CURRENT
NATIONAL SECURITY ALERT LEVEL: MEDIUM
Response to Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission
The findings and recommendations of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission were recently released to the public in a four-volume report, concluding the 18-month inquiry into the causes and circumstances of the fires that devastated parts of Victoria in early 2009, killing 173 people. To coordinate NSW's response, the Department of Premier and Cabinet has formed a senior level working group, chaired by Deputy Director General, Les Tree, to review the findings and identify their application to NSW. I am representing the NSWFB on this group, together with RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons.
On Monday, Mr Stuart Ellis AM will be providing a presentation to members of the NSWFB on national issues arising from the Royal Commission and the implications for Incident Management Teams, fire agencies and the industry. Stuart worked for the Royal Commission over the past 15 months and has an extensive military and fire service background, including serving as Chief Officer of the South Australian Country Fire Service. He has participated in a range of inquiries including the Black Hawk Inquiry in 1996 and the ACT Bushfires Inquiry in 2003. He chaired the Council of Australian Government’s National Bushfire Review in 2004 and was appointed to assist the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission in April 2009. This will be a valuable session offering many insights. Deputy Commissioner Benson and I attended a legal briefing on the Commission report earlier this week.
Spate of house fire fatalities
A spate of residential fires and fatalities began on Thursday 5 August when an elderly man died in a house fire at Ashfield, Sydney. That afternoon a man was rescued from another fire at Ashfield. On Saturday morning, a young girl died in a house fire in Woodberry, in the Hunter Valley, and later that morning, a man was rescued from a fire at Hamilton. He was rushed to Sydney in a critical condition but sadly passed away that evening. On Sunday morning an elderly man died in a house fire, again at Woodberry; and then on Tuesday 10 August, an elderly woman died in a caravan fire at Chinderah near Tweed Heads. On the following evening an elderly man died after being rescued by firefighters from a fire in his home at Rosebery in Sydney. Earlier that day firefighters rescued 2 people from a unit fire at Rockdale.
These tragedies bring the total number of house fire fatalities since the start of winter to 13, compared to 7 fatalities for the whole of 2009. Over the weekend, we attended a staggering 55 separate residential fires – an average of more than one every hour. Following the spate of fatalities, firefighters from the Newcastle and Hunter area and staff from Community Safety visited Newcastle, Broadmeadow and Cardiff train stations on Wednesday morning, handing out thousands of flyers to commuters and local residents, promoting the home fire safety message, with a similar blitz held at Ashfield train station on Monday. After attending the Woodberry fire on Sunday morning and again on Monday and Tuesday, I participated in numerous TV, radio and newspaper interviews aimed at pressing our critical safety messages. All firefighters are encouraged to keep up their proactive engagement with their communities to try to prevent household fires through the remaining winter period.
My thanks to everybody for their efforts, and in particular those who have had to deal with tragic circumstances. The crews from 454 Tarro, 382 Morpeth and 373 East Maitland had to deal with 2 fatal fires in quick succession, and as I indicated to firefighters from 454 when I spoke to them on Sunday, I greatly appreciate their dedication under extremely difficult conditions.
Tour of duty
Sixteen Australian firefighters including Station Officer Nick Beattie and Firefighter Grant Harper flew to Los Angeles earlier this week to take part in the Tour of Duty, a 31-day, 7,403-kilometre run across the USA. The tour commemorates the 343 firefighters who lost their lives in New York City on September 11, 2001. The contingent was farewelled by the Australian Tour of Duty Patron, the Hon. John Howard AC on Monday. The race traverses Las Vegas, Oklahoma, New Orleans, Chicago and Washington, finishing in New York with remembrance services to mark the 9th anniversary of September 11. You can follow their progress here.
Major investment in our USAR capability
The NSWFB has state, national and international USAR response obligations, and on Monday 9 August, USAR Category 2 training recommenced at our Ingleburn site to strengthen the NSWFB capability in the Illawarra and Hunter areas. Three Special Casualty Access Team (SCAT) paramedics from the Ambulance Service of NSW and 21 NSWFB firefighters are undertaking the challenging 4-week course, after completing pre-course studies and assignments. The skills acquisition process culminates in a 48-hour off-site assessment exercise in a remote location, where trainees live in tents, eat from ration packs, work in shifts, and use USAR props throughout a realistic scenario.
Also involved in training delivery are NSW Police (Disaster Victim Identification), NSW Department of Services, Technology & Administration (engineers), NSW Health (doctors) and the Ambulance Service of NSW (SCAT paramedics).
We aim to complete 6 USAR courses by the end of 2011, in the lead-up to our international external classification process in September 2012. We have built state-of-the-art USAR training props at our Ingleburn site and Bankstown City Council’s Milperra site. Both sites have been fully assessed and audited for any OHS risks.
Asian Fire Chiefs conference
Next week I will be representing Australian fire services at the annual conference of the International Fire Chiefs’ Association of Asia (IFCAA) in Daegu, South Korea. Earlier this year I was appointed by the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC) as the Australian Director of IFCAA. AFAC is paying all costs associated with the travel. The conference will focus on current issues facing urban fire services in the Asia Pacific region, including terrorism, urban search and rescue, and prevention.
Conflicts of Interest Register
Conflicts of interest can arise in a number of situations. The important thing is to ensure they are identified and dealt with early. If you think that you could have a conflict of interest, seek advice. If you do have one, you must declare it in writing via your chain of command as soon as possible, and also ensure that it is registered on the conflict and the agreed actions in the Conflicts of Interest Register located on the Corporate Risk Unit's intranet site. If you have any questions, please contact Marc Turner, Manager Corporate Risk on 9265 2864 or email marc.turner@fire.nsw.gov.au
Waste the Waist - September launch
Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Waste the Waist program earlier in the year. A collective weight loss of 1,302 kg and waist circumference of 1,435 cm – that’s an average of 2.7% per person weight lost, and 2.9cm drop in waist measurement, was achieved. It’s great to see so many NSWFB staff improving overall health by increasing physical activity and healthy eating. See the intranet article for the results.
Following such a successful initial release, the Health and Fitness team will be running the 12-week Waste the Waist program again – just in time for summer! Registrations open Monday 23 August, with the program officially starting Monday 13 September. To be eligible to enter the program and receive your start-up kit, registrations must be in by Sunday 12 September. See the FireFit site for more detail.
New intranet site - Corporate Risk Unit
The Corporate Risk Unit (CRU) helps sections and directorates to identify and manage their risks, including business continuity and environmental risk, and subsequently to improve the outcomes for the NSWFB. The CRU has launched its new look intranet site – a ‘one-stop shop’ for tools and information about risk and risk management in the Brigades. To help make this site even more useful and user-friendly, please send any feedback or suggestions to Marc Turner, Manager Corporate Risk on 9265 2864 or email marc.turner@fire.nsw.gov.au
NSW Community Father of the Year nomination
Station Officer Phil Marsh of 102 Regentville has been nominated by his two adopted daughters for the NSW Community Father of the Year award. Phil and his wife Pam adopted babies Rhiannon from Sri Lanka and Madison from India. The girls, now 23 and 17, believe in their dad so much, that they have put him forward for this award. Madison, who has cerebral palsy, and the family have faced many challenges along the way. Phil says that with a great support network of family and friends, he wouldn't have changed a thing. Well done Phil, on your nomination – you’re already a winner in your family’s eyes!
Drummoyne Fire Station nominated for heritage award
Drummoyne Fire Station has been nominated by City of Canada Bay Council for a heritage award for 2010. As part of the 2009/10 Repairs and Maintenance Program, major refurbishment of the heritage-listed Drummoyne Fire Station was undertaken, including the replacement of all gutters and downpipes, upgrading of the electrical services, minor repairs, internal and external painting and restoration of the first floor balcony. The project, completed by J & A Pamer Building Services, is among 70 nominations received by Council for the coveted heritage award. When I relieved there as a Station Officer many years ago, it was still very obvious that the SO’s Office had been the horse stable.
2010 Queensland Firefighter Championships
Assistant Commissioner Jim Hamilton represented me at the Queensland Firefighter Championship and Safe Communities Expo that was held at Townsville 5-7 August. More than one hundred Queensland Fire and Rescue Service stations and rural brigades contested their regional championships early in the year. Twenty-one Regional Champion Teams comprising retained, volunteer and permanent firefighters progressed to the Queensland Firefighter Championship in Townsville to contest a ten event program for the honour of achieving recognition as the Queensland Champion Team and Champion Firefighter. Two invitation teams from the NSWFB - Tenterfield and Wyong - attended and were very competitive against the Queensland teams. Tenterfield came second in Event 10 - Tanker Using Rural Appliance, behind the overall Queensland champion team. Well done Tenterfield!
We are now preparing for the Regional Championships to be held at Berry on 11-12 September and the State Championships to be held at Banora Point (Tweed Heads) 22-28 October 2010.
Walk against Warming
In an effort to educate the community and lobby about climate change, the Nature Conservation Council of NSW (NCC) will be holding their Walk Against Warming this Sunday in Belmore Park, Sydney. The NCC promotes being green and clean, reducing greenhouse pollution, recycling waste, saving water and energy, buying greenpower, and forming climate action groups across Australia. To participate in the Walk, or for more information, see the NCC website.
INCIDENTS
Wild storms lash Sydney
Firefighters on B platoon in the Sydney metropolitan area were kept very busy on their second night shift on Monday 2 August. Responses continued well into the morning on D platoon’s first day shift. Crews responded to 348 calls from 1800 hours until 0900 hours the next morning – 240 of these calls were directly related to the storm. Firefighters dealt with fallen trees, moved debris and ensured the safety of incident scenes. At the height of the storm 27 Parramatta, 65 Northmead and 67 Rydalmere responded to a house that was well alight at Thomas St, Parramatta. The firefighters treated an elderly occupant for smoke inhalation until the arrival of ambulance personnel.
Shop fire at Terrigal
At 0044 hours on Wednesday 28 July, 459 Terrigal responded to a reported bin alight at Hudson Lane, Terrigal. As they were responding to the incident, Newcastle Comms started receiving numerous 000 calls to a building alight at the same address and responded 304 Gosford. When 459 arrived, the crew discovered there was a major fire in two shops and the residences above, so Captain Angus MacKay sent a Red Message requesting a 2nd Alarm assignment. Newcastle Comms responded 450 Saratoga, 351 Bateau Bay, 509 Wyoming, 228 Berkeley Vale and Duty Commander Insp Dave Turner. The fire threatened to spread to surrounding shops and residences but firefighters adopted a defensive attack and prevented the fire spreading to exposures. A bottle shop, newsagent and office were destroyed, with the stop being sent at 0436 hours.
Building fire at Bathurst
At 0118 hours on 1 August, the Pumper and Hazmat tanker from 216 Bathurst and the Pumper from 105 Kelso responded to a reported building alight at Rankin St, Bathurst. Upon arrival, they found a building that housed several businesses (car rental, car detailing and custom graphic design) already fully involved in fire and threatening surrounding houses in Sector B, and two cars parked in Sector A. The crews also had to deal with fallen power lines in Sector A. A defensive strategy was adopted and firefighters deployed 4 x 38mm hoselines, successfully preventing fire spread to exposures in Sector B. The stop was sent at 0356 hours.
COMMISH’S
CORNER
- Commissioner’s
email: Commissioner@fire.nsw.gov.au
- Kerri
Raymond, A/Commissioner’s PA: 9265 2930
- To
contribute a story to the intranet, please contact the Public
Affairs and Communications Strategy Unit: 9265 2907