Fire and Rescue NSW Station 001 City of Sydney

City of Sydney’s Flyer and Runner turned out to an Automatic fire alarm (AFA) this evening approximately 100m from our engine bay doors.

With an apparent smell of burning on Castlereagh St, Crews quickly located a commercial kitchen fire and worked to control the situation.

Due to excessive water from sprinkler suppression systems, crews remained on scene for a short duration trying to restore normality.

It takes someone really brave and strong to be a firefighter but even more so to be a mother, here at City of Sydney Fire station we have women who are both!

To all our mums, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! 👩‍🚒

Happy Mothers Day!

Business as usual at City of Sydney for ‘A platoon’ today, with a scenario based around vehicle fires in under ground carparks.

•Numerous rotations
•Search and Rescue
•Fire Control
•Hose Management
•Incident Management

All vital in the effective and efficient control of an incident scene.

A sensational day for B platoon to be involved in taking CareFlight doctors through our rail prop at the Fire and Rescue NSW Emergency Services Academy

The day focused on an interagency approach to an incident on the rail corridor.
With Careflight, Rail Emergency Response Unit and Transport NSW Sydney trains present, we were able to better understand each agencies role and capabilities when an incident occurs and how we can best assist each other for a positive outcome.

The Care flight doctors ditched the comfort of an emergency room and were put in some challenging spaces to perform their amazing work.

With so many new rail networks being constructed in our area, this training is invaluable.

Today, members of C platoon on 001 Rescue/Pump and the Special Events Appliance raised $1377.55 for Beat The Burn.
Station Commander Sharratt and Senior Firefighter Cheung will be participating in Beat the Burn which is a week of running, road cycling, MTB, hiking and paddling done to raise money for the Children's Burns Unit at Westmead Hospital.

Plenty of other firefighters and stations are getting on board so keep an eye out in your local area.

Every cent raised for this cause will be going directly to the Burns Unit.

Thanks to one of the busiest little firefighters, Liam and his dad Brad as well as Sandra from our Regional Operations Directorate for helping out today.

Jump on the Beat The Burn page or website and you can choose which station/firefighter you'd like to support.

Today, City Of Sydney’s Heavy Rescue and Rescue Pump joined forces with our friends at Transdev and Alstom to conduct a tram lift.

This drill allowed all agencies to see the capability of equipment and update skills on heavy lifts.

With tram lines running through our beautiful city, it’s important firefighters understand the hazards and risks when working on and close to the tram network.

This year marks the 140th anniversary of the creation of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade in Sydney which was the forerunner to Fire & Rescue NSW.

Our organisation has a rich history with plenty of unusual facts and figures.

One area of interest is the use of the original no.10 number plate that can be found on the vehicle of the Fire and Rescue NSW Commissioner, Jeremy Fewtrell AFSM

Station Officer David Tai wrote the book, "Leading From The Front” which charts the history of 21 Chief Officers/Commissioners from 1884-2015. It can be purchased from the Museum of Fire and not only details the fascinating stories of our Chief Officers/Commissioners but has plenty of other interesting stories including a history of the no.10 number plate.

Shown below is an extract direct from his book.

“Fire & Rescue NSW was one of the first recipients of number plates to be issued by the Roads and Traffic Authority. Since 1910, the Number 10 plates have been affixed to the highest-ranking officer vehicle and the first vehicle to carry the plates was a 14 hp BSA used by Chief Officer Alfred Webb (1898-1913).
The Number 10 plates are the only NSW number plates to remain in continuous issue to the same organisation since the inception of number plates in NSW.”

Of note is the fact that the original vitreous enamel plates are not fitted to the Commissioners vehicle. The plates that are currently displayed on the Commissioner's vehicle are actually plates that were created in 2005 with the originals finding residence at our Head Office and at the Museum of Fire.

Today Runner 001, Rescue/Pump 001and Heavy Rescue 001 undertook a draughting drill off Hickson Rd near the base of the Harbour Bridge.
A pretty special spot to be and a great place to interact with our community and the numerous tourists that walk along that section of the harbour.
The drill tested a number of fundamental firefighting skills.
At the majority of fires that we attend we utilise water from our on-board supply, street hydrants and installed pillar hydrants but draughting is an important skill that allows us to access static water supplies such as the harbour, lakes and even the large firefighting storage water tanks that you'll see within large commercial/industrial estates.

This view never gets old

Lots of people come and go from 001 but a few hang around and make a mark.

They’re the ones who volunteer to be in the middle of it for events like NYE, Mardi Gras, Sydney Royal Easter Show or Carols in the Domain. They’re the ones that swarm around the boss when there’s a job, pitching all the excuses to get assigned and tasked. They’re the ones who get qualified in USAR, ladder-platform, in-water rescue and land based rescue. They’re the ones who then impart their skills to new recruits and rescue trainees and if they’re this one then they’re really going to be missed!

Senior Firefighter Eliza has achieved so much during her time at 001, not only for herself but in her tireless mentoring of her peers. We think it’s not goodbye, it’s see you later. 🚒🔥

It is with great sadness we learned of the death of one of our firefighters at a house fire at Grose Vale, north-west of Sydney, this morning.

The firefighter was among the first crews responding to the house, which became engulfed in flames, on Grose Vale Road just before 8am.

Our thoughts are with family, friends and colleagues at this tragic time.

We are very proud to have hosted the announcement of Jeremy Fewtrell AFSM to our Commissioner. Mr Fewtrell was once a firefighter at this station and will still often stop and chat to the on-shift firefighters in when he is in the area. His promotion to Commissioner is great news for us and the people of NSW.

Today City of Sydney’s “Runner” crew conducted a ‘Pre-incident Plan’ (PIP) at the NSW Art Gallery’s newest building; the Sydney Modern Project.

The purpose of such visit is to familiarise the crew with the new buildings layout and fire detection and suppression systems. Once all relevant information is gathered, a document is formulated that we then use in the event of a Fire so crews can act fast to protect the Gallery’s patrons, staff and artworks.

“It’s an art project
… ok, Picasso. I like it 🔥”

Today City of Sydney firefighters participated in a multi-agency drill with State Rail firefighters to simulate extricating a casualty from the unused tunnels of St James Station.

We always embrace these opportunities to develop our rescue and firefighting plans and enhance our relationships with other agencies (and see a piece of Sydney’s history while we’re at it!).

Out for drill this morning with the crew and snapped this photo- one of Fire and Rescue NSW Station 001 City of Sydney longer serving Firefighters mentoring one of our newer crew members.
It's wonderful to see knowledge and passion for the job being passed on with such patience and care.-City of Sydney 001 Rescue/Pump Crew.

Today one of our State's most well travelled little firefighters paid a visit to City of Sydney Fire Station.

Liam has now visited 57 FRNSW fire stations. If my trusty Casio FX82 calculator is working properly, that leaves 277 more to go!

Thanks for saying hello Liam and Liam's Dad! Hope you keep spreading our safety messages.

Remember, if your clothes catch on fire: STOP, DROP, COVER and ROLL.

Some recent photos of weekend drill at the old Alexandria Training College.

For those that regularly visit our stations page what would you like us to focus on for the next post? We'll do our best to meet your requests!

At FRNSW we are never standing still and today was no exception.

The Flyer and Runner crews familiarised themselves with the installed fire safety systems at the Domain carpark and also fine-tuned their hose handling skills by getting to work using their quick attack hose packs.

Carparks can pose unique firefighting hazards especially with the myriad of different fuels that cars use. From internal combustion engines powered by petrol, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas and even compressed natural gas through to hybrid and full electric vehicles, each vehicle presents its own hazards and risks.

Whilst on site crews travelled on the moving walkway or travelator that is 207m in length and reportedly still the longest travelator in the southern hemisphere.

If we were required to deal with a fire in a CBD carpark we would utilise the installed systems such as sprinklers, internal pillar hydrants, early warning communication systems, air handling systems, supplemented by firefighters in breathing apparatus using equipment such as the attack packs.