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Katie Woolf spoke with Chief Fire Patrol Officer Andrew Turner · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now joining us on the line to tell us more
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: about the situation. Bushfires NT Chief Fire Patrol Officer Andrew Turner,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Andrew.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, Katie, How not too bad?
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  Speaker 1: Andrew? The conditions today? How are they looking?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? Very gusty this morning. I'm just sitting here looking
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  Speaker 2: out the window now and the wind's been pretty steady
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  Speaker 2: and very strong for about the last two hours and
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  Speaker 2: that's expected to continue for a few more hours yet
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  Speaker 2: all the way from Darwin down to the other side
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  Speaker 2: of Adelaide River Yah during that time the winds will
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  Speaker 2: also rise again and become gusty, so difficult conditions if
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  Speaker 2: the fire does get going.
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  Speaker 1: And how are we looking at the moment in terms
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  Speaker 1: of are there any fires that you're having to keep
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  Speaker 1: an eye on at the moment or is it pretty
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  Speaker 1: clear at this stage?
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  Speaker 2: There was fire fires yesterday and last night. All of
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  Speaker 2: them are currently being monitored by volunteers or our staff,
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  Speaker 2: but they're all in hand and contained at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: There was also another one early this morning, a vehicle
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  Speaker 2: fire on Kentish Road that required our assistance. The fire
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  Speaker 2: got away from the vehicle and needed to be contained.
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  Speaker 2: As I said, they're all contained at present.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so sorry. Where was that one Kentish Road?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Kentish Road at Darwin River. There was a fire
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  Speaker 2: earlier this morning on the roadside and it spread into
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  Speaker 2: neighboring them.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and have I mean, have we seen a situation
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  Speaker 1: where any properties or anything are threatened with any of
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  Speaker 1: those or are they sort of in areas where it's
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  Speaker 1: been more a matter of you guys just monitoring.
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  Speaker 2: There was a fire last night out on the Arnham
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  Speaker 2: Highway that came close to a number of homes out
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  Speaker 2: that way. Fortunately the landowners had equipment such as graters
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  Speaker 2: and the volunteer brigade out at Point Stewart and Marichay.
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  Speaker 2: Both brigades attended and were able to wrap it up quickly.
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  Speaker 2: But crews were out there until after nine o'clock last
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  Speaker 2: night just managing that fire.
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  Speaker 1: And those vollies. Everybody involved does a phenomenal job. But
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  Speaker 1: as you pointed out there as well, those land owners
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  Speaker 1: obviously well prepared and that is a big help, isn't it? Look?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely yesterday it got going very very quickly. Fortunately it
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  Speaker 2: was just after the peak of the winter. We were
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  Speaker 2: able to have a fair bit of favorable weather to
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  Speaker 2: bring them under control. But with this very dry weather
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  Speaker 2: at the moment and the gusty winds, anything that gets
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  Speaker 2: started moves very very quickly.
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  Speaker 1: And andrew the fireband that was declared yesterday. It is
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  Speaker 1: just for that twenty four hour period. Are we expecting
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  Speaker 1: that to extend it all or at this stage it
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  Speaker 1: is just for the twenty four hours.
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  Speaker 2: So we had a fireband yesterday for twenty four hours,
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  Speaker 2: replicated again today tomorrow. The forecast is for marginal weather.
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  Speaker 2: We'll get a briefing full of briefing from the Bureau
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  Speaker 2: of Meteorology later on this afternoon and they'll give us
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  Speaker 2: an idea whether the gusty winds remain at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: They're suggesting that the winds will be still around in
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  Speaker 2: the morning. However, they might ease by the afternoon, and
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  Speaker 2: so if they ease before the heat of the day,
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  Speaker 2: we may only see marginal weather, which means slightly below severe.
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  Speaker 2: I'm still quite critical fire danger period, but just not
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  Speaker 2: as dangerous, not considered as dangerous as the current weather.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Today, we caught up with Josh Fisher a few
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: weeks ago or a couple it might have even been
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  Speaker 1: last week now I think of it, and from NT
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  Speaker 1: Fire and Rescue Service and spoke a bit about some
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  Speaker 1: of the fires that they've been out to already this season.
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  Speaker 1: How has it been for you, guys, Andrew.
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  Speaker 2: We've had an average number of fires to date this year.
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  Speaker 2: We've had that period where there was a great deal
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  Speaker 2: of humidity, and the Bureau's talking next week the return
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  Speaker 2: of the humidity very hot conditions. It's been sort of
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  Speaker 2: an average year for us. We haven't had the fire
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  Speaker 2: danger that we traditionally get, which is we're very thankful
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  Speaker 2: for that. However, we are still getting a good number
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  Speaker 2: of fires. Many of those fires are started by someone
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  Speaker 2: either accidentally or negligently through roadside ignissions. In particularly you
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  Speaker 2: wonder if it's cigarette butts or what they are they're starting,
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  Speaker 2: But quite a few of big missions have been on
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  Speaker 2: the roadsides. Yeah, and that just gives us reason to
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  Speaker 2: concentrate our efforts in mitigation on ensuring that those roadsides
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  Speaker 2: and the firebreaks from them are all in really good
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  Speaker 2: order before the fire danger period.
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  Speaker 1: And you and I spoke a few weeks ago about
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  Speaker 1: Territory Day, and now we know that Territory Day is
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  Speaker 1: happening on the twenty ninth of August. I know that
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people have raised concerns about this. If
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  Speaker 1: we wind up in a situation though, like we're in today,
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  Speaker 1: where there's that fireban period in place, no one's going
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  Speaker 1: to be able to let off fireworks if indeed we've
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  Speaker 1: got conditions like this, I mean, does that make you
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  Speaker 1: feel any better or are you still a bit worried
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  Speaker 1: about that date?
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  Speaker 2: I look where working towards having full preparation for that date.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously there's going to be a lot of people on
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  Speaker 2: standby whenever the cracker Knight is So we just keep
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  Speaker 2: working towards our preparations and man sure we've got our
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  Speaker 2: best teams on the ground and ready no matter when
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  Speaker 2: the incident might occur.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Andrew Turner, I always appreciate your time, any advice
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  Speaker 1: or anything you'd like our residents out there to know
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  Speaker 1: today with this fireban period for twenty four hours, as
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  Speaker 1: you said, there was one yesterday, but another one today, Okay.
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  Speaker 2: The imperative thing is that we get to know about
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  Speaker 2: the fires as soon as they happen. There was a
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  Speaker 2: couple of cases yesterday where fires had a fair bit
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  Speaker 2: of time to develop before we will let know. So
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  Speaker 2: implore people to please call Triple zero. It's the best
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  Speaker 2: way to get a response. Letting Triple zero know. If
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  Speaker 2: you see a fire that seems to be unattended, that's
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  Speaker 2: the place to get support and help from.
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  Speaker 1: Well Bushfires and Chief Fire Patrol Officer Andrew Turner. I
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  Speaker 1: always appreciate your time. Thank you very much, and good
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  Speaker 1: luck to you guys and to all of your volunteers today.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks very much, Codie, thank you