Coondle-Nunile Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade in Coondle, Western Australia, Australia | Non-profit organisation

Coondle-Nunile Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade

Locality: Coondle, Western Australia, Australia

Address: Toodyay Bindi Bindi Road 6566 Coondle, WA, Australia

Website: http://www.toodyay.wa.gov.au/Resident-Services/Fire-Information/Volunteering/Coondle-Nunile-Volunteer-Bush-Fire-Brigade

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24.01.2022 What a day we had yesterday at our first Toodyay Markets! Kids came from every direction wanting to explore the fire trucks and play 'knock em down' with the hoses. And when the kids come, the parents are dragged along for a chat- its the perfect trap. We were able to answer a load of great questions about fire safety and what we do as volunteer fire fighters, we also have some new members ready to sign up with us in about 10 years, when they're old enough ... We had a great day, hopefully you can expect to see us down there again soon- all depending on how kind this fire season is of course. Thank you everyone who came to say hello and thanks a billion to all those who donated to our members who are participating in this year's Movember- raising money for men's mental health- something we at Coondle feel very strongly about.

23.01.2022 This is the Coondle 1.4 at the fire on Toodyay Rd on Wednesday afternoon. We are now on our third crew change, well done to all who have given up their sleep and got this thing controlled

22.01.2022 Santa has been in touch with us, and asked if the people in Coondle, Nunile and West Toodyay would be interested in a Santa run. Probably on Saturday 12th December. Please let us know in comments if you are interested, and the road you live on

21.01.2022 It's a bit fancy compared to what we had up on the hill on Coondle west rd, but we're pretty happy with our new 'facility'. (Feels odd calling it a shed). Although we were thrown into this baby at the end of last year, right as fire season started, we were finally able to have our official opening on Saturday the 10th of October (I feel like that may have even been a full year ). As we all know, life, fires and a pandemic sometimes get in the way of things and we just have t...o go with the flow! So flow we did. We had a great day celebrating and showing off our new home. Thank you so much to everyone who made the day possible and came to help us celebrate, we certainly appreciate everything we have been given. We have gone from being the epitome of a country brigade in our trusty, rusty little shed full of spiderwebs tucked away in the bush, to sipping tea from fine china and eating cucumber sandwiches at our beautiful, very shiny, very white 'fire station'. (Well not quite, but it certainly feels like it!)

21.01.2022 With thanks to Bakers Hill Bushfire Brigade. And our Fire Control Officers also would like to share this Request from a Local Bush Fire Control Officer" With the Pending storm front with possible Extreme winds please do NOT light any outdoor Fires/burns and monitor any that have been lit closely as the conditions will make a Fire hard to safely control and keep contained. ... For Storm alerts please check Emergency WA website and call the SES on 132 500 for storm damage assistance, Call 000 in a life threatening emergency.

21.01.2022 This is an excerpt from an opinion piece published in the Guardian by Dr Geoff Goldrick , a deputy captain with the NSW Rural Fire Service in Northern NSW. I thought it summed up a volunteers life quite well........... Scott Morrison recently dismissed concerns about the thousands of volunteer firefighters doing long hours over many weeks saying they want to be there.... Yes, we do want to help our communities. Yes, it is great to be part of a family of dedicated men and women who are willing to sacrifice time and money to perform essential services. We are proud to be volunteers. But there are limits! There is a public perception that firefighting is heroic, but in reality, standing in front of a wall of fire armed with a hose is something firefighters try to avoid. Most firefighting is just bloody hard work, and often boring. Back-burning, blacking out, raking firebreaks, patrolling through the night, sitting around waiting to be tasked by an overwhelmed IMT, working 17 hour shifts without a break or food because the shit is hitting the fan, getting home at 1am only to be called out again at 4am to a non-existent fire because the community is on edge, extinguishing barbecues during total fire bans, false alarms. This is the reality of being a firefighter. We are proud to be volunteers. But there are limits! And then there are the unsung heroes, our families. The ones who worry if we will come home. The ones we leave to fend for themselves during severe fire weather. The ones we hardly see for days. The plans cancelled at the last minute. The jobs left undone. The cuppa and hug when we get home. The dirty PPE that is washed while we sleep. The stress that all this can put on even the strongest relationship. They didn’t volunteer for this, but they accept it, year after loyal year. They are proud we are volunteers. But there are limits!

21.01.2022 Container deposit fund raising. Our wonderful secretary has just provided us with this information if you would like to donate your containers to us as fund raising. Please, if you choose to leave containers at shed, do not leave rubbish. Hi All, For anyone wanting to donate to the Coondle-Nunile VBFB, our Scheme ID is C10257043. You can use this ID at any refund point. So there are two ways to donate; 1. people can bring their donations to our fire shed; 2. they can return t...heir containers to one of the CDS refund spots and quote the Scheme ID number and their returns will be credited to the VBFB. You can also find us on the Containers for Change page, https://www.containersforchange.com.au/wa/donate-your-refund. The only issue is we only show up when Coondle is typed in to the search, not Toodyay. Not much we can do about that though. You can also find us through looking for a cause, we are listed under 'environment' https://www.containersforchange.com.au/wa/fundraising. The more people know about this, the more funds we can raise. Make sure you let your friends, family and colleagues know that if they want to donate to us, they can. At the Northam CDS shed, they have charities listed on a board for those who want to return their containers, but don't want the money. They can choose a charity off of the board, and we are included on that board as we are registered with that depot. I suggest you put this Scheme ID number into your phone notes so you can find it when you need it. :)

20.01.2022 Join us for our Open Day at the new Coondle Fire Station after our official opening Date: Saturday 10 October Time: 11:30 am to 2pm... Free Sausage Sizzle Free soft drinks Free Lolly Bags Are you Fire Ready? Ask us your questions Check out our Fire Engines. Squirt some water. Knock em down with the hoses

20.01.2022 If you see our male members running around with a little more facial hair than usual, this is why. If you would like to donate, just click the link below. :) https://au.movember.com/mospace/14365697

19.01.2022 After a very busy, super fun opening day on Saturday, it was straight back to work yesterday with our first training exercise since about February! We headed out to Dewars Pool rd to refresh our brains on draughting. This is particularly important to be confident in as being a country brigade, chances of being near a hydrant to fill our tanks, is pretty slim. So with the help of some fancy hard hoses that dont bend or join very easily, we are able to suction water out of a...ny nearby dam, river, creek etc. All the things we have plenty of out here. Our 1.4 makes us really work for the water, where as our 3.4 is a little kinder. It was certainly great to be back into the training swing, just in time for the fire season, and with our new training officer, Marc. Who did a fantastic job relaying to us, what he had recently learned in a great 'Pump ops' course in town!

18.01.2022 Love our community. Thanks so much to the passerby who dropped an entire pizza in to us on the way past at vehicle checks tonight. How awesome is that. Yum.

17.01.2022 A message from our TOODYAY CHEIF BUSHFIRE CONTROL OFFICER ... Craig Stewart ..... I would like to thank all responders to Key Farm Fire . All brigades did an outstanding job in suppressing running fire , and then dealing with the greater task of control and mop up. One sector of the fire was actually contained and then controlled entirely by manual work ,using hundreds of meters of hose connected to run through very challenging terrain ... so challenging it was impassable to the Bulldozer tracking fire edge. The initial task of stopping running fire was also hugely supported by local farmers and contractors with fast attack units ,water tankers and machinery. That instant unrequested help just appears at virtually every incident . Everyone simply arrives tasks then leaves, usually with little thanks and through what appears to be organised chaos we achieve a safe outcome. Northam volunteers in high season units came and gave support right into late night. St Johns stood by for first aid support . WAPOL had an officer at the ICP directing all traffic and public movement issues through police and IC structure. DFES Regional office sent District officers and Area officers to give any support we needed whatever it may have been, in warnings , resources and incident management support. Acting CESM , Rangers, and our RMO, all just tasked in many rolls of support. Welfare & catering for all came from local businesses , who just stop what they are doing and make what we need to support us, not always an easy thing in the normal days trading. The invisible brigade , our FCO group , as always were outstanding in support and structure of command, which enables the coordinated effort to work . I have given this descriptive as there was a very real threat from Wednesday’s fire and we owe a great deal of thanks to all involved in dealing with that threat. Everyone noted above ,apart from a couple of people are VOLUNTEERS! So listen to them if seeking fire information and do not take for granted the extraordinary efforts and time volunteers put in. Think about what you are doing on your land , do not make poor choices that risk starting a fire, particularly in the wind driven hot spells. One humbling input came to incident control on day two. A young family living in Hatfield place , came to explain how they enacted their fire plan , that they had formulated after attending a five minute fire chat forum. They secured the home ,had the essential valuables and take away kit ready,loaded family ,took note of the warnings being broadcast and exit pathway and went to friends the other side of the district. The fact they took the time to firstly enact the plan , but then come and see us at the ICP to say thank you for disrupting their life! For 12 hours , with only the best possible outcome,was a pretty special moment as , at times there seems to be little interest in the efforts put into offering guidance to formulate fire plans . Thank you to that family... Please use all caution at any time but particularly at the moment as risk is very high. Thank you to anyone that reads this and can take the positives messages. Kind Regards Craig Stewart CBFCO TOODYAY

16.01.2022 MESSAGE FROM THE CHIEF BUSHFIRE CONTROL OFFICER.. I would like to thank everyone involved in working as a finely coordinated team in suppressing fires in Toodyay district over Dec & Jan. An amazing effort in response to fires by firefighters from Toodyay ,Northam, neighbouring shires, surrounding hills shires in Swan and Metro north fire districts, farmers, privateers, machine contractors, Water cartage contractors,Our LG staff, DFES staff from our ROC, DFES Air Ops ,ST Johns..., WAPOL , DCP, local cafe ,local hotel, local servo , Traffic control Marshall’s, MRD , Western Power, all contributed to responding and being able to control recent fires with minimal impact, on local environment and livelyhoods. The Toodyay Rd fireground is still being patrolled and flare ups/ sightings dealt with, so the stopping of the fire is not the end of dealing with the fire. Volunteers and property owners and neighbours are still dealing with these issues. The Toodyay Rd Fire was approx 90 ha and we avoided a severe impact only with the efforts of all above. To the idiot or idiots that caused the fire -as it was not an accident , we can only hope it is not repeated and that person or persons reflect, that they hold a very low value in society, for such actions. To those that whinged and had little tantys at traffic exclusion points ... get over yourselves and understand and cooperate better next time. My thanks and highest praise to all involved with incident management, again.... all of the above. I commend all who enacted their fireplan and took the initiative to leave in the short timeframe that was presented. To those that had not given any thought or planning to a preparedness plan , let’s hope a suitable warning has occurred, that shows there is no practice run with such matters. Let’s spare a thought for others affected by fire in other parts of our state and country , and perhaps the visibility of our incident may provide some idea of what others are dealing with, on a completely different scale. Organise your fireplan NOW Take advice ,there’s plenty out there, Be prepared, be observant , and on bad weather days be all of the above and don’t think you can tame fire unless you have all elements in your favour.... it won’t happen. Thank you Regards Craig Stewart CBFCO Toodyay See more

15.01.2022 Why does it take so long for information and warnings to come out when there is a fire?? There are a number of reasons. Resources have to arrive at the fire and... make an assessment. This takes time. All the data collected has to be processed and information is vetted to ensure it is 100% correct and factual, unlike local facebook pages where opinion is posted as fact. The warning, if it’s required, may take as long as 30mins from the initial call. Hence, why you should be prepared rather than wait and see or just ‘winging it’. Things not to do when there is a fire. If you are out, don’t automatically come home. Your first point of call is the Emergency WA website. If a warning is issued, see what the fire is doing. It may be moving in a different direction. Your route may also be impeded by crews trying to combat the fire. There is also the possibility that your route home could put you into the path of the fire. More traffic than usual and panicking people can create accidents which also puts pressure on resources. Don’t rubberneck near the job. Not only does it impede crews trying to extinguish but you could be incriminated if the cause of the fire is because of a suspected arson. We are trained to notice unusual activity or behaviours and arsonists are known to watch their ‘handy work’. Don’t spread misinformation heard on scanner apps. Whilst these apps may be ‘useful’, not all information is broadcasted over the radio and these ‘apps’ have a tendency to miss conversations from time to time, particularly when traffic gets heavy. Only part conversations may be done over radio. A fair number of conversations are conveyed by phone and other radio channels you don’t have access to. Therefore these should not be a source of information. Relaying information heard on these ‘apps’ can also aid the work of arsonists as you are updating them on where-abouts of crews and what they are doing. This can be counter productive to our efforts. Photos are from recent incidents in Roleystone.

14.01.2022 Jamie's annual 'Git Up'. Featuring Beatrice and the new shed!

14.01.2022 As you know, the Restricted Burning Period for the Shire of Toodyay ends tonight 30th April at 23:59. The brigade wishes to advise that just because you can burn, doesn't mean you should burn. It is still very dry, particularly the ground. Without moisture in the ground, fire can spread extremely quickly. Please wait until we have some decent rain before burning. Your piles will be nice and dry by now, and will burn regardless of how much rain we have over the next few weeks. If you must burn , make sure you have adequate water supplies, a minimum of 1000 litres, plenty of people to help and a cleared area around where you are burning. Don't light up if it is too windy. If the trees and grass are moving, it's too windy. We thank you for your consideration

12.01.2022 If we don't do it, who will?? I hope you're enjoying your holiday in Hawaii Mr Morrison, while our country burns. Thank you for leaving it in the hands of those you take for granted, who you think WANT to be out there risking our lives, missing out on family events, leaving our own homes to possibly burn and working tirelessly day after day in immense heat and incredible danger... for nothing more than a pat on the back. ... Scott Morrison (ScoMo)

12.01.2022 Having a blast at the shed! Come down and enjoy the fun and free food

12.01.2022 Such devastating news from the NSW fires. We offer our sincerest condolences to the families, friends and brigade effected by this absolute tragedy. Although we didn't know them personally, they were our brothers and news such as this is always a great loss within the fire fighting community. ... It takes a special kind of person to voluntarily put their lives at risk for their community; these men were nothing short of heroes. We will always remember them as that. Rest easy brothers.

11.01.2022 For all emergencies call 000 Please do not report fires on this page.

11.01.2022 With Toodyay road now open you may have seen the destruction left behind by yesterday's fire. It's not pretty. With sandy, soft, hilly terrain and high winds, the fire got away fast! But we were faster. We managed to get it relatively contained within a couple of hours, stopping it from reaching Wandoo circle and destroying multiple houses and sheds. I am so impressed with how fast end efficiently the crews worked to get ontop of it! We had crews from Meckering, Quairadin...g, York, Gidgegannup, Swan, Northam, Wundowie, Greenhills, Grass Valley and Mundaring assisting us, as well as helitacs, FRS and SES. It was a big operation and everyone just worked so well together, as they always do. Thank you everyone who came out to help our community! Here at Coondle we have had 3 crews working tirelessly over the last 25 hours, fighting the running fire, mopping up and monitoring. We still have a crew out there now, along with our fellow Toodyay brigades, keeping our town safe. Our work doesn't stop as soon as the red stuff disappears. I really am so impressed with everyone's hard work and dedication with this fire. Getting ontop of it as quickly as we did, is incredible. Thank you again everyone who played a part in this incident. I managed to get a few phone snaps through the night while working alongside Beatrice in our 1.4, Millie, who unfortunately did get a little too close to the hot red stuff at one point (thank you Captain Nick). Thankfully everyone is ok, 'Millie' just needs a bit of a makeover, replacing some stickers.

10.01.2022 Notice The annual general meeting of the Coondle Nubile Volunteer Bushfire Brigade will be held at 5.30 pm on July 11 th at the headquarters of the brigade at 775 Toodyay Bindi Bindi Rd. Visitors welcome

07.01.2022 With thanks to Roleystone Fire Brigade from whom I have copy and pasted this. As you would be aware, the COVID-19 (coronavirus) is now amongst the wider community. It has been declared a global pandemic and the State of Western Australia has taken additional steps in the response.... With the important role that the fire services and other first responders have within the community, the brigade has adopted recommendations and requirements from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services. As a result of the dynamic situation, all non-essential brigade activities have been suspended and includes all our community engagement activities as well as all non essential activities at the fire station. This is to ensure our ability to provide continuity of service. Rest assured that it’s business as usual for our brigades operational response to incidents as required. Please be mindful with your activities to not create any unnecessary fire risk. You must still have a permit for ANY fire in Toodyay shire

06.01.2022 Even with all our state of the art equipment there are often times that there are places we just can't go. Please make sure that you have your fire plans in place as sometimes we just won't be abler to get to you

05.01.2022 A long but great turn out yet again to the Toodyay fire yesterday but so worth it to help our community stay safe. A few photo's taken and how ironic to have the red and blue lights flashing in the background and making it look like xmas trees.

05.01.2022 Please take note of this. Your brigade has had a very busy couple of weeks. Help us help you. If you need to contact a Toodyay Fire Control Officer, Nick looks after Coondle and West Toodyay on 0427290562

04.01.2022 From our awesome Secretary/ Fire Fighter. Thanks to everyone who has donated, and a special mention to Victoria Hotel Toodyay for their donations. Great result for 3 weeks, benefits us and the community because it enables us to buy specialised equiotment, like thermal imaging cameras, and keeps heaps out of landfill as well. A huge thank you to the entire brigade for getting on board with the Containers for Change initiative. Coondle's first pick up was done yesterday, and our account will be credited with $261.20! That's just amazing. Thanks to everyone who helped sort the bags on Friday - many hands made it so easy and fast. An extra special thank you to Kev who organised the trailer and picks up all the stuff from the pub (plus all the extra donations and behind the scenes work)!

04.01.2022 Not the greatest photos ever but at 2 o'clock in the morning its not what you want to be seeing. We turn out to every fire in the Toodyay shire some you know all about and some like this mornings, when volunteers from all brigades were out and about doing their thing, you don't hear about. If it is headline news or flies under the radar rest assured that all the Toodyay brigades are there when needed.

02.01.2022 After the flames die down and the media and politicians depart there is still a lot of work to do to ensure all is safe. This could be anyone of the thousands of volunteers around the country today doing the work that is always done and takes a lot longer than just putting out the fire. This is one of ours at the Toodyay rd fire on Thursday