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Katie Woolf spoke with Assistant Chief Fire Officer Joshua Fischer · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, as you know, there is a fireban in place
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: for today and we are expecting some pretty difficult conditions.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: I think you'd have to say for our firefighters. Joining
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: us in the studio right now is well the acting
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Deputy Chief Fire Officer Joshua Fisher. Good morning to you.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, josh.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I know that yesterday those conditions started to worse than
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: I guess, but today we're anticipating that it's going to
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: be fairly bad. Firstly, how many fires are still going
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: right now?
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, for the Northern Centry Fine Rescue Service, we've got
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: incidents currently occurring in the Castherne region, so in Cossack
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: and Lansdown, so we've got cruise responding from Catherine, as
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: well as sending additional support crews from Darwin and Jabru
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: to assist our members there in Catherine. We've also got
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: a number of fires that have carried over from yesterday,
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: so one at Virginia that was a watchnacked level fire
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: for a number of hours in the Burden's Creek Leavy
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Road area, as well as some advice messages in advice
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: level fires in Sokoli and the Darwin Airport. So a
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: number of active fire grands at our cruise are monitoring
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: again today.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Now at this stage are all of those fairly well
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: under control, no threat to properties.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: The ones in Darwin at this time are under control. However,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: the two that are in Catherine are not yet under control.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: There's no direct threat to any properties at this time. However,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: given the current forecast fired anger, that situation may change quickly.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: So what's the advice for locals in Catherine. I know
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: that we've got a lot of listeners in Catherine this morning.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: What's the advice for them?
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Well, look, as we know, we've got severe fired angel
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: forecasts for the Darwin Adelaide River fire with a forecast
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: area and the Northern fire Protection Zone as well as
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: elevated fire risk north of Elliott. So with those conditions,
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: it's bringing some gusty southeasterly winds. So for our members
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: that are in Catherine, we are some them to monitor
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: the conditions, access information. They can do that via OL
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: social media pages or through secure and tea, and obviously
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: monitor their local situation and heat any advice that's given
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: from fire authorities.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Josh, is this really the worst we've had it so
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: far this year? When we talk about these fire conditions.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this is certainly the most elevated sort of fire
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: risk that we've had this year to date. This is
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: going to be a multi day event. We're already up
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: to the second day of continuous fire bends and we're
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: likely to see fire bends extended potentially through to Friday.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: So we've got the severe fired anger obviously today for
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Darwen Adelaide River fire with a forecast area and the
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Northern Fire Protection Zone, but there may be small isolated
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: areas that may reach extreme fired anger, such as Bachelor
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: or Adelaide River so south of Darwin as those gusty
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: southeasterly winds move through. So we're looking at a grass
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: fired angel index of ninety one for Bachelor's that's the
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: highest this year to date that we're likely to experience
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: seventy three here in Darwin. So under these conditions, you know, fires,
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: if they do happen to starting, going to move very
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: very quickly and people won't have much time if a
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: fire does happen to start nearby their property. So it's
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: really a great reminder for people to activate their bushfires
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: vival plan in the event of a fire occurring.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: And no doubt you've got all hands on deck and
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: you'll be trying to juggle all of those different situations
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: and scenarios.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. We've got enhanced crew in on today in
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: our Greater Daarwen area. As I mentioned, we're sending additional
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: resources from JABRU and some amazing volunteers from a Greater
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Dawen area down to Catherine to lend a hand. We're
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: also very thankful of Bushfires into that are currently assisting
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: our Catherine members there in Catherine. So it really is
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: a multi agency and all hands on deck approach during
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: these fire weather conditions. Our volunteers have been busy over
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: the last forty eight hours and right through the fire
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: season supporting our career members on a number of fires.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Josh, is there anything else we should be aware of
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: this morning or anything else we should be making our
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: listeners aware of this morning? Look?
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: I think again, it's just a reminder that if a
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: fire does start, if they happen to see it, call
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Triple zero immediately. The sooner that we can get to
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: these fires, the lesser the impact may be. If the
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: fight dous start, activate your bush fire survival plan and
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: work to that plan. Be informed by it, and that
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: will guide you to the actions that you'll take to
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: either stay and defend or to leave early from your property.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Well, the acting Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Josh Fisher, We're
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: going to keep a very close eye on things over
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: the next couple of days. We may even be back
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: in contact with you tomorrow. All the best to you
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: and all of your firefighters and definitely all of those
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: volunteers as well.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much.