CFA bosses face judgment as Fiskville parliamentary inquiry set to hand down report

TOMORROW is finally judgement day for Victorian firefighting managers who have been grilled in a parliamentary inquiry into the Fiskville cancer scandal.

The Fiskville CFA training college.

TOMORROW is judgment day for fire service managers grilled by Victorian MPs over the Fiskville cancer scandal.

The final report of a parliamentary committee’s inquiry will be tabled, carrying with it the hopes for justice of families of those at the Fiskville site who became sick, and who are still waiting for compensation.

Toxic chemicals contaminated the CFA training college at Fiskville, since closed.

The Herald Sunbroke the story in December 2011, after respected former chief officer Brian Potter — dying from multiple cancers and suffering from a rare auto-immune disease — spoke out, saying he believed he and others were victims of the toxic site.

The following year, the Herald Sun unearthed more evidence that firefighters continued to be exposed to dangerous chemicals which remained in dam water used for fighting training fires.

Mr Potter’s widow, Diane, said yesterday her husband, who died in February 2014, was a hero who was wrongly condemned by parts of the CFA for breaking his silence. He had tried to raise the matter with CFA board members.

“They tried to brush him off. Well, they picked the wrong person,” Mrs Potter said. “And I hope this report will answer: What were they really hiding?”

Senior CFA management and successive Fiskville managers have claimed they were unaware of contamination until the story broke in 2011.

The State Government closed Fiskville last March because high levels of dangerous chemicals used in now-banned firefighting foam were found in the site’s water supply. Further tests revealed significant soil contamination.

The chemicals had also washed off Fiskville into the land of neighbouring farmers . It is believed compensation discussions are continuing.

Last November, the committee revealed the CFA had refused to hand over some documents, including CFA board minutes. It was believed these documents would reveal what CFA management knew while firefighters were still being trained at Fiskville.

Documents leaked to the Herald Sun in July in 2012 revealed CFA management did not act when some in charge had been alerted to problems.

The cross-party committee has heard evidence from at least 90 witnesses in 17 days of hearings from last May, and accepted submissions from more than 450 people.

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