Hot Right Now

News

Statement from the Board of WAFA: Enough is Enough

Posted on 19 Mar 2021 (Featured)

Women in Leadership Forum

Posted on 24 Nov 2022

2022 AGM

Posted on 07 Nov 2022

First responder research

Posted on 03 Nov 2022

To the Australian community, our First Responders are heroes who are there for us in our most urgent times of need. The question is do we do enough in return to care for our First Responders and their families?

While our First Responders seem superhuman, there is significant evidence that they face a high risk of psychological harm from constant exposure to traumatic events. In the past few years alone, our First Responders have been at the frontline as our nation faced the devastating 2019/2020 Black Summer Bushfires, 2022 Eastern Australia floods and the Covid-19 pandemic spanning several years.

Research being conducted at the University of Canberra, is designed to find out how the stresses experienced by First Responders impact at home and how to protect the mental wellness of their children.

Children of First Responders experience firsthand the effects of trauma on their parent or caregiver. With delays in parents and caregivers being able to access appropriate treatment services or programs, particularly in regional and remote areas, children are being exposed to increased levels of stress often for long periods, at a time in their lives when their cognitive development is crucial.

In the first five years of life, the developing brain is most vulnerable to the negative effects of chronic stress. Young children who experience long term exposure to stressful environments are themselves at a higher risk of developing mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety, and at a much younger age. We see the impacts in their cognitive development, social relations, and academic achievement.

Exercise has been shown to be an effective intervention for preventing and managing mental health conditions in adolescents and adults but there is currently little evidence on the benefit of exercise on mental health in young children. The benefits of exercise are widely known, and include a reduction of risk factors for cardiometabolic disease, specifically, elevated body mass index, blood pressure and blood glucose and insulin, as well as enhancing mood, concentration and general feelings of wellbeing.

The University of Canberra is looking to demonstrate the benefits of exercise in young people, and explore the relationship between emotion and behaviour of the children and parents or caregivers from First Responder families.

University of Canberra researchers are offering a free exercise programme to children between the ages of four and nine from First Responder households (in the ACT and surrounding areas) during school terms in 2022 and 2023.

The research aims to contribute to improving our understanding of the benefits of exercise in young children particularly those children that may be exposed to higher levels of stress at a younger age.

For more information or to sign up, go to www.healthmoodstudy.org or email rachel.venn@canberra.edu.au. Help us learn more about how we can look after the families of those who look after us

Notice of AGM 2022

Posted on 19 Oct 2022

Wellbeing Australia - First Responders Wellbeing Summit

Posted on 10 Aug 2022

Professional Development Day AFAC 2022

Posted on 17 Jul 2022

FIELD TRIP | More than just holding a hose: diverse careers in firefighting

AFAC 2022

Posted on 12 Apr 2022

Diversity and inclusion in Emergency Management: From policy to practice.

Posted on 17 Dec 2020

How do we effectively implement diversity and inclusion policies in emergency management sector practices? This was the focus of the Diversity and inclusion: from policy to practice online forum hosted by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC in conjunction with Women and Firefighting Australasia (WAFA), Victoria University and Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) on 2 December 2020.

Recruitment Opportunity

Posted on 24 Jun 2020

RECRUITMENT FOR NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service FIELD OFFICERS!!!

TV show research opportunity

Posted on 16 Jun 2020

Woman of the Week Podcast

Posted on 13 Jan 2020

Podcast ‘Woman of the Week’ B5 Aktuell 10/01/2020

Parts of Australia have been burning for months: Quinn Cramer is one of ten thousands of firefighters, who work to control the fires and look after the people who have lost their house and home in these catastrophic bushfires. Quinn has been a firefighter since 2008 and in 2019 she was elected as president of the board of Woman and Firefighting Australasia (WAFA). The interview will be in English.

Intro to podcast: ‘Woman of the week’ a podcast by B5 Aktuell: in this podcast we shine the light onto a woman who has made a difference this week and was therefore in the news: Australia has just recorded its hottest and driest year since the recording of weather started, high temperatures and strong, hot, dry winds and the bushfires still plague the north east of Australia. More than 10 million hectares have been destroyed since the fires started in October, that is about the size of Bavaria and Baden Wurttemberg combined. At least 27 people have lost their lives so far, as well as hundreds of millions of animals. Fires in Australia are becoming more and more dangerous. Today they are again expecting temperatures in excess of 40 degrees, as well as strong winds. Another 240,000 people have been asked to evacuate; Premier Morrison said “we are far from the end of this crisis”. “It is a damned dangerous job”, says Captain Brendan O’Connor. “Sometimes the fires just about explode or they create fire tornados, the week before last one of these tornados captured a [very heavy] tanker and threw it into the air, a colleague was killed. Most of us have been fighting these fires since the beginning of October and we are all very exhausted, it’s been a long battle, that’s for sure”.

“You have all heard and seen it in the news – parts of Australia are burning; the fire service is looking after persons who have lost their house and home in these catastrophic fires, as well as dehydrated and exhausted animals. Representing the men and women who have been fighting these fires in Australia for months is our ‘Woman of the Week’ Quinn Cramer from Queensland. She has been a firefighter since 2008 and she was recently elected as president of the board of WAFA. My name is Vanessa Schneider and I am very happy that you are listening!”

“I called Quinn Cramer at 8am local time, Gladstone. Gladstone is a small coastal town in Queensland approximately 500km north of Brisbane. We have talker via Skype, this is why the sound is a little bit mechanical. And we chatted in English, but you will get used to the Australian accent quite quickly!”

Interview with Station Officer Quinn Cramer, QFES, (in English).

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/... provided by WAFA Board Member Anna Stephan.

Attention all Firefighters

Posted on 09 Jan 2020

ATTENTION ALL FIREFIGHTERS

Concerns around firefighter exposure?

Want to know if Firefighters have higher levels of chemicals in their systems?

This study can answer those questions.

This is a multimillion dollar comprehensive study on firefighter chemical exposure by means of a survey, blood, urine, semen and breast milk collection.

For more information click here.

Churchill Fellowship - by Sonja Braidner

Posted on 16 Nov 2019

WAFA member Sonja Braidner recently completed her Fellowship on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the specific field of Fire and Rescue in the Emergency Services.

You can access her Fellowship here and please also stay tuned for an article by Sonja in our next Newsletter!

WAFA 2019 AGM Board Elections

Posted on 12 Nov 2019

Our new Board was announced at our AGM! Welcome to our new Board members Alice, Katie, Loriana and Emma. A big thankyou to the out going board members Kate Hill, Ange Pestell, Erika Lind and Hayley Dun for there hard work and dedication to WAFA over the last few years.

Office Bearers:
President: Quinn Cramer – QFES
Vice President: Stephanie Looi – NSWRFS
Secretary: Loriana Bethune BNHCRC
Treasurer and Public Officer: Alice Lavender NSWRFS

Board Members:
Steve O’Malley AFSM – MFB
Katie MacWilliams – DBCA WA
Emma Gamble – NSWRFS
John Pappas- QFES (retained)
Catherine Jolly – TFS (retained)
Nadia Rhodes – ACT Parks (retained)
Anne Pickles – FRNSW (retained)
Anna Stephan – NTPFES (retained)

Ex Officio:
Executive Officer: Ariana Henderson – Parks Vic
Youth Ambassador: Kelsey Tarabini

We'll feature our new and continuing Board members over the coming weeks through #WAFAWednesday so you can get to know your Board.

Read the 2019 Annual Report here.

Notice - WAFA AGM 2019

Posted on 22 Oct 2019

WAFA AGM: November 11, 2019.

WAFA wants you...r input!

Posted on 19 Nov 2018

The WAFA board will continue to grow the member's library, but we are open to your input!!

Have you got some information, research or a study that you think your fellow members would benefit from and which we could feature in our library? Is there an event WAFA can get behind by promoting it on our website?
Please contact us here to make a submission.

The WAFA Library - for its members, by its members!