Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Chief Fire Officer Mark Spain gives an update on several fires across the Top End

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Chief Fire Officer Mark Spain gives an update on several fires across the Top End · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: But joining me in the studio right now to tell
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: us more about the fires that were obviously experienced over
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the course of the weekend. We know that it was
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  Speaker 1: an incredibly busy weekend for our firefighters and joining me
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  Speaker 1: in the studio is our chief fire Officer, Mark Spain.
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  Speaker 1: Let me make sure I've got the right microphone on
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  Speaker 1: for you. Good morning Spainy.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, Good morning listeners.
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  Speaker 1: Now we know it was an incredibly busy weekend off
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  Speaker 1: the bat. Firstly, that fire at a warehouse in Berrima.
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  Speaker 1: It was indeed the nt Health warehouse. What exactly happened.
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  Speaker 3: As we acknowledged yesterday, was a fireband aid. We're on
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  Speaker 3: a shoulder day today, yep. But as you can guess, firebanday,
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  Speaker 3: we're all on height and alert and then you get
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  Speaker 3: the phone call to come in to say you've got
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  Speaker 3: industrial fire. We responded that. I responded twenty one firefighters
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  Speaker 3: to that incident, coming from Bherrama Firestation, Morara Firestation and
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  Speaker 3: daar On fire station and a watch commander to manage
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  Speaker 3: that incident.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: So twenty one firefighters needed. How long did it take
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  Speaker 1: you to get it under control?
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  Speaker 3: It didn't take too long to get to control. Our
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  Speaker 3: primary objective really for that one is to protect assets
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  Speaker 3: around that building. We'd already the fight had already taken
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  Speaker 3: a really good hold on it, several really good attempts
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  Speaker 3: from our fire crews to get in and knock it down.
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  Speaker 3: As soon as they've got onto one, the other one
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  Speaker 3: fled up. So we decided fairly early that that structure
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  Speaker 3: was lost to the fire. So it was to protect
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  Speaker 3: other assets and other building industry around there to get
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  Speaker 3: it going.
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  Speaker 2: That fire was still smaller for a couple of days.
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  Speaker 3: I'm just working with Dipple at the moment to get
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  Speaker 3: a big earth moving equipment we go to pull down
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  Speaker 3: some walls so our fires can get in there and
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  Speaker 3: extinguish whatever still burning.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, and is it pretty extensively damaged.
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  Speaker 2: It's a right off.
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  Speaker 3: It's absolutely right off. And it is to that and saying,
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  Speaker 3: just to put it to some perspective for people done,
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  Speaker 3: is that a warehouse far of that major tu would
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  Speaker 3: probably have about one hundred fire fighters attendant if it
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  Speaker 3: was in another largest city or state. The work that
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  Speaker 3: our fire fighters did was exceptional to have avoid any
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  Speaker 3: of the loss to other industry around that area, so
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  Speaker 3: they can assume work today is Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Now, no one was inside that building, was there.
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  Speaker 3: No, That's our primary objective is to perform rescue, but
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  Speaker 3: also the safety of our fire fighters. So that fire
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  Speaker 3: was really getting up and going. So once that rescue
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  Speaker 3: is cleared, we will then protect all exposures which did that,
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  Speaker 3: and then we'll contain it to the incident.
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  Speaker 2: And that's what the for is.
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  Speaker 1: Digestinay And in terms of that area today, is it
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  Speaker 1: still closed off? What exactly is the situation?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that area will be closed off.
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  Speaker 3: As I said that file, we're still producing some toxic
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  Speaker 3: smoke from the product that was in this thing. We're
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  Speaker 3: getting depl in today, as I said, to assist us
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  Speaker 3: to help the fire investigators, we'll start pulling the walls
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  Speaker 3: down as best we can so we can put out
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  Speaker 3: any of the spot fires that are internally into the structure.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah right, it sounds like it was a tough one
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  Speaker 1: to get under control or you know, I know that
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  Speaker 1: you guys obviously know exactly what you doing. But a
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  Speaker 1: big fire, no doubt about that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, as you can imagine the product in there, we
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  Speaker 3: had vehicles in there, we had oxygen cylinders in there.
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  Speaker 3: They're popping off ladder into the fire once they were rutted,
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  Speaker 3: and then we had all the products.
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  Speaker 2: For the hospital tea.
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  Speaker 1: And then we also know that there was as you mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: obviously the weather at the moment, he's causing us to
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  Speaker 1: be on alert for other fires outdoors. So to get
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  Speaker 1: that call yesterday must have been a bit of a
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  Speaker 1: shock quoset. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Being an emergence service or a fire service, there's part
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  Speaker 3: about the job is you just don't know what to
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  Speaker 3: expect and when it comes, we just have to respond
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  Speaker 3: to it.
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  Speaker 1: And then obviously there was I think there was a
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  Speaker 1: watching Act of Virginia. There was actually three other fires,
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  Speaker 1: wasn't there.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll just go through it, Catie if you like.
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  Speaker 3: As I was looking at the big plum of smoke
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  Speaker 3: from the structure fire looked over our shoulder and then
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  Speaker 3: we saw the grass fires pick up in Thorny Gate Road,
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  Speaker 3: where I have another eight firefighters career, five fighters a
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  Speaker 3: volunteer fire fighters attend. That were with the assistance of
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  Speaker 3: bushfire aircraft. Give that if you can imagine. That was
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  Speaker 3: near Robinson Barracks where all the aments are for the
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  Speaker 3: upcoming exercise. So that was a priority for us. The
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  Speaker 3: fire crews there is pretty clear. So they've worked tirelessly
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  Speaker 3: on that one and that took several hours. The Eugene
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  Speaker 3: fire kicked off in the afternoon. That one moved rapidly
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  Speaker 3: and took out a number of outhouses and Liverpool quarters.
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  Speaker 3: Not residents, but there were Liverpool quarters in that area.
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  Speaker 3: And once again I had to redirect the aircraft assets
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  Speaker 3: from bushfires and t to that fire.
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  Speaker 2: Has prioritized.
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  Speaker 3: As a result of that, I had the Assistant Chief
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  Speaker 3: fireffs head out to that one to assist the fire
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  Speaker 3: crews that I already dispatched from the Baron of Fire
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  Speaker 3: to assisted in that one.
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  Speaker 2: So it's a huge day.
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  Speaker 1: And we did get told that at that fire in
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  Speaker 1: Virginia that there were some puppies rescued.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I haven't heard that directly, but that would be
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  Speaker 3: our priority, always save animals if we could, and by
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  Speaker 3: the sounds that we've done that. Once again, all those
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  Speaker 3: grass fires were assisted by our volunteer of the day.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Spainy, I know this. Earlier last week you and
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  Speaker 1: I spoke because the fire station out at Humpty Dew
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  Speaker 1: was closed for a day. We started receiving phone calls
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  Speaker 1: and messages on Friday saying that the fire station at
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  Speaker 1: Berrima was closed on Friday. Was that the case, Yeah, No.
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  Speaker 2: It was.
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  Speaker 3: It wasn't. I'll say that again, it wasn't. I have
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  Speaker 3: a minimum staff and crew to maintain in the area,
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  Speaker 3: so I have to redeploy my assets are seeing fit.
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  Speaker 3: So in this option, I chose to keep Humpty Do
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  Speaker 3: station because of the bushfire weather, so I re kept
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  Speaker 3: that station open, and then I redirected some assets from
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  Speaker 3: Dale Station into Barrama where I had a watch commander
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  Speaker 3: sitting there and three others. So that would have made
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  Speaker 3: a temporary crew up to keep that station open and
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  Speaker 3: to assist other mege responsible.
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  Speaker 1: Be an impact though, does something like that those staffing
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  Speaker 1: levels have Then when you have a day like you
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  Speaker 1: had yesterday where obviously you've got twenty one firefighters out
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  Speaker 1: on a major fire out there in Barrima, Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I had twenty one on that day, So you can
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  Speaker 3: imagine my merger's response areas from the Darren area, Maura
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  Speaker 3: and the Barramo area or tied up with that one incident.
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  Speaker 3: So therefore I had Parmeston to protect the rest of
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  Speaker 3: the areas of Palmeston and surrounds, but also have the
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  Speaker 3: support from the volunteers. So what we do is we'll
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  Speaker 3: just prioritize our incidents and address accordingly.
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  Speaker 1: Is that enough? I mean, do you have enough staff
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  Speaker 1: to be able to deal with everything? Or have we
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  Speaker 1: got a situation here where there's any concerns with safety
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  Speaker 1: when you are having to close down a fire station.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, there's a lot of concerns about it. And what
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  Speaker 3: we do is normally fill those stations with overtime, and
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  Speaker 3: at that moment, even now, we're still having people who
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  Speaker 3: are not volunteering to fill that overtime position, so it
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  Speaker 3: doesn't leave me too many options, so I have to
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  Speaker 3: actually maneuver assets around to best protect the community.
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  Speaker 1: At the time, we had messages coming through on Friday,
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  Speaker 1: some people who are obviously firefighters. I was never called
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: to come in and fill a shift.
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  Speaker 2: Yep, that's correct.
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  Speaker 3: They were the night shift crew that worked that night,
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  Speaker 3: and then they would have worked the next day, and
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  Speaker 3: then they would have had to have their nine hour
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  Speaker 3: break after that for their second night shift. At that time,
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  Speaker 3: it was looking like I was going to have thirteen
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  Speaker 3: to fourteen vacancies of a twenty to three person shift
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  Speaker 3: on the night shift, so some of those firefighters weren't called.
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  Speaker 3: I was able to maneuver crews around to keep all
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  Speaker 3: the stations open, didn't go under my minimum manning, and
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  Speaker 3: to do that, as it was, we still struggled to
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  Speaker 3: fill all shifts on that night shift. So yes, I can't.
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  Speaker 3: I just really have to manage fatigue levels. I already
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  Speaker 3: have a few firefighters and station officers who have actually
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  Speaker 3: worked above and beyond their capacity. They've exceeded twenty four
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  Speaker 3: hours on some cases where I've just had to stand
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  Speaker 3: them down and give them a break.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Look, I guess a lot of people listening are
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  Speaker 1: probably feeling a bit like me, where they don't really
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  Speaker 1: know what the overtime's all about. They don't really know,
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  Speaker 1: you know, how you manage the fatigue levels and all
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  Speaker 1: that kind of thing. But what they'll be wondering is
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  Speaker 1: if the community is being put at risk in any
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  Speaker 1: way here are they due to people not filling those shifts.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, as I said to you many times, Cadie, darn
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  Speaker 3: Is a growing place, is expanding cool or Linga. I'm
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  Speaker 3: working closely with government in relation to addressing some of
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  Speaker 3: the issues around we're around this the growth. We're looking
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  Speaker 3: at tourism, we're looking at big industry, so we need.
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  Speaker 2: To grow with that.
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  Speaker 3: So that's a constant conversation I'm having with government. Are
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  Speaker 3: we putting people at risk? Pretty much?
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  Speaker 2: What I said yesterday is that if you live.
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  Speaker 3: In the rural area, you really should have your bush
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  Speaker 3: fire survival planning place. You should have your fire breaks
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  Speaker 3: in place by now, and definitely on a fireband aid.
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  Speaker 3: Don't go using grinders, don't go slashing your block. That's
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  Speaker 3: far too late. So there is a little bit of
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  Speaker 3: resilience for people to address in those areas that they
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  Speaker 3: want to live. But we'll always and assets to those.
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  Speaker 3: We can't send firefighters to every address. We only have
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  Speaker 3: finite resources to.
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  Speaker 1: Do we have enough firefighters or you know what's going
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  Speaker 1: on here?
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  Speaker 3: Well, as I said of the other day, and I
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  Speaker 3: think a couple of barage of text messons. But we
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  Speaker 3: are in the middle of enterprise agreements between the United
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  Speaker 3: Workers Union are in early her group and the ACP
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  Speaker 3: Commission of Public Employment. That's a four year negotiation, so
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  Speaker 3: read into what you will.
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  Speaker 1: So I mean, haven't got a situation where some people
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  Speaker 1: are not turning up to work because they want to
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  Speaker 1: get paid for.
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  Speaker 3: I think they are through the negotiations looking for a
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  Speaker 3: difference of what they've been offered through AICP, and as
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  Speaker 3: a result of that they will just go on and
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: work through that. I don't control that environment. That will
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: be controlled by whoever's on the shift.
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  Speaker 1: All right, well, Mark Spain, chief fire officer with the
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  Speaker 1: Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service. We always appreciate your time.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: It sounds like it was a really busy weekend. A
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  Speaker 1: big thank you to all of those firefighters who were
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  Speaker 1: out there on the weekend fighting those fires. Would have
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  Speaker 1: been a difficult situation and I know that the community
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  Speaker 1: appreciates it.
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  Speaker 3: If I can just thank those firefighters that turned up
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  Speaker 3: again today who spent all night last night, turned up
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  Speaker 3: to fill shifts, I really appreciate it.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much for your time this morning. Mark Spain,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: thank you