Rural area residents at risk from house fires on Cracker Night: fireys

Fireys say Cracker Night ’penny pinching’ will put rural residents in danger.

A STAFFING decision by the NT Fire Service is “rolling the dice with people’s lives”, according to fireys, who say rural residents will have little to no help if their house catches on fire this Cracker Night.

The Humpty Doo Fire Station, which is normally crewed by multiple permanent firefighters on Cracker Night, will only be staffed by one senior career firefighter and volunteers this year.

Under strict training rules, only permanent employed firefighters are qualified to fight structural fires, including entering burning buildings. Volunteers deal with bush and grass fires.

This means if a house goes up in flames thanks to an errant firework or bush blaze, the one permanent firey will likely have to rely on help from crews from Palmerston, who will be tasked with driving the 15-20 minutes to the area before attending.

And that time frame is if they’re not doing anything when the call comes in, a firefighter, who asked not to be named, said.

“On a normal night, the Palmerston station crew would ordinarily travel out there (if there was a structural fire) in 15-20 minutes. That’s if there’s nothing going on,” they said.

“On Cracker Night, they’ll be tied up in their area, exceptionally busy. That response time will be delayed.

“On this particular night, when the risks are so high, there’s a higher fire danger and a higher risk, and the residents in the area are already so concerned, it’s quite a gamble to take.”

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The firefighter said the Humpty Doo station was normally manned during working hours, Monday to Friday.

However, they said that on other Cracker Nights additional staff had been brought on to ensure residents in the rural area could be saved if they became stuck in a burning building.

“Volunteers can’t enter the building, they’re just not trained,” the firey said. “As soon as it becomes structural, they’re not qualified.”

An NT Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said the “primary risk” in the rural area on Cracker Night was “grass fires … not structure fires”.

“The NTFRS have planned for enhanced crewing of volunteers and career firefighters to manage incidents that occur within the NTFRS emergency response area (ERA) in relation to grass fires created from the fireworks,” she said.

“The NTFRS has also maintained staff levels for business as usual to respond both within our emergency response areas and to address activities such as a road crash out of our ERAs.”

She said volunteers were providing the first response coverage in “many regional centres”.

Emergency Services Minister Nicole Manison said it was an “insult” to suggest the senior station officer was “not up to the job”.

“Additional teams from across Greater Darwin can also surge Humpty Doo and other areas, if required.”