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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining us in the studio right now is the Assistant
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Chief Fire Officer, Joshua Fisher.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Josh, Good morning, Katie.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Good to have you in the studio. We know that
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  Speaker 1: really the fire season has already begun, hasn't it. The
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  Speaker 1: declaration of that danger period was the twenty eighth of June.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's correct.
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  Speaker 3: So we're well into our bush fire season here in
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  Speaker 3: the Top End, and all emergency services personnel, especially our
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: Antierfiest volunteer members, have already given so much this top
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: end fire season, spending time away from families, jobs, and
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  Speaker 3: their loved ones.
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  Speaker 2: Working to keep the community safe.
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  Speaker 1: Do you reckon we're going to have a fairly big
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  Speaker 1: fire season given the fact that we had I guess
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  Speaker 1: we had quite a bit of rain. Generally we see
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  Speaker 1: quite a bit of growth around the place and then
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  Speaker 1: as it dries out, becomes sort of what would you
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  Speaker 1: call it, fuel for fires?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, certainly so.
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  Speaker 3: The top end wildfires this year being fueled by the
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  Speaker 3: high levels of growth that following that increased rainfall experience
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  Speaker 3: from sweat season. So this growth presents a significant challenge
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  Speaker 3: for landholders and our firefighters because fires can easily start
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  Speaker 3: and then move very quickly, which often catches people off
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  Speaker 3: guard that we are for certain areas of the top
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  Speaker 3: end in an above normal bush fire potential resulting from
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  Speaker 3: that increased grass growth. We do have reduced areas that
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  Speaker 3: have been mitigated this year, particularly in our dah and Ara,
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  Speaker 3: So there's lots of grass fuel around that can pose
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  Speaker 3: a risk to us.
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  Speaker 1: And then what about that gamber grass as well. I
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  Speaker 1: know that like out in the rural area particularly, it's
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  Speaker 1: something that people generally always kind of raise, like always
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  Speaker 1: say to us that they're worried about the gamber grass.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, certainly gamber grass, as we know, presents very much
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  Speaker 3: an increased risk to our firefighters, but also the risk
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  Speaker 3: that it could pose to the community with respect to
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  Speaker 3: damage to property or injury or loss of life even
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  Speaker 3: and so fire weather conditions will worsen through August, that's
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  Speaker 3: a track that generally happens. So it's really important that
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  Speaker 3: we need to keep or property owners need to keep
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  Speaker 3: their property prepared. They need to have a bushfire survival
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  Speaker 3: plant that's up to date and discussed with their family
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  Speaker 3: and through anyone that's at their household, whether there's visitors
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  Speaker 3: visiting from interstate or from anywhere else.
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  Speaker 2: In the territory.
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  Speaker 1: Is it too late? You know, I know that people
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  Speaker 1: in the rural area are much more switched on than
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  Speaker 1: this stuff than I am. But is it too late
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  Speaker 1: for them to be doing different stuff on their blocks
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  Speaker 1: now to make sure that they're prepared or is it
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  Speaker 1: still Is it still an opportunity for them to do so?
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  Speaker 2: No, there's still an opportunity.
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  Speaker 3: Very basic tasks I keeping their launch cut and clearing
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  Speaker 3: overhanging tree branches or any leaf litter you know that
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  Speaker 3: may save their home or possession to for fire dustrit
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  Speaker 3: nostri season. So land owners need to be managing their
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  Speaker 3: property for five year round.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, I know that already, since the twenty eighth
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  Speaker 1: of June, you guys have already gone out to two
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  Speaker 1: hundred and forty six wildfires. Is the figure that I've seen?
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  Speaker 1: That seems like a large number already, is it?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it certainly is two hundred forty six wild fires
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  Speaker 3: since the commencement of the top end fired angel period.
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  Speaker 3: That's probably an increase around fifty to sixty than what
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  Speaker 3: we'd have normally seen over the last couple of years.
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  Speaker 3: So that's certainly reflective of that increased grass growth and
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  Speaker 3: reflective of.
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  Speaker 2: Some of the less mitigation that has occurred in the
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  Speaker 2: daw and ra Gee.
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  Speaker 1: Is it going to make it a difficult fire season?
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  Speaker 1: This one? Do you reckon it is going to be?
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  Speaker 2: Well?
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  Speaker 3: Certainly, if fires to occur, they're going to be extremely
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  Speaker 3: difficult for us to contain. And as I mentioned there,
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  Speaker 3: as we move into August, we're going to see that
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  Speaker 3: fire where the conditions worsened, so they will be quite
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  Speaker 3: difficult for us and our career and our volunteer crews
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  Speaker 3: to contain and keep people safe.
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  Speaker 1: I know that, you know obviously when you talk about August,
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  Speaker 1: it's going to be a difficult month. And I did
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  Speaker 1: catch up with Mark Spain, the chief fire officer, not
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  Speaker 1: so long ago, and we spoke about the fact that
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  Speaker 1: the fireworks celebrations are going to be the twenty ninth
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  Speaker 1: of August. Now, if there is a fireband declared, there's
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  Speaker 1: people aren't going to be able to let off their fireworks.
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  Speaker 1: Are there to be one of those days where the
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  Speaker 1: conditions could potentially be quite difficult?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, every day we assess the risk.
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  Speaker 3: We work with the Bureau of Meteorology and our counterparts
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  Speaker 3: of bushfires into to understand what the forecast fire weather
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  Speaker 3: is going to do, and from that we make decisions,
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  Speaker 3: particularly around de clearing firebands.
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  Speaker 2: Now, if fireband does happen to occur on a.
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  Speaker 3: Date that's selected for the Territory Day celebrations or Freedom Day,
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  Speaker 3: then that will mean wherever that fireband does happen to fall,
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  Speaker 3: then the use of fireworks is illegal. You cannot no
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  Speaker 3: person shall cause a fire to be lit in the
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  Speaker 3: open portion Lorden territories. That includes the use of angle
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  Speaker 3: grind is anything that can cause sparks, even engines that
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  Speaker 3: don't have fitted spark arrestors, so old petrol engines on
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  Speaker 3: law mowers or chainsaws, etc. So the use of them
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  Speaker 3: is illegal during a fire band period, so that we
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  Speaker 3: can reduce the risk of any fires occurring.
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  Speaker 1: Now I know, we did just have a call from
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  Speaker 1: a listener by the look of it, Sue asking about
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  Speaker 1: her neighbors really long grass and what they can do
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  Speaker 1: about it if there's I mean, if you've got a
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  Speaker 1: neighbor who maybe hasn't taken care of their property as
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  Speaker 1: well as what you do, what can you do about it?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, certainly you can make those referrals to our fire
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  Speaker 3: investigation prevention team, it's really important that ural property owners
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  Speaker 3: are managing their property for fire, so they have a
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  Speaker 3: fire break installed, but they're also managing that accumulation of
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  Speaker 3: flammable material is what we would call it. So Grass
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  Speaker 3: you already this top end dry season, our officers have
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  Speaker 3: inspected properties right throughout the Dale and rural area within
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  Speaker 3: our emergency response areum. We've issued approximately two hundred notices
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  Speaker 3: to landholders who have not yet been compliant to that direction.
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  Speaker 3: So that's for both firebreak installation and also for accumulation
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  Speaker 3: of flammable material.
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  Speaker 1: Once they get that notice, the people then generally pretty cooperative.
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  Speaker 3: For yeah, generally about eighty percent will take eat of
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  Speaker 3: that notice and they'll take the appropriate action whatever's been
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  Speaker 3: identified by the officers having a look at their property.
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  Speaker 3: But as a result of those notices that we have
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  Speaker 3: issued today, further twenty infringements have already been issued and
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  Speaker 3: works on going. Where we've got ReCl landowners that choose
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  Speaker 3: to do nothing, we're working through that to take further
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  Speaker 3: action against them.
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  Speaker 1: And so really if they're not going to do anything,
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  Speaker 1: they could copy.
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  Speaker 3: Fine more than a fine potentially, So the fine is
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  Speaker 3: just one stage in that enforcement action. We can take
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  Speaker 3: additional action against those landowners, and we're currently assessing those
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  Speaker 3: for those property owners that choose to do the wrong thing,
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  Speaker 3: because the important thing here with those recultrant landowners, not
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  Speaker 3: only are they putting themselves in their community risks, but
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  Speaker 3: they're also putting our fire fighters at risks they have
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  Speaker 3: to enter their properties.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, I know that last week, I think it
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  Speaker 1: was on McMillan's there was a fire there. You guys
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  Speaker 1: have sent us through a photo. It looks like it
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  Speaker 1: was pretty significant and asen our is spent controlling it.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, certainly a significant fire that day that did result
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  Speaker 3: in use of aircraft to assist our ground crews in
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  Speaker 3: establishing containment lines. So it was burning and that Robinson's
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  Speaker 3: Barracks estate there, and yeah, although it was pretty mild conditions,
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  Speaker 3: you know, it's reflective the increasing grass growth that we've
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  Speaker 3: got how quickly and fast a fire will move even
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  Speaker 3: on a more mild a day. So it wasn't a
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  Speaker 3: firebn DA, We didn't have extreme fire danger, but yet
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  Speaker 3: that fire still post significant risk and was quite a
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  Speaker 3: challenge for our crews. So certainly I think we had
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  Speaker 3: about four aircraft assisting our firefighters with that as well
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  Speaker 3: as our career staff through Darwin and our volunteers.
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  Speaker 1: And I understand that there was also a fire where
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  Speaker 1: well the volunteer firefighters and also I believe your cruise
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  Speaker 1: went out and saved a property. Was that last Thursday?
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  Speaker 3: I think that one was back on a twenty July
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  Speaker 3: and at bees Creek, and yeah, we had around seven
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  Speaker 3: fire units there, a mix of career and volunteers. And look,
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  Speaker 3: it really was such great feedback to received from that landowner.
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  Speaker 3: It's quite heartwarming to receive this knowing that our people
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  Speaker 3: are out in the community each and every day making
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  Speaker 3: a difference. But I guess important message here and to
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  Speaker 3: go back to our firebreaks, you know, this could have
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  Speaker 3: been a very different story. If that property wasn't prepared,
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  Speaker 3: didn't have their firebreaks installed, didn't have a plan in place,
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  Speaker 3: we might not have been seeing such great feedback because
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  Speaker 3: their property could have been severely damaged.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and I guess you know, if you're a towny
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  Speaker 1: like me, you probably don't know exactly what needs to
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  Speaker 1: be done to prepare your property. But for a lot
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  Speaker 1: of our rural landowners, they have got a very good
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  Speaker 1: idea of what they need to do. Is there somewhere though,
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  Speaker 1: Like if somebody, let's say, has just bought a property
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  Speaker 1: out in the rural area and they're not one hundred
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  Speaker 1: percent or exactly what they need to do to make
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  Speaker 1: sure that they are prepared, is there somewhere they can
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  Speaker 1: go with someone they can actually have a chat to
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  Speaker 1: even to try and sort it all out.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a couple of great tools that new property
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  Speaker 3: owners or even old properly owners that just want to
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  Speaker 3: do a little bit more can go to. They can
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  Speaker 3: go to the Police Fire Emergency Services web page and
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  Speaker 3: click on to the Fire and Rescue Service and in
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  Speaker 3: there's a really good property bush via planning guide that
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  Speaker 3: talks about the steps that land owners need to take
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  Speaker 3: or land occupy need to take to prepare their property.
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  Speaker 3: But also reaching out to our volunteers. You know, volunteers
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  Speaker 3: live in the community, they understand the risk in that
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  Speaker 3: local area, and they're a really great asset to be
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  Speaker 3: able to work with to identify what property owners can
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  Speaker 3: do to protect themselves.
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  Speaker 1: And are you always i mean, are we always looking
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  Speaker 1: for volunteer firefighters? If there's somebody listening this morning who
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  Speaker 1: thinks he I've actually worked as a volunteer firey interstate
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  Speaker 1: or I'd been really keen to sort of learn.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, certainly, our volunteer brigades will always accept new members.
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  Speaker 3: We're always accepting applications from members of the community who
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  Speaker 3: wish to volunteer.
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  Speaker 2: You know, there is a variety of roles.
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  Speaker 3: There's some training that we can get them if they
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  Speaker 3: haven't ever volunteered before in that space, So certainly approach
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  Speaker 3: their local volunteer brigade or get in contact with the
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  Speaker 3: Fine and Riscue Service.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it does sound like it's going to be a busy,
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  Speaker 1: busy fire season for you guys. We always appreciate you
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: coming in. Josh, thank you so much for your time
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  Speaker 1: this morning.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: It is the assistant chief fire Officer there, Josh Fishing.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Now it