Mastodawn

Finishing up a shift at midday at Marine Rescue where nothing much happened other than a few log-ons going overdue and needing chasing.

Next shift's watchkeeper and a relatively new number 2 operator comes in, Watchkeeper says "been a quiet day so far"?

Me: "Are you alright? You are asking for it, speaking the Q-word"

Number 2: "It can't be busier than my last shift, that was the busiest I've had yet".

Me: "That's it, I'm out of here before Murphy makes something happen."

....

Last I've checked they've had three rescues including a sinking, and I just received a notification the lifeboat is on its way to a fourth rescue.

Never mention the Q-word, never tempt Murphy.

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@erkpod | Eric Brook 🇦🇺Jan 14, 2024

@LeeRyman The Q word still something I believe in, even though I left RFS comms 10 years ago. It was something that I warned new operators about.

I can remember one of my supervisors (I was a supervisor myself) would call me 5 minutes after my shift started at 0900 & ask me if I was having a Q word day.

I was in America once and a paramedic I know took me on a tour of their control centre. He walked in & asked the operators if they were having a Q word day. They were not happy with that and neither was I. LOL

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Lee Ryman Jan 14, 2024

@erkpod now that's just cruel of the supervisor, setting you up!

For many years (until state ops took over recently) the marine rescue base was Firecom for two RFS zones. The zones would forward their firelines to us, and I had the phones set up to sound a fire engine siren for those lines so we knew not to answer with Marine Rescue but with RFS Firecom instead. There is some sort of macabre humour that all emergency operators understand, some of the phone calls with the F+R 000 operators were hilarious.

Not many of them knew we were also Marine Rescue and both RFS zones, so they would be occasionally surprised when an incident involved 'both' of us, or due to the base's prominent position on a headland we would see a fire in town and be the informant as well.

You definitely didn't want anyone to say the Q-word when you were up there by yourself on the nights.

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@erkpod | Eric Brook 🇦🇺Jan 14, 2024

@LeeRyman If you are where I think you are, we are now near neighbours. 😂😂

I'd actually had thoughts of joining MR but I'm doing enough as it is outside of the day job.

I had heard only recently of MR doing RFS comms after hours after I reconnected with one of my former RFS comms colleagues.

I got out 10 years ago just before everything went to State Ops. That was one of several reasons I left.

In my then newer centre, we had a dedicated red batphone that calls would come onto from FRNSW comms. But I like your solution as that would
work for all the calls, not just from FR.

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Lee Ryman Jan 14, 2024

@erkpod Yup, think we are in the same neck of the woods :)

Yeah, the phones would ring differently depending on if it was a MR routine call, a MR tasking, a RFS Firelines call or an RFS 'admin' call. General Quarters meant something with too much water, Fire engine meant something with not enough water :)