Fire fighters keen to see new Fire Service Act and what it contains
The Rosebery bushfire has prompted the government to again promise to deliver a new funding model for fire fighters. Those on the front line wonder if it contains extra resources or just a new way of handing out the same dollars.
North West Coast
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EMERGENCY Services Minister Felix Ellis has promised to review funding to fire fighters in the wake of fire at Rosebery which destroyed an accommodation lodge, threatened homes in several streets and forced the temporary closure of the town’s hospital.
On Wednesday, as the smoke cleared in the west coast town, Mr Ellis said that with an increased frequency of emergency events, Tasmania needed to make sure its emergency services had the resources needed to keep people safe.
“The funding model that we currently have for our fire and emergency services is not fit for purpose and we are going to reform this,” he said.
Mr Ellis, when asked to expand on that statement, provided little detail but said he would soon deliver a contemporary new Fire Service Act - something that has been in the wings for two years.
What the fire fighters union wants though is for the Tasmania Fire Service to again be a stand alone agency.
“The new Fire Service Act has been sitting in cabinet for a few months. It is good the government recognises the old model is archaic but Mr Ellis is not saying there will be extra funding but just that there will be a new model,” United Firefighters Union of Australia Tasmania secretary Leigh Hills said.
Mr Hills said being part of a broader emergency services department was hindering the operational side of fire fighting.
Mr Ellis said the current act and funding model were 43 years old.
“Parliamentary Committees and independent experts have examined this issue and have made the case for change, and that case is strong. Nearly every other state in Australia has moved to reform funding for emergency services,” he said.
“Our fire and emergency services are currently funded through a complex model, with varied sources including insurance levies, motor vehicles levies, and fire service levies charged through council rates. The variability of this means that funding for these critical services is unpredictable and often unfair.
“We will do everything we can to ensure that our fire and emergency services are supported with the equipment and funding that they need.
“We are not waiting for a Royal Commission, we are acting now.”
It comes as questions are asked over a lapse in the TFS text warning system during the fierce blaze in Rosebery on Tuesday.
And fears the current pay dispute between the government and the firefighters union could leave crews shorthanded this bushfire season.
Mr Hills said the problem was around payments for non-rostered shift workers.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said he had been in contact with the owner of the Mount Black Lodge which was destroyed in the Rosebery bushfire.
“We are exploring options to provide recovery support and have arranged emergency accommodation for tourists booked to stay. MMG has also been able to arrange alternative accommodation for their employees.”
Fire warning system blunder: Minister calls for investigation
THE Tasmania Fire Service warning system did not alert Rosebery residents to the danger of flames racing towards their homes on Tuesday afternoon.
Police and Emergency Services Minister Felix Ellis wants an investigation into the system’s failure to send out standard text message warnings that people should prepare to leave their homes.
“If people were not notified through text or other warning systems we need to look at that and rectify it,” Mr Ellis said on Wednesday, as residents in the town took stock of the blaze which destroyed an accommodation lodge and damaged other buildings.
The fire put homes in several residential streets in danger and threatened the town’s new hospital and the Rosebery mine which was evacuated after the mine’s carpark caught fire.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Rosebery Community Health Centre was closed until further notice to allow an assessment of the facility.
The Department of Health said there was no structural damage, but cleaning and maintenance work will be required due to smoke entering the section of the building occupied by Ochre GP Practice.
There were several watch and act warnings broadcast on ABC radio during the Test match between Australia and South Africa.
But several residents told the Mercury they only knew about the danger because they smelled smoke and went outside and saw flames just a block away from their homes.
One man was in bed asleep when a friend rang to ask if he was all right. It was only then he got up and saw that there was a large bushfire nearby.
A TFS spokesman said the text message warning system was streamed out of Burnie’s Three Mile Line headquarters and it relied on information from the fireground.
He said getting timely information out could be difficult in an emergency situation where an intense blaze was threatening a contained, built up area.
But the TFS needs to learn from the Rosebery experience to ensure the system worked in the face of other potential bushfires this summer, he said.
Regional Fire Controller Tony Wood said spot fires at Rosbery had been extinguished on Wednesday and the cause of the fire was being investigated.
At the peak of the fire on Tuesday, about 40 firefighters from across the region attended, and three firefighting aircraft were deployed.
“At this stage, the fire has burnt approximately 3.7ha and impacted several buildings, with the Mt Black Lodge destroyed,” Mr Wood said.
The TFS says early indications are that the fire started in vegetation.
“This fire is a reminder that summer is here, and it’s important people have a bushfire survival plan, and prepare their property for the risk of fire,” Mr Wood said.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the intense blaze was in a contained area and he praised the quick work by emergency services.
The loss of the Mt Black Lodge means many miners will no longer have accommodation in a region already stretched for housing options.
The tourism industry will also suffer, Mayor Shane Pitt said, because people would have more limited accommodation options.
“It has been a dramatic 24 hours but the rain has arrived now and you can feel there is a lot less angst in the community,” Mayor Pitt said.
Devastated lodge owner weighs up future after shock bushfire
THE OWNER of an accommodation lodge which bore the brunt of bushfire that threatened the west coast town of Rosebery says she is devastated and shaken after learning her business is gone.
Debbie Ormord was travelling in Victoria when she learned a bushfire had broken out and her lodge was in its path.
“It feels like the lodge, the town’s former hospital, was randomly picked off on a freak day,” Ms Ormord said.
“I got a call from my cleaner saying there was a bushfire and it was bearing down on the lodge.”
Ms Ormord had owned the popular business for five years.
It was fully booked out for the next year with tourists and workers from the nearby Rosebery mine.
“I am shattered, there are only bits and pieces left. This is really tough. I had spent ages renovating,” she said.
“At this stage I don’t even know what’s insured. I will weigh up what to do in a few weeks when things become clearer.”
It started raining in Rosebery on Wednesday after a scorching day on Tuesday.
While fire investigators are still working out how the blaze started, many in Rosebery believe a bird was electrocuted on a power line and fell into the bush while it was still on fire.
Locals say a cleaner witnessed the incident.
“I had heard that too. Not sure if it is true but it will be interesting to find out exactly what happened,” Ms Ormord said
Rosebery bushfire: Structure claimed in raging blaze
Tasmania Fire Service says a bushfire which threatened homes and destroyed a local hospital has now been contained.
After 6pm authorities said there was no immediate threat because the blaze had been contained.
Regional Fire Controller Tony Wood said the fire had burned approximately three hectares.
“The fire started in the vicinity of Baillieu Street around 12:30pm, and multiple fire crews are working to bring the fire under control with approximately 40 firefighters and three firefighting aircraft deployed to assist,” Mr Wood said.
“All fires are contained however firefighting activities will continue into the night to completely extinguish the fire.
“Firefighting investigations will commence once firefighting operations are complete.”
The fire destroyed caused serious damage to several buildings and razed the Mt Black Lodge.
‘Scary’: Flames destroy Mt Black Lodge accommodation
Rosebery’s former hospital has been razed in a bushfire in the West Coast town which now appears to be mostly contained.
The building, now known as Mt Black Lodge accommodation, is sentimental in Rosebery because many babies were born there.
Efforts are now concentrating on keeping the blaze away from MMG’s Rosebery mine where there are massive stores of fuel and other accelerants.
Helicopters are collecting water from a mine dam to drop on the fire which threatened several residential streets earlier in the afternoon.
Streets like Primrose St where Scott Stevens had to run away from power pole height flames.
“I went for a look then the flames went “boom” and I had to run back. We really thought we would have to leave,” he said.
But then the fire changed direction and went into bush land on the mine side of the Main Street.
It was about 12.50 when Mr Stevens and Louise Morgan could smell smoke from inside their house.
“Then we could see flames from the end of the street. It was scary. I have never seen a fire so close before,” Ms Morgan said.
“Then we thought about the mine which has been evacuated. If fuel exploded there it would be catastrophic.”
Some streets in the town are closed and people are standing outside their houses watching and waiting to learn more.
Mine dewatering officer Kerry Ainslie was in bed sleeping before night shift when he learned a bushfire was bearing down on his property in Rosebery.
“We were in evacuation mode. A mate from Zeehan rang to see if we were ok,” he said.
“I didn’t know what he was on about. Then he says “Rosebery’s on fire.”
“I got up and it certainly was.”
The mine where he works was evacuated because the carpark was on fire.
Mr Ainslie said he had heard how the fire started
“A cleaner saw a bird get electrocuted on a power line. It fell into the bush on fire,” he says.
“How’s that for a one in a million happenstance.”
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