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Speaker 1: Now we know that firefighters are well getting under control

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Speaker 1: and they have as I understand it, a fire near

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Speaker 1: the Barkley Work Camp. Catastrophic fire danger though is forecast

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Speaker 1: for some areas of the Barkley today. And joining us

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Speaker 1: in the studio right now is Joshua Fisher, the acting

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Speaker 1: Chief fire Control Officer with Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Josh, Good morning Katie. Now what's

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Speaker 1: the latest with this fire?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so, yesterday afternoon, Triple zero received a call of

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Speaker 2: a fire just to the east of Tenant Creek. Northern

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Speaker 2: Church of Fire Rescue Service responded to that. That was

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Speaker 2: about soon after three pm yesterday. We identified that the

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Speaker 2: fire was quite a significant way outside of TenneT Creek

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Speaker 2: in bushfires in t's response area, and as such, a

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Speaker 2: joint response was initiated between ntfires and bushfires in TA.

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Speaker 2: That fire yesterday evening was elevated to watch an actors

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Speaker 2: it burnt progressively closer to the township of Tenant Creek.

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Speaker 2: At around soon after seven pm, we commenced some backburning

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Speaker 2: operations around Tenant Creek, so on the eastern and northern

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Speaker 2: sides of Tenant Creek. Just as the fire approached Pico Road,

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Speaker 2: that successfully effectively protected the township and prevented the fire

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Speaker 2: from impacting Tenant Creek Township itself. Later on that evening,

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Speaker 2: at around quarter to ten, the fire was in again

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Speaker 2: the Pico Road and the Goss River area, and what

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Speaker 2: we identified at the Peco mine site was the fire

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Speaker 2: had burnt through the mine site. Three people were thankfully

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Speaker 2: located safe in their vehicles at the mine site, but

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Speaker 2: some machinery was destroyed as the fire moved through that area.

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Speaker 1: With a and any danger those three.

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Speaker 2: People, certainly they are in the path of the fire

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Speaker 2: and as the fire approached that mind site, but they

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Speaker 2: were safe and unharmed, So that was certainly a thankful

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Speaker 2: outcome as that fire went through the mind site. But

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Speaker 2: unfortunately there are some losses with some machinery, but we're

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Speaker 2: still trying to piece that together today. Is a true

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Speaker 2: extent of the damage in that So.

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Speaker 1: You're talking sort of mining machinery there that's been lost, yes.

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Speaker 2: Correct, Yeah, but we'll have more information as we undertake

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Speaker 2: those assessments today. Obviously, the fire then continued to spread

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Speaker 2: and did cross the Stuart Highway to the west and

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Speaker 2: is now burning in Philip Creek Station. One of the considerations,

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Speaker 2: just to demonstrate the significance of this fire, we were

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Speaker 2: considering evacuations, particularly in the areas directly adjoining the firebreak.

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Speaker 2: The fire behavior was quite intense, and for anyone that

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Speaker 2: was listening that may have been in TenneT Creek, they

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Speaker 2: could probably back this up that there was a significant glow,

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Speaker 2: lots of fire activity around Tenant Creek, and obviously the

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Speaker 2: efforts of our volunteers and career firefighters supported with bush

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Speaker 2: fires into as well and landowners were able to successfully

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Speaker 2: steer the fire around Tenant Creek and minimize those impacts.

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Speaker 1: Well, that is lucky to hear, all good to hear.

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Speaker 1: Just tell me when you're talking about considering those evacuations,

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Speaker 1: what areas were you looking at potentially evacuating and how

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Speaker 1: many people.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's obviously the areas around Pico Road. We've

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Speaker 2: got the Barkley Work Camp. We obviously had the mind sits,

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Speaker 2: there's a speedway, there's all sorts of stuff there. But

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Speaker 2: it's more around those homes and residential properties that are

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Speaker 2: adjacent to the area that we're planning to backburn in

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Speaker 2: the event that our backburn is unsuccessful and that fire

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Speaker 2: continues to spread. It wasn't a risk that the fire

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Speaker 2: is going to burn through Tenant Creek township itself, but

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Speaker 2: it's all those residential properties that are adjacent to grass

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Speaker 2: and bush land, and with the fire behavior that we

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Speaker 2: were experiencing, it did present a risk. But thankfully we

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Speaker 2: were able to implement those those control strategies and we

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Speaker 2: didn't have to put that in place.

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Speaker 1: What kind of resources were required to get that under

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Speaker 1: control last night.

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Speaker 2: So we had two grass fire units and a tanker

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Speaker 2: as well as bushfires into grass fire units and their tanker.

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Speaker 2: Tenant Creek's a small place. We don't have a large

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Speaker 2: volume of resources that are available between either agencies. We've

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Speaker 2: got some additional resources in place today, so we've got

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Speaker 2: a rotary wing helicopter that's supporting. We've got fixed wing

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Speaker 2: area water bombers that will be arriving there shortly. We've

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Speaker 2: got some additional Incident Management team support that's heading there

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Speaker 2: today and that's not only for this fire, but it's

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Speaker 2: for the broader fires that are appearing across Central Australia

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Speaker 2: at this time. So we're again on the back of

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Speaker 2: the Barkley Complex we're boosting up resources and shifting our

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Speaker 2: resources to where they're most needed.

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Speaker 1: Josh, how tough are the conditions expected to be today?

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Speaker 1: It sounds like it was pretty rough last night. What

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Speaker 1: are you expecting today and over the next twenty four

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Speaker 1: to forty eight hours.

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Speaker 2: So today we've got fire bands declared for the Barkley North,

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Speaker 2: Barkley South, Gregory Southeast and the Simpson Eest fire where

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Speaker 2: the forecast area is so quite a large portion of

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory today is in firebands, and that's because

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Speaker 2: we've got extreme fired asia and as you mentioned, some

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Speaker 2: parts in the Barkley where we're going to see pockets

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Speaker 2: of catastrophic fire danger that's predominantly driven by the wind

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Speaker 2: and obviously the fuel loads that are in those areas,

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Speaker 2: which obviously then drive the fire behavior. So we're expecting

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Speaker 2: wing us up to fifty kilometers an hour. It's going

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Speaker 2: to be pretty tough, you know. The message. During these

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Speaker 2: periods we've got such fire whether events occurring, there's no

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Speaker 2: possible way that we can get a firefighters and a

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Speaker 2: fire vehicle to every single property if a fire was

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Speaker 2: to start. Our resources are limited, so we will direct

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Speaker 2: them to where they're going to have the most effect.

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Speaker 2: We're obviously going to prioritize saving life and then saving property,

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Speaker 2: but the message is clear, we physically don't have enough

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Speaker 2: resources that if a large fire, and with all the

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Speaker 2: other fires that we're currently experiencing across the NT, they

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Speaker 2: outnumber the amount of physical resources that we have.

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's a pretty die warning, I guess for

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Speaker 1: territorians out there listening who are in those areas, it

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Speaker 1: sounds as though there's quite a bit of work underway

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Speaker 1: to try to make sure that that isn't the case

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Speaker 1: and that doesn't happen. But how tough are things right now?

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Speaker 1: Considering the fact that our fire is bush fires into

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Speaker 1: all our volleys, all those station owners have been fighting

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Speaker 1: fires in these areas for weeks now.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, correct, obviously fatigue is front of mind. But for

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Speaker 2: both the fire agencies, you know, we've been in the

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Speaker 2: top end fire season. You know, we've been fighting fires

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Speaker 2: since the end of last week, so since May, we've

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Speaker 2: been actively responding to fires. We've had an increased number

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Speaker 2: of fires occurring in the Top end this year, and

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Speaker 2: as we know, we've been able to charge some individuals

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Speaker 2: for lighting fires and we've got investigations continuing, which also

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Speaker 2: includes the fire from yesterday east of Tenant Creek. It

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Speaker 2: does put astrayin on us. What's important for us to

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Speaker 2: do is to monitor that fatigue and we'll shift resources

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Speaker 2: as we need to augment that. But the message is

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Speaker 2: clear if you own a rural property, you need to

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Speaker 2: be prepared for fire. The risk of fire never leaves

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Speaker 2: the NT. Nearly one hundred percent of the NT can

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Speaker 2: be at risk of fire, and what we've got in

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Speaker 2: Central Australia is those increased fuel loads which is obviously

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Speaker 2: making this fire season that decade or fire event. So

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Speaker 2: we ask people that they be prepared, make sure they've

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Speaker 2: got a bushfire survival plan. If you are a larger

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Speaker 2: rural property owner, make sure you've got your fire brakes

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Speaker 2: in place to give you the best protection and allow

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Speaker 2: us access to be able to take those defensive backburning

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Speaker 2: operations if we need to.

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Speaker 1: Josh, I know the recent fires over the past weeks

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Speaker 1: around that area have been hugely significant in their sheer size,

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Speaker 1: and you know what our fires and bushfires have been

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Speaker 1: dealing with. But when you talk about that one from

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Speaker 1: last night, is that the closest that we've come to

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Speaker 1: loss of life. You know.

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Speaker 2: Look, we've had for this year alone, over six thousand

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Speaker 2: grass and bushfires across the territory. You know, we've had

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Speaker 2: a number of emergency warnings issued here in the top end,

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Speaker 2: so it's not uncommon that we've got these quite significant

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Speaker 2: fire events that can put lives at risk. So you know,

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Speaker 2: this isn't necessarily an isolated incident. It's an incident that's

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Speaker 2: occurring in quite a remote area of the Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: where we have limited resources. So we need to ensure

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Speaker 2: that the community is informed, that they understand what the

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Speaker 2: risks are so that they can take actions that are appropriate.

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Speaker 2: You know, we've had a number of fives this year

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Speaker 2: that have burnt through residential properties. We've had homes lost

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Speaker 2: in the rural area. This is why we continue to

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Speaker 2: say that the same message around preparing your property for fire.

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Speaker 2: Make sure you've got a fire break in place, have

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Speaker 2: a bush fire survival plan, and know where to get

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Speaker 2: accurate and up to date information.

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Speaker 1: Well. Acting Chief Fire Officer Josh Fisher always good to

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Speaker 1: catch up with you. Thanks so much for your time

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Speaker 1: this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, Thank you