Volunteers want bushfire royal commission to investigate equipment failures and shortages

A number of volunteer firefighting bodies want the bushfire royal commission to examine equipment failures and funding shortfalls.

NSW Volunteer Fire Fighters ­Association president Mick Holton. Picture: Kym Smith

A number of volunteer firefighting bodies have called for a newly-­announced royal commission into the summer bushfires to examine the equipment failures and associated funding shortfalls that put their members at risk while they battled blazes around the country.

As reported by The Australian last week, volunteer firefighters in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland were forced to use outdated tankers that lacked the latest emergency sprinkler systems, poor radio communications, substandard technological capabilities, and inadequate personal protective clothing.

Mick Holton, president of the NSW Volunteer Fire Fighters ­Association, welcomed the announcement of a royal commission on Thursday but said it needed to examine the equipment failures and shortfalls experienced by his colleagues.

Mr Holton pointed to a tendency for some volunteer services to spend their money on large items, such as aircraft, instead of on personnel and their protection.

He said the commission should examine whether these services were being adequately funded.

“Very large aircraft don’t put fires out. Firefighters put fires out,” Mr Holton said.

The Australian revealed on Saturday that a funding plea from the NSW Rural Fire Service to ­upgrade thousands of dilapidated trucks has been sitting idle with the NSW government for months while volunteers have attempted to battle the infernos.

Some volunteers in NSW were deployed on tankers without emergency watering systems to keep their tyres from melting. And some tankers didn’t have foil ­curtains, or heat-resistant material along their brake lines, numerous sources have confirmed.

David Lindner, vice-president of the South Australian Country Fire Service, echoed Mr Holton’s call and said funding should be ­examined as part of the royal commission’s inquiries.

“When you look at the disparity between a paid (fire) service and a volunteer service, it’s quite immense in some areas,” Mr Lindner said. “We’ve got to look at some parity for the amount of work that volunteer firefighters do. We do it for nothing, so a pay-off is having very good, up-to-date equipment.”

But not all representative associations believe the issues fall within the royal commission’s ambit.

“They’re not doing a royal commission into how the Rural Fire Service or the Country Fire Authority handled the fires — that’s a state issue,” said Brian McDonough, president of the Rural Fire Service Association.