Ask the CFA Volunteer

Two years on, CFA volunteer sleeping in shed

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 11:51:28 +1100

Two years on, CFA volunteer sleeping in shed: “They could also apply to the Volunteer Fire Brigades Association for a cash grant of up to $5000. But despite losing his home and all of his family’s possessions, Mr Adamson’s application was met with a long delay and a cut-price payout of $2500.”

Not good enough VFBV!

Firefighters starved of help?

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 08:56:35 +1100

Firefighters starved of help

Perhaps a bit sensationalist, but I think it points to some underlying issues in the management of the VFBV.

New Fire Danger Ratings Signs

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:25:22 +1100

Finally! Common sense has prevailed, and the signs have been changed back to the old ‘clock face’ design.

The old design was unreadable and a complete knee jerk reaction from HQ (based on bad user testing).

Sparks to fly as Baillieu launches fire front

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:27:42 +1000

Sparks to fly as Baillieu launches fire front

…that between 2002 and Black Saturday on February 7 last year, the government had ignored 25 recommendations from various reports on measures to better prepare the state for emergencies such as bushfires. A year after the commission’s interim report, Mr Brumby had still not implemented all its recommendations on warning systems, emergency management plans, fire refuges and so-called neighbourhood safer places…

Too true. Even aspects of the 1998 Linton Report have not been implemented.

Pumper v Car

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:26:30 +1000

Pumper v Car

A Traralgon CFA fire truck, responding to an emergency call-out, was travelling east on the Princes Highway when it collided with a sedan travelling south on Park Lane.

It’s not nice when this happens.

Judgement Day: Black Saturday report release looms

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:39:55 +1000

Judgement Day: Black Saturday report release looms

It was the American wildfire veteran Jerry Williams who told the inquiry, “we can’t be fooling around on the edge of this problem and hope to solve it…it needs political leadership.”
But where will it come from?

It's not about the leadership

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:57:27 +1000

This is the best analysis I’ve read so far on the Royal Commission:

Policies are one thing and personnel another, true. But surely policies are nothing without good people to put them into practice?

Prisoner 'bashed bushfire accused'

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 23:03:43 +1000

The defence has claimed the accused has been bashed and also that his files have been obtained by the person who did the bashing,

Corrections Victoria last night denied defence barrister David Sexton’s claim that a prisoner who attacked his client had managed to gain access to the accused man’s personal prison file. “There is no evidence to support this claim and we don’t believe this happened,” a spokeswoman said.

The defence also claimed that prison staff have beaten the accused to the point of losing consciousness,

Mr Sexton told the court his client had a severe intellectual disability, was illiterate and was receiving medication for depression, panic, anxiety and social phobia.

He also said prison staff had taunted the man and he was once assaulted to the point of losing consciousness.

Finally, they claim that, ‘reporting of his client’s charges had been “rather hysterical at times”’.

I’m not too sure about that.

Churchill arson accused 'attacked in custody'

Mon, 31 May 2010 15:33:38 +1000

This is not helpful:

A man accused of lighting a deadly bushfire on Black Saturday in Churchill has twice been attacked in custody, his lawyer claims.

Nor is this:

The lawyers have described some of the reporting on the case as hysterical.

The fire within Jack Rush, QC

Sun, 30 May 2010 13:14:44 +1000

A nice background into Jack Rush, QC:

“… he was interested in the truth.”

No evidence linking accused to Delburn fires

Fri, 28 May 2010 16:56:44 +1000

No evidence linking accused to Delburn fires.

Damning

Fri, 28 May 2010 12:30:03 +1000

Her phone was, but no one called, nor did she call. Even when previously told a disaster was imminent. Damning!

We know that Ms Nixon’s phone did not ring between 1800 and 2100, the worst period of the fires a consequence of further investigation by counsel assisting, it appears on the balance of probabilities Ms Nixon’s phone was on. The fact that there were no phone calls received or made is testament, we say, to the manner in which this state’s emergency response planning was being carried out.

It was put to Ms Nixon that this lack of leadership was embarrassing. It is submitted she didn’t really need to provide an answer, but she did. She denied it was embarrassing, said it was because she had “good people doing it for me”; but not even that delegation had been properly carried out.

Someone else was assumed to be in charge

Fri, 28 May 2010 12:23:45 +1000

So for a period of time, which I will come to,Ms Nixon was not present, Mr Fontana was not present and Mr Walshe was not present. So the substantive hierarchy in relation to this state’s emergency response plan were not present at the IECC, the SERCC or the POC to coordinate the state’s emergency response plan.

…

She indicated that at the time she left that briefing with the fire chiefs that the State of Victoria, on what she had been told, was facing a disaster. Soon after that meeting Ms Nixon left the IECC and went home. Ms Nixon’s justification for leaving was that she had an understanding that Mr Fontana was in place and Mr Walshe would be arriving in the not too distant future. It is unclear how she got that understanding. Despite her earlier evidence, the state coordinator of Displan had not spoken with her delegated deputy, Mr Walshe, at all on 7 February prior to her leaving the IECC at 1800.

No contact was made, as indicated, between chief and deputy. Mr Walshe was not on duty. At 1800 there were no arrangements for him to go on duty. He in fact believed Ms Nixon was on duty.

So everyone assumed that someone else was in charge; even in the face of a disaster.

"How many fire 11 chiefs does it take to move an aircrane?"

Fri, 28 May 2010 12:15:39 +1000

Too many.

“We just note it because it is striking that in the clamour by a number of witnesses to take personal credit for this single decision, no-one checked that in fact it was another aerial resource that dealt with the fire and the one they had so ordered to attend, apparently each of them separately, in fact went to Narre Warren.”

Curious that they each take try to take credit for this.

Busy: doing what?

Fri, 28 May 2010 12:11:54 +1000

It’s been missed by the media, but this summation by Rachel Doyle (Counsel Assisting) is an apt description how the IECC did not work:

“‘Busy: doing what?’ because as we identify in this section there were two chief fire officers, a state coordinator from the CFA, the DSE chief officer contact, a CFA state duty officer, a DSE state duty officer and a CFA member known as “strategic planning”, or Mr Warrington, and yet between them these seven gentlemen we say were responsible for a mere eight decisions which we have set out from paragraph 7.8 onwards. We say two of those decisions were decisions effectively to do nothing.”

Leadership 'absent' on Black Saturday

Thu, 27 May 2010 12:16:17 +1000

I could not agree more:

“Command, we say, demands a presence both to inform and if necessary reassure and inspire.”
“Leadership and command is not exercised by being available if necessary at the end of a telephone. Leadership and command in an emergency crisis demands presence.”

Mr Rush said “no excuse or spin” could justify what he described as “the removal from responsibility at the hour of crisis”.

Brumby encircled by fire

Thu, 27 May 2010 10:02:54 +1000

Brumby encircled by fire

But now, courtesy of the barrage of leaks, we know that Jack Rush, QC, and his team of lawyers assisting the commissioners have concluded the government has not done enough since Black Saturday to minimise the prospect of more deaths in fires.

…

Brumby wants people to gloss over the policy errors and funding deficiencies over many years that led to the state being under-prepared when disaster struck.

That shouldn’t and won’t happen. The commission’s interim report, tabled in August, revealed, for example, that about 80 per cent of calls to the bushfire information line on Black Saturday went unanswered, partly because of a lack of staff. This on a day that the Premier had repeatedly warned could be the worst in our history.

Misleading?

Tue, 25 May 2010 16:29:26 +1000

It comes as no surprise that submissions to the Royal Commission might be critical of people. That’s what might be needed to ensure people learn from the mistakes and hopefully not repeat them.

It’s also no surprise that people will defend their turf as well.

Mind you, the reporting is based on ‘leaked’ submissions that are drafts of the real ones. We all need to wait until the final submissions and final recommendations are made.

It would be interesting to see an actual source for information like this,

Senior government figures were appalled with the way she stumbled like a lame steeplechaser. There were no notes. She contradicted herself. Her memory was faulty. Ms Nixon got things wrong. It looked terrible.

Yet the Premier pledged to stand by her.

But if the commissioners agree with Mr Rush and his learned friends and find against Ms Nixon, her position as bushfire recovery chief would be untenable, even if Ms Nixon has done her best in what have been awfully tough conditions after the fires.

Brumby Government Abandons CFA Volunteers?

Tue, 25 May 2010 13:15:52 +1000

According to the Captain of the Whiteheads Creek Tarcombe Brigade, they have:

“A little over a year after the black Saturday fires the Brumby government has forgotten the efforts of CFA volunteers and has shown a disregard for their welfare.”

I don’t necessarily agree with the language used, but I agree with the overall sentiment (in respect to supporting volunteers a bit more).

Stay or go policy unlikely to be overturned

Mon, 24 May 2010 09:32:50 +1000

Stay or go policy unlikely to be overturned

“If this is the state of affairs now, barely a year after 173 people died, you shudder to think how faded the memories will be - and how entrenched the complacency - in 10, 20 or 30 years. When the next big one hits.”