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Speaker 1: As I said yesterday, we were receiving a number of

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Speaker 1: calls about the situation out in the rural area with

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Speaker 1: that fire.

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Speaker 2: Raging in Nunamar.

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Speaker 1: Not long after we spoke to Bushfire's nt yesterday, in fact,

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Speaker 1: that Nunama fire flared up again, reaching an emergency warning

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Speaker 1: level with lives and property at risk. Now that fireban

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Speaker 1: is in place, the bush fire is being treated as

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Speaker 1: suspicious as well as I understand it. And Tony Fuller

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Speaker 1: joins me on the line right now for an update.

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Speaker 1: Good morning again, Tony.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, good morning, Katie.

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Speaker 1: But it seems like things escalated quite quickly yesterday after

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Speaker 1: we spoke with those fires at Nuonamar. How did it

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Speaker 1: unfold on the ground.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, we had a fairly large area contained yesterday.

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Speaker 4: As the winds picked up, they've picked up some members

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Speaker 4: from that contained area and transported them, dumped them into

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Speaker 4: some unburned country and she ignited.

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Speaker 3: And with a wind standing it, things change really quickly.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And it looked like it was a massive area.

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Speaker 1: I was keeping an eye on that incident map and

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Speaker 1: it looked like it was really quite a large area

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Speaker 1: that you guys were working on.

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Speaker 3: Yes certainly was there's some footage around that we've just

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Speaker 3: put on our Facebook posters show how quickly that fire

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Speaker 3: was moving and how intense it was. I just got

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Speaker 3: to clarify it. We've had the fire investigoes out yesterday

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Speaker 3: to where the original fire started on Brickley Fire and

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Speaker 3: it appears from their investigations that the fire may have

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Speaker 3: started as a result of an illegal dump of a

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Speaker 3: rubbish that had some lithium batteries in it.

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Speaker 2: And so what happened.

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Speaker 3: Liftian batteries must have heated up in the heat in

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Speaker 3: the day and exploded and ignited the fire.

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Speaker 1: Wait how frustrating does it get for you then after

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Speaker 1: a day like yesterday and that massive fire out there

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Speaker 1: at Nunama to hear that some wombat has dumped the

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Speaker 1: you know, dumped their rubbish illegally and that's what's started it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, look, at least we know what started it and

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Speaker 3: it's not someone running around lighting for us. It's good

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Speaker 3: for us to know and we're just glad that we

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Speaker 3: found out what the source was. But just reminded of

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Speaker 3: people that be careful if you don't dump stuff on

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Speaker 3: the side of the road because you don't know what

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Speaker 3: it's going to do.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's exactly right.

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Speaker 1: Hey, I understand the highway had to be closed for

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Speaker 1: some time as well.

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Speaker 2: How long did that end up being.

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Speaker 3: It was for a couple hours, thanks to the public

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Speaker 3: for those diversions. But just seen the footage. You'll see

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Speaker 3: how close or actually crossed the Stewart Highway to fire

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Speaker 3: at one stage there and there was a lot of slake.

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Speaker 3: We closed it the Riverlely so that we could work

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Speaker 3: in that area without too much dramas. But fortunately one

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Speaker 3: of our trucks was involved in a crash yesterday on

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Speaker 3: the side of the highway when they land over was

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Speaker 3: driving through the smoke and we had a head on collision.

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Speaker 3: Luckily no one was in, but one of our trucks

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Speaker 3: is off the road and that landholder has what a

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Speaker 3: car am Oh my goodness.

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Speaker 2: Everybody is okay though, Yeah, everyone's fine.

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Speaker 3: They're all good. We've had the more assessed.

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Speaker 1: That is good to hear, Thank goodness for that.

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Speaker 2: Tony.

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Speaker 1: Tell me were there aside from that incident? Were there

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Speaker 1: other vehicles or properties lost?

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Speaker 3: No, nothing has been reported to me today. There's a

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Speaker 3: lot of pasture that's obviously been impacted, but I haven't

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Speaker 3: got any updates to say if any buildings were impacted.

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Speaker 3: I'm sure there'll be irrigation pipes and fences that were

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Speaker 3: certainly impacted, but nothing, no major structures at this stage.

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Speaker 1: And what impact is the loss of that vehicle to

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Speaker 1: the head on collision going to have for you guys

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Speaker 1: in terms of dealing with fires today or in the

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Speaker 1: coming days.

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Speaker 3: It's one of our primary vis medium attack so that'll

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Speaker 3: be our throat for at least a few days till

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Speaker 3: it gets susssed. That's a good thing. It did drive away,

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Speaker 3: unlike the other person's vehicle, But we're getting that assessed

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Speaker 3: and getting the mechanics onto it. But we expect it

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Speaker 3: should be back within a week and back on a

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Speaker 3: file line.

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Speaker 1: And was that purely just a situation where the visibility

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Speaker 1: was so bad that you couldn't they couldn't see each other.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, the landowner was trying to get to a property

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Speaker 3: that was under threat at the time, and yeah, they

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Speaker 3: just didn't see each other in the smoke and hit

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Speaker 3: each other head on. And that's why we're asking people

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Speaker 3: to slow down and in around the smoke. And we've

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Speaker 3: got heavy vehicles operating. We quite often get quad bikes

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Speaker 3: and all sorts of things getting in and around on

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Speaker 3: a fire ground and luckily yesterday that Noel was seriously injured.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it does sound like it's incredibly lucky. What other

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Speaker 1: kind of resources did you need to use yesterday to

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Speaker 1: get things on to control and how long did it

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Speaker 1: take before you were able to get things under control?

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Speaker 3: Look, they were the cruise are still there at seven

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Speaker 3: or eight o'clock last night when I left. They dumped

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Speaker 3: in excess of two hundred and ninety thousand liters of

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Speaker 3: water on that fire. Yesterday there was something like ninety

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Speaker 3: seven drops from the aircraft onto that fire to try

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Speaker 3: and stop it. There was obviously some big infrastructure to

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Speaker 3: the north of that fire ground. We got the stockyards

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Speaker 3: and bulting million dollars with the trucks there and the

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Speaker 3: cattle and across the road as well. There's number of

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Speaker 3: properties that potentially could have been impacted. So those fire

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Speaker 3: bombers were working very hard yesterday. We also had three helicopters,

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Speaker 3: at least two loaders, and about thirty odd staff and

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Speaker 3: our staff and volunteers.

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Speaker 2: Wow, all hands on deck.

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Speaker 1: By the sounds of things tiny, were there other fires

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Speaker 1: that were of concern yesterday as well.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, there were some and Alice and Craig. We've got

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Speaker 3: tries from every day that we're trying to monitor and

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Speaker 3: work with the landholders, primarily in a lot of those

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Speaker 3: remote areas to guide them and give them some assistance

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Speaker 3: where we can.

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Speaker 1: Now, what's the situation today, How are things looking at

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Speaker 1: this point?

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Speaker 3: I'm standing outside and it's a bit breezy.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds like it made I was thinking just that.

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Speaker 1: I was thinking, Oh, I can't wait for the day

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Speaker 1: where we can have a chat and it doesn't sound

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Speaker 1: like it's that windy, because I know it makes it

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Speaker 1: really hard for you guys.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we're hoping the weather eases off tomorrow, but we'll

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Speaker 3: be looking at the Weather Bureau of this afternoon for

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Speaker 3: their advice and whether or not we have another band.

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Speaker 3: But this is our six fireband in Dawn and Madelaide River,

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Speaker 3: this consecutive fireband. So we're hoping that eases off and

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Speaker 3: we can reduce that tomorrow. But we'll know more about

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Speaker 3: that this afternoon.

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Speaker 1: Well, Tiny Fuller, I appreciate your time, particularly on what

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Speaker 1: has been an incredibly busy, you know, busy forty eight

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Speaker 1: twenty Oh goodness, it's been for days, really, hasn't it.

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Speaker 1: It's been a busy few weeks for you guys, and

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Speaker 1: hopefully things do start to calm down. But I really

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time, and a big thanks to everybody out

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Speaker 1: there working really hard on this.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and I thank you, Kadie, and thanks to all

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Speaker 3: our volunteers a kick turning up.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, good on them, Tony, thank you.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk to you again soon, hopefully it's hopefully those

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Speaker 1: conditions ease up a bit.

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Speaker 2: The Savo