In this edition - For three years, your union has been working hard to obtain funding for a further increase in full-time professional firefighter numbers, including by conducting a 12 month long public campaign. I am very pleased to report that Fire and Emergency Services Minister Mr Craig Crawford has today made an announcement that the government has fully funded the recruitment of an additional 357 professional full-time firefighters in addition to the existing numbers.

In this edition - I am aware of a secret scheme within One QFES to create a Frankenstein’s monster fourth service, combining and replacing entirely the roles of FRS (Auxiliary Firefighters), RFS and SES, into a new hybrid operational service within QFES.

In this edition - With the Queensland state election looming (Saturday 31 October 2020), your union has been in ongoing discussions with both QFRS and the state government about the urgent need for 350 additional firefighters to allow for a move to full and safe crewing of every shift at every station in the state. We’ve also been pushing for more fire communication officers as that role is constantly having more responsibility and increased workload placed upon it and crewing shortages in fire communication centres are all too frequent and completely avoidable.

In this edition - In accordance with the union’s Rules, notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the United Firefighters Union of Australia, Union of Employees, Queensland will be held at the UFUQ office, 286 Montague Road, West End commencing at 9.30 am on 19th October 2020. All financial members are entitled to attend. Should you wish to attend, please advise the union office so that seating arrangements can be made.

In this edition - In 2001, after coordinated terrorist attacks on United States soil, the twin towers of the World Trade centre in lower Manhattan collapsed. As a result of the attack, 343 New York firefighters made the ultimate sacrifice.