This week’s news: Toxic soup swim

Australia
Vic: CFA recruits had to swim through contaminated dams

United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall said it demonstrated the CFA did not want to be subjected to public scrutiny and "it has been shown they gave false assurances to the public and employees about the quality of the water".

Vic: Fiskville gag claims
The Union says the email shows the CFA is still hiding information.

Vic: Greens to introduce firefighters' compensation bill
The bill reverses the onus so firefighters do not have to prove that certain types of cancer are work-related.

Vic: Fiskville still smoulders
The Herald Sun reports on another disturbing incident in which firefighters may have been put at risk at the Country Fire Authority training ground at Fiskville (opinion).

NSW: Fire cuts put lives at risk
The fire brigade will have up to $70 million stripped from its budget over the next four years as part of state government cost-cutting.
Fire station cuts a big risk to community.

Qld: Ambos to campaign with Firefighters
They met with firefighters on Monday, where they agreed to wage a joint campaign against the Queensland government.
Qld Unions rally against public sector job cuts.

National: Australia's NAFC plans aerial firefighting future
Early next year, Australia’s National Aerial Firefighting Center (NAFC) will decide on the aerial firefighting fleet that will do battle against the country’s annual bushfire threat over the next few years.

International
NZ: Government bargaining expectations
These are, in effect, the instructions given to the Fire Service Commission.

USA: Connecticut Firefighters rally to keep their jobs
"One of you can make it right tonight for us. It will not be a safe place to have 25 less firemen."
Layoffs to compromise safety.
Fire Department cuts force firefighters to watch and wait.

UK: Essex fire crews announce further industrial action over frontline 999 cuts
This will highlight the serious concerns of frontline professionals while avoiding and limiting disruption during the Olympics.
Essex fire crews on stage at Hard Rock Calling festival.

NZ: Volunteer firefighters search
Finding people to volunteer is turning into a significant problem, especially during working hours.

USA: Top firefighting officials can now write parking tickets
Citation-writing to assist the Oak Ridge Police Department in addressing some parking issues that firefighters often encounter.

UK: Fire crews urge caution over potential future fire service merger
The Fire Brigades Union representing fire crews in both Cambridgeshire and Suffolk have urged extreme caution over proposals for a merger between the two fire and rescue services.

USA: Maintaining fire-apparatus interlocks and interfaces
This device prevents a mechanism from operating when another mechanism is in such a position that the two operating simultaneously might produce undesirable results.

UK: Remembering the FBU strikes and Joe Strummer
With the 10th anniversary of the FBU’s 2002-03 national pay strikes benefit gig, FBU members and other Strummer fans have organised a special event to commemorate both the strikes and the gig.

USA: Hotter and faster: how to fight a modern fire
As modern synthetic materials have changed the way house fires burn, the New York Fire Department is experimenting with new tactics to beat the blazes.

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