Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Chief Fire Officer Mark Spain and our new Assistant Chief Fire Officer Josh Fischer

Transcript

Katie Woolf spoke with Chief Fire Officer Mark Spain and our new Assistant Chief Fire Officer Josh Fischer · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, Katie Wolf and three point sixty online at Mix
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: one O four nine dot com.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: You joining us in the studio this morning. We have
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: got the Chief fire Officer Mark spain Good morning, Spainy.
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, Good morning listeners.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Good to have you in the studio. And we're also
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: joined by your new.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Josh Fisher, who many.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Will know from his former role. Good morning to you, Josh.
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: Good morning.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: And you used to be with Bushfire ZNT and obviously
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: come across to work with Spainy.
• 0:30
  Speaker 4: I certainly have you jump ships so to speak.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Now, Now I know that it's always a busy time
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: of the year for you guys, sort of getting prepared. Well,
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: I guess you'd call it fire season. Is that what
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: you call it? Or is every you know?
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: I don't know. Is the whole year really a time
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: to be prepared? Spainy?
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, you know. We have two fire seasons. We have
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: the Southern fire season, which is our lines up with
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: the Eastern Board and the Southern Board. Ye, and then
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: in the opposite seasons we're there during winter we have
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: our five seasons up at the top end.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Now, there's been quite a bit of recruit happening at
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: the moment. I understand that the recruit firefighter Squad forty five,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: so there's twelve of them, commence on the sixth of
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: April and graduate on the twenty ninth of July, so
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: a little bit later this year. So are they still
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: sort of in their training at this point.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: In time, Katie?
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: The recruit Squad forty five l comments on the sixth
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: of April, So it's a seventeen week training course, right, yep.
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: So we've got twelve people, eleven males and one female
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: that'll be joining the ranks of the Fire Service. So
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: they'll be going through quite an intensive seventeen week period
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: to cover off on all their training.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: How hard is.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: It to actually get into the fieries as well. I'm
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: of the understanding that it's a pretty difficult process.
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: Look, it certainly is. As we know five fighting is
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: quite physically and psychologically demanding, tending to all the incidents
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: that they respond to through their career. There's sort of
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: six stages of the recruitment aspects. So the initial application
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: where they submit their application online. We then do some
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: personal integrity and character assessments. We then undertake the cardiovascular
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: challenge test known as the Big Test, where they've got
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: to get level nine point six, So quite a physical
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: demanding test that one is. Then we go through some
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: written and psychometric assessments physical aptitude, and then we finish
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: with a panel interview and medical examination.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Wow, so there is quite a bit to get through.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: How many intakes of those new recruits do you usually do?
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Is it just one a year or is there a
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: couple of year.
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: Look, we try for one year to keep up with
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: our natural attrition and the vacancies that we have within
• 2:30
  Speaker 4: the service. It has been quite some time since the
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: last one, about twenty nineteen I think was the last course,
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: So this is the first one to help us build
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: our resources.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Now I understand that you've also got some new equipment.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Is that what you call it or a new appliance,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: which I believe is a fancy sort of way of
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: saying like a new vehicle that is able to do
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: a losh.
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: Certainly, we've got a number of new appliances coming online.
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: The most recent one was the bulk water carriers, so
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: the large water truck that we will use in the
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: rural area to assist with wildfires. That'll be used across
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: the territory on a as needs basis. There's a number
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: of other new vehicles that are coming online. We've got
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: some new grass fire units, so our land cruisers that
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: our listeners would see getting about the place, as well
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: as our urban fire fighting appliance is. There's around nine
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: new appliants is to come online this year.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: There's certainly a lot of you know, there's a lot
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: that happens behind the scenes. I think when it comes
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: to fighting fires that lots of people wouldn't be aware
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: of spaining. Even over the weekend. Obviously, we saw a
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: situation in Catherine where there was a house fire. You know,
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: these types of things. Unfortunately, they do happen more often
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: than what people probably realize, don't they.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, Katie. A lot of the times it's like the
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: old potlos Oh my goodness of the chips. However, that
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: fire was of a serious nature and it's just a
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: time reminder to we're coming up approaching April first, so
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: it's time for everyone to check their smoke alarms sure
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: it actually check them monthly to make sure they're in
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: good working all. As we know, working smoke of arm
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: is the one that will save your life. So that's
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: so important. And also as we're coming into the dry
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: we're expecting a lot of people to visit the territory,
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: so we really ask those people are hosting families into
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: houses to make sure that they've got their little house
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: evacuation plans in order to say, although we're familiar with
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: the layout of our house, the family is visiting and saying,
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: especially the little ones just need to run through a
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: couple of practice drills to get to the front letterbox
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: or a meeting point that you know that would just
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: help them.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, and it's good, Like I reckon, it's probably
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: a good thing for us to all do anyway with
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: our family to just sort of have a run through.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: I kind of try to do that type of thing
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: with the kids occasionally where you just remind them that
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: if there is something that goes wrong, you know, you
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: don't need to panic. These are the types of things
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: that you need to remember and how you'd get out
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: of the house.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: Absolutely. Yeah, while we're in a car environment, it's easy
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: to walk through it make it a fun game. But
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: obviously when the conditions change, that's what it's really important
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: that it clicks in.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: And obviously it's important for us as individuals to make
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: sure that we're sort of prepared and organized and that
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: we do different things around the house.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: But I would imagine then when you talk about the.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Actual fire service, you guys have got a lot of
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: different things that you've got to make sure that you
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: do to sort of, you know, to keep the organization,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: but to keep everything running quite smoothly. Also we do Catie.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: Look as the first of July last year, we reformed
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: the fire service. The new commissioner came on board and
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: restructured us. So it allowed me to have an assistant
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: chief for IFS and a Deputy Chief firefser. Each of
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: those fire offs as whole three portfolios. Josh's one is interesting.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: He's got training and development, He's got the cape and
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: development side of it and a fire safety side. So
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: when you think about you only have to look at
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: the Dale landscape, and you know we're a fairly small
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: population by any stretch, but we've got big city assets.
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: You know, we've got thirty four story buildings, We've got
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: multiple four story buildings unsprinkled. So how fire service, you know,
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: we cover a hell of a lot of ground and
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: it's spreading, you know, you have a look at cooler
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: lingo of the expansion there. So with the new Palmerston
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: station coming on board, it'll just put us in a
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: good place.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: And Josh, how's it been for you sort of making
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: the transition from Bushfires EN to across.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: Look, it's certainly been a huge learning curve for myself
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: and I'm really excited to work for Fine Rescue Service.
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: It's been a number of years with Bushfires NT and
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: as the chief pointed out, there's holyp and new portfolios
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: that I'm responsible for, so lots of new learnings for myself.
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: But it's really important work that our members do play
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: in each of those spaces in terms of protecting the
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: Northern Territory communities, ensuring that we have the right assets
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: so that we can combat those incidents as they occur.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: And well, it's not all just about making sure that
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: we're prepared for fires and obviously fighting fires in the
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: case of you two, but I know that these other
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: different community events that you get involved in as well,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: and one of those is the Walk off the Wall
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: within When is that happening, Spainy Because last year we
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: actually all committed to doing it, Me and my producer
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: and my newsreader. But then it got canceled due to COVID.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: Absolutely yeah, rock crossing myself we did twenty k walk.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: Given that was canceled, we still achieved on that day.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: It's very close to what we're targeting for the first
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: of May.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: First of May, so.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: It's easy to get out now if you're willing to
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: do the Big One, which is the twenty kilometer walk
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: with a twenty kilo pack, now is the time to train.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: It's beautiful weather conditions at the moment, no humidity, lovely
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: dry weather.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Perfect mate.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: I'm a chance of walking twenty ks, but I don't
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: know if I could carry twenty k turny kg. It's
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: nearly my weight, like piggybacking a small child the whole
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: way around.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: It might be a struggle for me.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: I'd love to see it. There are other options there, Katie.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: So that's for the Big one Face diehards Now?
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: Where can people go for a bit more info though,
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: if they are keen to maybe get involved in that walk.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: It is such a great event and it's something that
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: we try and do each year.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there is a Facebook walking off the war within.
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: It's a hard one to people struggle to grasp it,
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: but it's walking off the war within. They will link
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: you up to the Facebook site and the event will
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: give you more information, all good stuff.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Well, wonderful to talk to both of you. I really
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: appreciate you coming into the studio this morning telling us
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: a little bit more about what's going on, and certainly
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: telling us a bit more about that new recruit firefighter
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: squad that's about to get underway. Chief Fire Officer Mark
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: Spain and new Assistant Chief Fire Officer Josh Fisher. Good
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: to speak to you both this morning.
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: Thanks Katie, Thanks