FIRE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF GROUNDTHE TASMANIA FIRE SERVICE NOVEMBER 2019 Baptism of fire – The first year in. P2 Urban fire suppression P8 State Firefighter Championships P24 MESSAGE from the Chief Officer CONTENTS 10 $2 million Emergency Volunteer Support Fund launched 9 High level national qualification in fire investigation 11 2019 Fire and Emergency Services Conference 13 FireComm 15 16 Climbing for mental health 17 TasGRN go ahead 19 Medium Tanker t’s been a tough summer this year with During these almost unprecedented Working Party 20 Ia protracted 83 day (3 month) bushfire times, there have been many outstanding campaign; starting on Christmas Day with efforts from our firefighters right across Junior Cadets Skills 27 fires on Bruny and going right through the state. Cape Barren Island to the Dolphin Sands fire in April. Finally, The commitment of our TFS volunteers Good Fire 30 in early May we were able to lift permit has just been magnificent and I sincerely restrictions. thank you and your families for the time Where were we At the height of the bushfire emergency and anguish we may have put you 50 years ago 32 we were battling 71 fires which burnt all through. Our Fire Service Roll through over 211,000 ha – that is equal The commitment of our brigades this year to 3% of the State’s land mass and the is illustrated by the fact that we had 85 of Honour 34 largest fires since 1967. We declared brigades responding to fires in the Huon Southern Region National 13 days of TFB, 1400 Tasmanian residents Valley. And brigades from the North and Medal Presentation 40 presented at evacuation centres, Northwest could be found anywhere in 28 public information forums were held, the state. 7 airbases were established with Suffice to say, had the firefighting effort 27 30 50 aircraft being managed at one time, not been implemented such as it was, not and we received over 1000 personnel only would the immediate impacts have from interstate and overseas to help us. been significant, but moreover the longer The vast majority of fire incidents were term recovery and cascading effects 41 located in largely inaccessible terrain, would have been financially costly, far requiring air assets, complemented by reaching, and ultimately disastrous for remote area firefighters on the ground. the State. Whilst using both of these modes of And I know that those not directly operation, we continued to ensure we involved in the campaign fires have Official magazine of Tasmania Fire Service were ready to respond with a ‘weight of provided much-needed support in attack’ to address any new starts that Chief Officer and Chairman of the State Fire the background, or have stood by in Commission Chris Arnol occurred on days of TFB. readiness to provide fire coverage in Commission Members Rod Sweetnam, Chris Although TFS is well equipped and local brigade areas. Your efforts are Hughes, Graeme Brown, Lindsay Suhr, Bruce Corbett, Dana Faletic, Leigh Hills resourced, the scale and demands of also acknowledged and appreciated. the remote operations ultimately led [email protected] to us calling for additional resources. fire.tas.gov.au 1144 interstate and international The opinions expressed in Fireground are not personnel assisted the personnel and necessarily those of the State Fire Commission volunteers from Tasmanian agencies. Published by Tasmania Fire Service We had at least 2,500 individual Design & production: Digital Ink ISSN 0727-6087 Tasmanian firefighters working on the Printing: Mercury Walch front line this summer and I am thankful Printed on Hanno Satin, totally chlorine free from to work with such dedicated and FSC Mixed Sources hardworking people. Cover photo: Great Pine Tier Fire by Liam Cox November 2019 FIREGROUND 1 Baptism of fire – The first year in. Story and photos by Patrick McBride, Firefighter Gravelly Beach When I transitioned from being a road rescue operator in the State Emergency Service to a TFS volunteer I didn’t know that my first serious engagement with bushfires would be the second largest fire event ever experienced in this State. joined the Gravelly Beach Fire Brigade I expecting to provide assistance to my local community, whether it involved attending road crashes, structure fires or vegetation fires. Even if I could have imagined participating in a campaign fire that would last 87 days and devastate 210,000 hectares, I probably would have assumed that it was something that I would experience only after years in the TFS. However, that wasn’t to be the case. My first intra-state deployment saw me accompanying other Gravelly Beach Fire Brigade colleagues to the staging area We were tasked with asset protection, We toiled long and hard until everyone that had been set up at Miena. From there a Parks and Wildlife office situated near was withdrawn so that the four engine we were deployed to various operational the Central Plateau Conservation Area jet could do its run over the fireground, areas. On Sunday the 3rd of February located in the Tasmanian Wilderness before we returned to the fray and finally 2019 we were deployed to the fires at World Heritage Area. In the brown got busy blacking out the scorched Liawenee and Reynolds Neck where twilight that accompanied the raging landscape. The work was filthy, arduous our team was confronted by large and fires we were buzzed by the incessant and the hours were long, but you never fast moving fires. Up until this point, my (but welcome) roar of the two yellow seem to really notice because you experience had been primarily attending Air Tractors and an assortment of are sharing the experience with your relatively sedate hazard reduction burns, helicopter water bombers. I have never colleagues – and that brings extraordinary but this monster was on a scale far greater been in a war zone, but I suspect it must satisfaction. than that! sound something like this! 2 FIREGROUND November 2019 November 2019 FIREGROUND 3 83 days of battle photos from the front line Riveaux Road Fire – Phil Sanager Riveaux Road Fire – Phil Sanager Riveaux Road Fire – Phil Sanager Reynolds Neck – Patrick McBride Great Lake Hotel – Liam Cox Lightning Strike Woodbury – Old Sawmill Site Lake Sorell – Brak Huey Brak Huey Bracknell Barn Fire – Kara Littlejohn 4 FIREGROUND November 2019 November 2019 FIREGROUND 5 Reynolds Neck – Patrick McBride Reynolds Neck – Patrick McBride Waddamana Power Station – Hummocky Hills Fire – Kara Littlejohn Kara Littlejohn Riveaux Road Fire – Phil Sanager Bruny Island Fire – Phil Sanager Riveaux Road Fire – Phil Sanager Riveaux Road Fire – Phil Sanager 6 FIREGROUND November 2019 November 2019 FIREGROUND 7 $2 million Emergency Volunteer Support Fund Launched he Emergency Volunteer Support Fund was officially launched in late 2018 by the Tformer Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Management, the Honourable Michael Ferguson. This initiative is part of the Tasmanian State Government’s commitment to keep Tasmania safe through a boost to emergency services. Under this initiative, the Government is providing an injection of $2 million over four years for volunteer TFS brigades and SES units. This extra funding sets up a grants system to apply for non-core equipment and training, enhanced recruitment and engagement activities, as well as station amenities and minor facility improvements. The funding for the grant programs has been split between TFS and SES, based on each agency’s proportion of total volunteer Brigades and Units across both agencies. Over the four years, this equates to: • $1,724,000 for TFS Volunteer Brigades or $431,000 per annum; and • $276,000 for SES Volunteer Units or $69,000 per annum The TFS Volunteer Brigade Grant Program was developed collectively by the Tasmanian Volunteer Fire Brigade Association (TVFBA), the Tasmanian Retained Volunteer Firefighter Association (TRVFA) and the Tasmania Fire Service. Under the TFS Volunteer Brigade Grant Program, one main round of grants will be offered each financial year for four years. An additional round may be offered each financial year if not all available funds are allocated in the main round of grants. Opening and closing dates have been set as follows: Additional Round Main Round (if required) Urban fire suppression Photographer, Matt LFF Davis, Hobart Fire Brigade Round 1 Round 2 2018-19 Financial Year Opened December 2018 Opened March 2019 Closed 31 January 2019 Closed 30 April 2019 at what we do, and this training helps us • Burning regimes Feedback from participants shows strong Round 3 Round 4 The time is right for TFS to stay on top of our game.” • Controlling the environment/ support for the program: 2019-20 Financial Year Opened July 2019 Opens November 2019 reorient the compass on one Firefighters in the TFS have a long gaseous phase using gas cooling • “ Most relevant training Closed 28 August 2019 Closes 31 January 2020 tradition of service and are respected • Branch efficiency and water undertaken for structural of its core responsibilities Round 5 Round TBA by the community for bringing order extinguishment firefighting in 14 years” – urban fire suppression, to a situation that has lost control. 2020-21 Financial Year Opens June 2020 Opens November 2020 • Door entry techniques • “ We know that we are more efficient Where people are running away from according to Chief Officer, and safer as a result of this training” Closes 31 July 2020 Closes 29 January 2021 an emergency incident, firefighters are • Decontamination procedures. Chris Arnol. Commitment expected to run towards it and deal with a “In the courses that have been run so • “ Above and beyond my Round TBA Round TBA has been given to roll out situation that has enormous potential for far, the professionalism of broad-minded expectations. This course needs 2021-22 Financial Year Opens June 2021 Opens November 2021 to be delivered to every structural negative consequences.