1
00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:02,320
Speaker 1: Joining me live in the studio right now is the

2
00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:05,720
Speaker 1: Northern Territories Chief Fire Officer Mark Spain. Good morning to

3
00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:06,680
Speaker 1: your Spainy.

4
00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:07,840
Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie, Good morning listeners.

5
00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:11,040
Speaker 1: Now, mate, it's been a busy well fire season for

6
00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:13,760
Speaker 1: you guys. It always is, but we know that there

7
00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:15,880
Speaker 1: has been quite a bit that you've been called out

8
00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:18,760
Speaker 1: to over the top end bush fire season. Talk us

9
00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:20,759
Speaker 1: through some of these numbers when it comes to just

10
00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:22,560
Speaker 1: how many fires you've called out to.

11
00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:28,240
Speaker 2: Oh, this season has been being exceptionally busy. However, we

12
00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,479
Speaker 2: did experience those two years of very light rain. But

13
00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:34,840
Speaker 2: this year, as we move forward, we're expecting a really

14
00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:36,760
Speaker 2: good wet season. So next year is going to be

15
00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,640
Speaker 2: even busier than what we have today. So irrespective of

16
00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:43,520
Speaker 2: the poor rain, were very very busy. Nearly thirteen hundred

17
00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:45,400
Speaker 2: grass fires and just in the top end alone.

18
00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:48,160
Speaker 1: So lord, isn't it How does that compare to previous years?

19
00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:49,040
Speaker 1: Is it about the same?

20
00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:52,760
Speaker 2: They roughly work out the same there some years they

21
00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:55,160
Speaker 2: sort of go up and down, but roughly within the

22
00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:57,160
Speaker 2: same area. It's the intensity of the fires that we

23
00:00:57,200 --> 00:00:59,760
Speaker 2: actually deal with. You know, you can go from a

24
00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:04,800
Speaker 2: seat were on the smallering nature strip to virtually days

25
00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:06,480
Speaker 2: or days of heavy fires.

26
00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:10,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, and so in the top end obviously two

27
00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:13,800
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety six grass fires, a total of four

28
00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:17,399
Speaker 1: watch and acts issued. Quite a large number of motor

29
00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:19,560
Speaker 1: vehicle crashes that you guys are called out to though

30
00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:20,040
Speaker 1: as well.

31
00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, as you want to see. With the borders closing,

32
00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:28,800
Speaker 2: we had a major influx of our tourism, so those

33
00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:31,480
Speaker 2: areas were extremely busy up and down the highway and

34
00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,200
Speaker 2: all the camp sites were busy. They're really well booked out,

35
00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:37,760
Speaker 2: so that's been a good thing for the North of territory. However,

36
00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:41,080
Speaker 2: it also does bring those you know, you got road trains,

37
00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:43,959
Speaker 2: you got caravaners, you've got the people in normal traffic. Say,

38
00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:46,680
Speaker 2: that does add to the complexity of it.

39
00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:50,920
Speaker 1: Now, structure fires one hundred and seventy one structure fires

40
00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:51,760
Speaker 1: you were called out to.

41
00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's correct. That could be anything from a shed

42
00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:56,320
Speaker 2: fire to a fully evolved structure fire. We had a

43
00:01:56,360 --> 00:01:59,720
Speaker 2: couple of those big ones last year, industrial fires and

44
00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:02,600
Speaker 2: shop front fires, so they all have impacts across the

45
00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:03,640
Speaker 2: territory that they occur.

46
00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:05,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then you're always called out to things like

47
00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:09,239
Speaker 1: those fire alarms going off as well, the different smoke alarms,

48
00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,160
Speaker 1: and I guess they're sort of run of the mill

49
00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:14,400
Speaker 1: to some degree. You'd get quite used to being called

50
00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:16,840
Speaker 1: out to some of those different different alarms going off,

51
00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:17,320
Speaker 1: would you.

52
00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:20,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have, Katie, And as I've mentioned in the

53
00:02:20,200 --> 00:02:22,799
Speaker 2: past interviews, is that we're actually a little bit broader

54
00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,079
Speaker 2: than just the firefighters fighting fire. Sorry, we do the

55
00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:28,880
Speaker 2: right crash. We do the medical assist for our cousins,

56
00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:31,840
Speaker 2: the ambos when they require us. So there's a lot

57
00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:35,000
Speaker 2: of activity that goes on just beyond firefighting.

58
00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:37,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to say eighty seven medical assists

59
00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:39,240
Speaker 1: you were called out to as well. What does that mean?

60
00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:41,560
Speaker 1: Just assisting the ambos if required.

61
00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:45,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just helping each other out with the heavy lifts,

62
00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,959
Speaker 2: assisting them as required. We'll back them up, they'll back

63
00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:51,880
Speaker 2: us up. So if we have a major fire, we

64
00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:53,520
Speaker 2: know that the ambos will be right on our tail.

65
00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:57,200
Speaker 1: Twenty eight has mad incidents. What are they exactly?

66
00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:00,639
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a hazardous material spill. So as you see

67
00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:03,440
Speaker 2: the territory ramping up with a lot of industry, mining,

68
00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:05,840
Speaker 2: a lot of growth in that area, that's going to

69
00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:08,560
Speaker 2: be a big risk for us. There's talk about hydrogen

70
00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:12,040
Speaker 2: coming into the territory, we talk about electrical cars. So

71
00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:16,400
Speaker 2: we've got little concerns about where those electric charging stations

72
00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:18,160
Speaker 2: are going to be, for example, in the basements of

73
00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:19,880
Speaker 2: the building, so if you have one of those batteries

74
00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:23,240
Speaker 2: going off. So we're forever researching and liaising with the

75
00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,840
Speaker 2: other states and territories of how we're going to manage this,

76
00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:28,760
Speaker 2: and it's our job to actually flag the government say

77
00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:31,440
Speaker 2: these are the new initiatives that are coming in. But

78
00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:34,040
Speaker 2: it's changing the face of how we deal with these incidents.

79
00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:35,920
Speaker 1: I had not even thought about that. And have you

80
00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:37,680
Speaker 1: sort of seen, like with some of that research from

81
00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:40,080
Speaker 1: overseas and that that there is the increased risk of

82
00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:42,040
Speaker 1: a fire with some of those charging stations.

83
00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:46,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's amazing. YouTube, look up YouTube, Facebook. It doesn't

84
00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:49,560
Speaker 2: take long to spot it. And that's once it's a

85
00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:51,800
Speaker 2: raise for us. It's those sort of areas that we

86
00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,320
Speaker 2: need to raise, that we need to.

87
00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:56,400
Speaker 1: Be prepared for. Yeah, right, So I suppose it's just

88
00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:58,240
Speaker 1: about making sure that you're kind of aware of it

89
00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:01,920
Speaker 1: and evolving as needed as those different different things change.

90
00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:06,000
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and that's that's a big issue for us. When

91
00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:12,000
Speaker 2: I started when the ark was built, we went the fires.

92
00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,160
Speaker 2: But now it's just changed so much. It's you know,

93
00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:17,359
Speaker 2: we used to have plastic homets that would indicate that

94
00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:19,280
Speaker 2: we're in too far when they started melting down our

95
00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:23,160
Speaker 2: visors to the modern people see, but that creates its

96
00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:25,360
Speaker 2: own own datus because we can get too far into

97
00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:25,800
Speaker 2: the incident.

98
00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:29,039
Speaker 1: Ye. Well, but lucky that safety equipment and stuff does

99
00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,239
Speaker 1: change over the years. Spainy. You were saying as well

100
00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:35,160
Speaker 1: to me off that obviously these numbers that I'm looking

101
00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:37,679
Speaker 1: at them or for the top end emergency response area,

102
00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:40,520
Speaker 1: but there's still quite a bit happens in Central Australia

103
00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:41,320
Speaker 1: as well, isn't there?

104
00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:44,479
Speaker 2: As we wrap up our top end fire season, the

105
00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:47,520
Speaker 2: Southern season starts. So I've got twenty seven locations across

106
00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:51,599
Speaker 2: the Northern territory and they're always busy. So while we're

107
00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:54,480
Speaker 2: gearing up for our floods and cyclones through the sees

108
00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:59,320
Speaker 2: fire is gearing up for the southern fire season. Heat

109
00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:01,600
Speaker 2: stress is a big that's coming to play now. The

110
00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:04,640
Speaker 2: Chief Medical Officers highlighted that, So that's another thing that

111
00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:06,320
Speaker 2: we need to really focus on.

112
00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:09,880
Speaker 1: Hey, a couple of other things, obviously the wet season. Well,

113
00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:12,520
Speaker 1: it keeps teasing us at the moment, those storms keep teasing,

114
00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:14,800
Speaker 1: but it does mean that there is sort of more

115
00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:17,320
Speaker 1: incidents on the road now as I've sort of touched

116
00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,159
Speaker 1: on as well with some of those different medical assists

117
00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:21,880
Speaker 1: and other things that you guys are called out to,

118
00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:24,839
Speaker 1: but also the nine hundred and two motor vehicle crashes.

119
00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,239
Speaker 1: I mean, our fires are out there literally cutting people

120
00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:32,800
Speaker 1: out of cars and involved in some pretty dangerous situations

121
00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:35,840
Speaker 1: when those vehicles are on fire as well, when there

122
00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:38,440
Speaker 1: are different incidents on the road, how important is it

123
00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:42,240
Speaker 1: really to just make sure that people are prepared as

124
00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:44,400
Speaker 1: the wet season gets underway, when they're out on the

125
00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:47,040
Speaker 1: road and trying their best to follow the road rules

126
00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:47,479
Speaker 1: as well.

127
00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:49,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks Katie. There's probably a couple of key messages

128
00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,200
Speaker 2: for this season this session as I'd like to get

129
00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:57,040
Speaker 2: across as we are fast approaching the festive season. So

130
00:05:57,440 --> 00:05:59,480
Speaker 2: for this segment, you know, we're a couple of key

131
00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:01,719
Speaker 2: messages for the audio. It's the first point as the

132
00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:04,520
Speaker 2: borders open up, if you're planning to be away from

133
00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:07,039
Speaker 2: your place of residence, check that you have a working

134
00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:11,680
Speaker 2: smoke alarm, Turn off any non essential electrical items. Let

135
00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:14,760
Speaker 2: your neighbors and friends know to the plans and contact details.

136
00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:16,680
Speaker 2: And if you plan to remain of the territory and

137
00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:19,120
Speaker 2: you hear a neighbors smoke alarm, activate call triple zero.

138
00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:21,120
Speaker 2: But as we lead into the question that you have

139
00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:23,159
Speaker 2: asked me about the road crash, it's the second point

140
00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:25,120
Speaker 2: up here in the top end. The territory brings the

141
00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:27,400
Speaker 2: first lot of reins on arts threatening. But we have

142
00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:30,880
Speaker 2: had a couple of showers creating potential slippery conditions on

143
00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:33,640
Speaker 2: our roads. So please drive for the conditions and to

144
00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:37,640
Speaker 2: your own ability. That's the key point. As a first responder,

145
00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:40,960
Speaker 2: we asked that all road uses please remember an internal

146
00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:44,960
Speaker 2: distraction I looking around the center of your car within

147
00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:48,039
Speaker 2: a vehicle may result in an external reaction and that's

148
00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:52,720
Speaker 2: an avoidable crash. There's no accident in road crashes, it's

149
00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:57,839
Speaker 2: a crash. So from a minor Bengal to model fatalities okay,

150
00:06:58,279 --> 00:07:00,640
Speaker 2: there would be no greater gift for the seasoned, for

151
00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:04,039
Speaker 2: our first responders, whether it be our fires, Ambos Police

152
00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:06,720
Speaker 2: or Mergant services, to have a zero serious injury and

153
00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:09,279
Speaker 2: I have fatality free Christmas within this great community of

154
00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:09,920
Speaker 2: the Northern Charity.

155
00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:12,160
Speaker 1: Well, and this is the thing, you know, we particularly

156
00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:14,960
Speaker 1: over the Christmas period and people going out to Christmas parties,

157
00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:16,960
Speaker 1: you know, enjoying a couple of drinks, things like that.

158
00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:20,560
Speaker 1: Make sure you've lined up, you know you're sober, Bob,

159
00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:23,480
Speaker 1: to get your home. The last thing anybody wants is

160
00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:26,160
Speaker 1: to lose a loved one on the road through those

161
00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:29,760
Speaker 1: fatalities and road trauma. You know, sometimes we talk a

162
00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:32,400
Speaker 1: lot about the fatalities, but there's very often people who

163
00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,120
Speaker 1: are seriously injured, like long term injuries as well, and

164
00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:37,480
Speaker 1: you just want to make sure that we keep everybody

165
00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:38,560
Speaker 1: as safe as possible.

166
00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:41,240
Speaker 2: Absolutely, that's all we're asking for. Give us a good Christmas,

167
00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:43,160
Speaker 2: To give your family is a good Christmas. We're all

168
00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:43,840
Speaker 2: affected by this.

169
00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:47,400
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, Mark Spain, the chief Fire officer here in

170
00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:50,080
Speaker 1: the Northern Territory, always appreciate your time. Thanks very much

171
00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:50,960
Speaker 1: for coming in this morning.

172
00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:51,800
Speaker 2: Thanks very much, Katie,