for much longer.
Canberra Times
01-06-2025
- General
- Canberra Times
Firies forced to use paper maps to find emergencies
The United Firefighters Union says the outages are risking public safety, a claim FRV strongly denies. The Station Turn Out (STO) system, used to dispatch crews to emergencies failed, with firefighters receiving phone calls from dispatchers asking if they had received notices to attend emergencies.
Herald Sun
28-04-2025
- Herald Sun
Firefighters tackle 2sq km blaze at Alfredton green waste plant
Don't miss out on the headlines from Ballarat. Followed categories will be added to My News. Ballarat firefighters spent nearly five hours bringing a massive fire at a green waste recycling plant under control on Anzac Day. Fire Rescue Victoria responded to a the fire on Learmonth St, Alfredton at 9.30am Friday, with crews from Lucas arriving to find a 40m by 50m row of material on fire. The windrow was letting off smoke into Delacombe and Winter Valley, with crews concerned about air quality affecting residents in surrounding suburbs. An FRV spokesman said there were also 'fears the blaze could expand significantly' as the fire was threatening nearby piles of green waste and scraps of building material. Alongside specialist equipment, firefighters set up 450m twin hoses from the road to the back of the plant. A large excavator pulled the windrow apart to assist with extinguishing the fire. It took nearly five hours to bring the fire under control. Police & Courts The former North Melbourne star has been embroiled in a police probe after claiming he was held hostage during a late night car sale gone wrong. Hyperlocal Sebastopol proved to be a hot market last week with five properties selling for a total value of $2 million. See the latest auction and sales results.
Borneo Post
21-04-2025
- Borneo Post
Pickup truck plunges into ravine in Belaga, leaving one dead
The pickup truck carrying six people plunged into a 15-meter-deep ravine at Jalan Jiwa Murni. -Bomba photo BELAGA (April 21): A 48-year old man was killed when a pickup truck he was driving plunged into a 15-metre-deep ravine along Jalan Jiwa Murni on Sunday. A spokesman from the Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) operations centre said the deceased was identified as Wielie Blata from Punan Ba, Belaga. The victim was found trapped beneath the vehicle after the crash. Firefighters used Fire Rescue Vehicle (FRV) equipment to lift the truck and retrieve his body. 'The victim was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel and the victim's body was handed over to the police in Belaga for further action,' he said. Firefighters from the Belaga fire station were rushed to the scene after receiving a distress call at 4.15pm. It was reported that four victims had already been rescued by members of the public and sent to Belaga Health Clinic for further treatment. 'Another victim, a woman who was found outside the vehicle with head injuries, was carefully extracted by rescue personnel using a scoop stretcher before being handed over to KKM Belaga for further treatment at the same clinic,' he said. After ensuring the scene was fully secure, rescue teams concluded the operations around 7.30pm. bomba fatal accident lead ravine
The Independent
17-04-2025
- General
- The Independent
Helicopter crashes at Melbourne airport moments after takeoff
A helicopter carrying two people crashed in Melbourne just minutes after taking off on Thursday, leaving one person injured. The incident occurred around 2.30pm local time (4.30am GMT), when an R44 helicopter took off for what was described as a training operation. Two people were on board, the pilot and a passenger. Both suffered minor injuries, with one taken to The Alfred hospital for further treatment, authorities said. Photographs from the scene showed the mangled remains of the helicopter lying near a runway, with a crumpled rotor blade and a detached tail section. Fire Rescue Victoria said fuel had begun leaking from the wreck immediately after the crash, raising the risk of a fire. 'Unable to stop the leak, FRV crews laid a blanket of firefighting foam over the spilt fuel and aircraft and isolated power sources to the helicopter to ensure the fuel did not ignite,' the agency said in a statement. Victoria Police confirmed there were no fatalities and said emergency services were called promptly after the crash. 'Two people were on the craft at the time and one person suffered non-life-threatening injuries,' police said. 'WorkSafe and ATSB will be notified of the incident.'
