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Speaker 1: But we do know that over the weekend we learned

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Speaker 1: of two fatal crashes in Darwin and also in the

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Speaker 1: Dundee area, one a motorcycle and colliding with the car,

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Speaker 1: the other a single vehicle rollover, both of which involved

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Speaker 1: young territory men. We know that it's an incredibly difficult

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Speaker 1: situation and it's a difficult situation for all of those

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Speaker 1: first responders. But joining me in the studio to talk

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Speaker 1: a little bit more about this and some of the

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Speaker 1: issues that we do see for our firefighters is Mark Spain,

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Speaker 1: our chief fire officer with the Northern Territory Fire and

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Speaker 1: Rescue Service. Good morning to your Spainy.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie, Good morning listeners.

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Speaker 1: Thanks very much for your time this morning. Now, we

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Speaker 1: know it was a terrible weekend when you talk about

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Speaker 1: those crashes on our roads and those fatalities, and I

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Speaker 1: think quite often when we talk about those terrible incidents,

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Speaker 1: obviously we firstly talk about the victims and their families,

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Speaker 1: but then we often say, you know, it must be

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Speaker 1: tough for the police and the emergency services going out there,

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Speaker 1: But we don't often hear about the fact that the

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Speaker 1: fieries are out there. But we know that you guys

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Speaker 1: play an incredibly pivotal role.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's correct, Katie. I've got twenty seven locations across

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory staffed by career fire fighters, staffed by

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Speaker 2: volunteer fire fighters, and their responsibilities up and down the

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Speaker 2: highway to keep people safe. And of course I'd like

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Speaker 2: to just say that the territory is a huge playground

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Speaker 2: and it offers wonderful lifestyles for all to enjoy. You know,

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Speaker 2: we've seen the increase in ATVs or terrain vehicles. The

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Speaker 2: lifestyle just offers so much fishing, lots of terranny distance

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Speaker 2: and it's unfortunately that last style leads to some tragic consequences.

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Speaker 1: And as I say, we know over the weekend those

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Speaker 1: two terrible, terribly tragic incidents. I mean, how traumatic are

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Speaker 1: those scenes for our first responders? You know when you

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Speaker 1: go out.

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Speaker 2: There, absolutely you know we've been doing this for a

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Speaker 2: long time. Try to get the message through. It's a

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Speaker 2: number of things. What happens is you go to do

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Speaker 2: the response, you deal with the incident, and then on

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Speaker 2: occasions that you'll have an investigation. So therefore the members

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Speaker 2: will need to re attend that incident to do the extraction.

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Speaker 2: But this really starts right from the call taker. The

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Speaker 2: call taker receives the call and they're on the line

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Speaker 2: most of the time and they're listening to the desperate pleas.

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Speaker 2: And when you talk about two any distance, we talk

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Speaker 2: about the golden how from a time of an incident

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Speaker 2: you try to get them on to the hospital where

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Speaker 2: you give them the best opportunity in the territory, it's

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Speaker 2: the golden ours. So that's the big critical thing. There's

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Speaker 2: not a lot out there, there's a lot of open space,

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Speaker 2: and that should really be planned. Whether all these crashes,

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Speaker 2: they're all avoidable at the end of the day, So

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Speaker 2: it's just the planning. Don't think you're ten foot tall

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Speaker 2: and bulletproof, really enjoy the lifestyle what the territory offers,

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Speaker 2: but plan it. That's all we can do because you

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Speaker 2: know it does affect all our first responders.

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Speaker 1: Can it be sometimes so as well when you talk

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Speaker 1: about that tyranny of distance and trying to get you know,

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Speaker 1: your firefighters out there to put a fire out or

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Speaker 1: to extract someone from a vehicle, it must be it

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Speaker 1: must be incredibly difficult.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, when you're in the city environment, you can

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Speaker 2: usually be on scene within five to eight minutes, rendering

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Speaker 2: assistance straight away. But when you're talking about tyranny distance, look,

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Speaker 2: I've I did my time with Jabbuary, so I've had

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Speaker 2: a few horrendous calls there some of my firefighters. When

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Speaker 2: you're sitting on the raid for an hour, knowing that

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Speaker 2: you're going to a critical incident, you've got time to

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Speaker 2: do the job when you get there. That's a long

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Speaker 2: time for someone to be trapped in a vehicle and

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Speaker 2: or dealing with what you've confronted with. And then you've

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Speaker 2: got obviously the our trip back, You've got to clean

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Speaker 2: your vehicle, and as ICA, you have to look after

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Speaker 2: your firefighters. We have very good mechanisms in the police

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Speaker 2: fire emergency services, but at the end of the day,

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Speaker 2: I keep reiterating these are all avoidable.

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Speaker 1: And we know it's not just the incidents on the

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Speaker 1: roads as well that we see. There's also been a

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Speaker 1: really traumatic situation over the last couple of weeks with that,

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Speaker 1: with house fires as well. There is you know, there's

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Speaker 1: a lot that you're going out to at the moment,

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Speaker 1: and I guess all the time.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely the footprint of Dawn and Palmstead is spreading. The

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Speaker 2: population is growing, people want to live out there, so

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Speaker 2: the response times will stand out. So what really sits

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Speaker 2: with our fire fighters is could we have got there earlier?

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Speaker 2: How can we get there? What could we have done better?

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Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, they do a

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Speaker 2: fantastic job, but they do wear their heart and the

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Speaker 2: sleeve and they try to do the best they can

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Speaker 2: for the community.

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Speaker 1: Spainy. I would imagine that there is support offereds offered

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Speaker 1: obviously to all of those who attend crashes. But you know,

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Speaker 1: I think I know this even from when I worked

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Speaker 1: as a media person with the Northern Territory Police about

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Speaker 1: fifteen years ago, that the really difficult thing in the

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Speaker 1: territory as well is that everybody knows each other and

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Speaker 1: it can be really tough if you're called out to

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Speaker 1: a crash or called out to an incident, given the

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Speaker 1: fact that the Northern Territory is so close knit.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, you know, like referring back to the Jabbaru one

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Speaker 2: a couple of years ago that affected the whole community.

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Speaker 2: They're young footballers, they're young men of the community. Recently,

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Speaker 2: the last three fatalities of the house fire and the

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Speaker 2: two road crashes they're all known. Everyone is well known, interconnected,

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Speaker 2: so it doesn't take long for the word to get out.

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Speaker 2: And then that's what we call the ripple effect. The

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Speaker 2: families left behind. They're asking the question, why, how can

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Speaker 2: we have done something better? I say, there's no easy

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Speaker 2: solution for this other than really reconsider how you're going

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Speaker 2: to travel around the territory and enjoy this great territory

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Speaker 2: of ours.

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Speaker 1: I mean, is that your message for territorians today that

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Speaker 1: realistically we have to just be you know, we've got

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Speaker 1: to be so careful when we're out on the road.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, I hate getting that phone call. I carry my

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Speaker 2: phone twenty four to seven. I hate getting that phone

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Speaker 2: call to say that my cruise. Whether they be a volunteer,

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Speaker 2: Adelaide River or timber Creek or Elliott, they're all responding

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Speaker 2: to a road crash. Whether it be a road trainer,

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Speaker 2: whether it be the Great Nomads, you get that phone call.

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Speaker 2: My concern is they turn out at night, they drive

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Speaker 2: on those dangerous roads to render assistance. They're there, they're

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Speaker 2: exposed to the critical incident and then they've got to

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Speaker 2: return back and then we'll offer our support as much

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Speaker 2: as we can. But it's still a difficult environment to work.

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Speaker 1: In, mate, What is it like for you know, for

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Speaker 1: our fieries and I know it would be the same

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Speaker 1: for our police and all of those call takers, But

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Speaker 1: what is it like for you when you take that

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Speaker 1: call and you know that you're sending your crew out

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Speaker 1: to a fatality or to a terrible incident.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the thing is we've got a very small workforce.

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Speaker 2: I've got two hundred career fire fighters. I've got two

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Speaker 2: hundred and fifty volunteer fire fighters, and you get to

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Speaker 2: know majority of them personally. So obviously been around since

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Speaker 2: the ARK, So I know these troops and I hurt

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Speaker 2: just as much with them, and I know what they

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Speaker 2: go through. You know, we've all experienced it. Can do

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Speaker 2: is just keep providing support. The support has really come

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Speaker 2: a long ways from when I joined the support. Nowadays

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Speaker 2: they're right onto it. We the watch commanders really look

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Speaker 2: after their troops. They set out their preyate forms, our

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Speaker 2: essential services people. They get right onto it and just

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Speaker 2: monitor it. But it's a cumulative effect, you know, it's

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Speaker 2: just not stopping. Nothing is stopping here. So we just

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Speaker 2: really need to refocus on our road safety campaigns and mates,

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Speaker 2: have to look after mates at the end of the day.

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Speaker 2: If there's a risk there of incident, avoid it because

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Speaker 2: you don't want to take out another family who are

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Speaker 2: innestantly driving along as well. So there's a whole lot

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Speaker 2: of factors that you must really consider well.

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Speaker 1: Mark Spain, the Chief Fire Officer for the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: Fire and Rescue Service. I always appreciate your time. Thank

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Speaker 1: you very much for having a chat with me this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katy more, thank you