2025 Western Australia Fire and Emergency Services Award open nominations

by Featured NewsPeople

Western Australians are being urged to reward emergency services volunteers and staff throughout the State by nominating them in the 2025 Western Australian Fire and Emergency Services (WAFES) Awards.

The annual WAFES Awards celebrate the achievements of emergency services personnel who have made a significant contribution and demonstrated a high level of commitment in the past 12 months.

Fifteen awards are up for grabs in three categories; individual, team and young person. These cover Marine Rescue, State Emergency Service, Volunteer Fire and Emergency Services, Volunteer Fire and Rescue Services, Bush Fire Brigade, career firefighters and Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) corporate staff and operational personnel.

Eligibility for the Young Person Awards, previously known as the Youth Awards, has changed to volunteers aged 18 to 28.

Last year’s winners included gongs for successful ocean rescues in pitch darkness and after a boat was damaged by a shark, strenuous outback rescues at Karijini National Park navigating cliffs and a death adder, and volunteers responding to life-threatening bushfires.

DFES volunteer and career personnel responded to 33,949 incidents in 2024 including 5,489 bushfires, 1,344 structure fires, 3,000 road crashes, 1,112 hazardous materials incidents, 2,371 rescues and 296 searches.

Emergency Services Minister, Stephen Dawson’s statement

Stephen Dawson, Emergency Services Minister said: “Over the past year our volunteers, career firefighters and DFES staff have once again faced incredible challenges, responding day and night to a range of incidents including bushfires, storms, cyclones, floods and land and sea search rescue operations.

“They do this without hesitation, selflessly putting themselves at risk to serve their community. These awards are about bringing their stories to light.

“These are the people who help us prepare for and withstand disasters and they are the people we turn to when rebuilding our communities.

“Nominating a local emergency services superstar in your area is another way to say thanks to the 26,000 volunteers and around 1,800 DFES staff who consistently step up when they’re needed most.”

Western Australians urged to nominate emergency service heroes: Summary

Nominations have opened for the 2025 Western Australian Fire and Emergency Services Awards. Emergency Services Minister, Stephen Dawson said that by nomination a local emergency services worker in your area you are saying thank you to the staff who consistently step up when they’re needed.

Hikvision launches people-counting solution

by Passive

The new Density Control Solution just launched by Hikvision is designed to help the staff at supermarkets, retailers, Post Offices, banks and other buildings and facilities manage the number of people on their premises at any given time.

With social distancing an ongoing requirement in public places at present, Hikvision’s system uses highly accurate people-counting technology, a clear, dynamic display and real-time alerts to ensure that pre-defined capacity thresholds are never exceeded, even in those locations with multiple entrances and exits.

Optional central management software allows end users to obtain in-depth business intelligence reports for trend analysis. Importantly, the Hikvision Density Control Solution can be easily and rapidly deployed.

Gary Harmer, sales director for Hikvision UK and Ireland, told Security Matters: “The Density Control Solution is designed to be simple to use and highly accurate, with options to suit all potential application scenarios. There’s a single door option for smaller establishments and also a version incorporating multiple people-counting cameras for multiple doors. The Density Control Solution can also be managed across multiple sites using our HikCentral management software.”

Harmer continued: “In all of these scenarios, a clear and very easily understood dynamic data display monitor is sited at each entrance, providing those awaiting entry with real-time updates on the number of people inside. An alert is created when the pre-configured maximum is reached, while an audio alarm can be triggered if anyone attempts to enter the building before the numbers go below that threshold.”

The solution allows organisations to reduce the number of staff required to be physically present at doors as the remaining capacity is clearly displayed. Additionally, the highly accurate nature of the cameras’ people-counting functions – which make effective use of 3D binocular stereo vision and Deep Learning algorithms – means that potentially complex counts in multi-door sites are no longer an issue.

Alongside the Density Control Solution, Hikvision also offers a Mask Detection Solution which is designed to ensure that anyone entering a given premises is wearing a face mask if local restrictions dictate that this is required.

The Mask Detection Solution can be delivered in a variety of formats depending on user needs: on board a specialist camera, on a Hikvision DeepinMind NVR for those users with existing camera systems, integrated within Hikvision’s Temperature Screening Thermal Solution or as part of a MinMoe door access unit with built-in face detection technology, which can deny entry if a mask is not worn or an out of range skin surface temperature is detected.

www.hikvision.com