Darling Range Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade (Communications)

General
The Brigade is the specialist communications operation for the Shire of Mundaring. When called to incidents (not necessarily fire related) it acts as a communications centre, and primarily controls the incident radio network. In a bush fire situation, the Brigade will usually only be called out and deployed following the call out of two or more combat brigades while the fire is in its escalation phase. 

The Brigade seeks both men and women of reasonable fitness and mobility who wish to be involved, without being at the hot end of the incident. The duties of members include:

• Crewing the Incident Control Vehicle (ICV), and management of electronic communications networks.
• Transmitting and receiving messages by multi-channel radio, telephone and fax.
• Tracking of fire ground vehicles by use of a satellite tracking system.
• Organisation of fire fighting personnel needs, crew changes, plant machinery logistics, mapping etc.
• Liaison with other agencies such as Police, DEC, SES, FRS, St John Ambulance, Water bombers, Air Operations Group, etc.

 
Call Out Procedure
A call out is usually initiated by the Shire of Mundaring. The relevant pager message to the Brigade is sent by the Fire and Emergency Services Authority (FESA) communications branch (COMCEN). The pager message will usually indicate the general location of the incident.

Upon call out, the rostered crew is responsible for the deployment of the Incident Control Vehicle (ICV) at the designated Incident Control Point (ICP).

Whilst a crew of three is adequate for initial deployment, other non-rostered Brigade members may be requested to assist in the crewing of the ICV at an incident. The full crew complement at a major incident is eight members.