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Speaker 1: Joining us live in the studio right now is the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Services Chief Fire Officer for

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Speaker 1: the territory, Mark spain Good morning to you.

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

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Speaker 3: Spainy.

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Speaker 1: We don't usually have a fire theme to the show,

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Speaker 1: but it has been for the last half hour or so.

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Speaker 1: We caught up with the head nurse at Royal dah

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Speaker 1: And Hospital talking about those burns and the increase in

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Speaker 1: the number of burns that they've seen at Royal dah

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Speaker 1: And Hospital over the last year or so when people

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Speaker 1: are obviously doing the burnoffs out on their.

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Speaker 3: Blocks of land.

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Speaker 1: Something that you guys would constantly be dealing with this

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Speaker 1: staying safe around fire. But it was good to catch

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Speaker 1: up with her and sort of hear a little bit

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Speaker 1: more about what they need to do or what people

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Speaker 1: need to do first day wise, you know, in terms

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Speaker 1: of keeping themselves safe.

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Speaker 3: Now out in the rural area.

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Speaker 1: We did get an email that came through yesterday about

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Speaker 1: the situation they say where there's currently a shortage of

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Speaker 1: operational managers which has led to recently closing a Humpty

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Speaker 1: Doo fire station on a few occasions, and a claim

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Speaker 1: that the current workers. Our current managers are working up

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Speaker 1: to ninety hours a week. Spiny, Is this the case.

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Speaker 1: Has there been a situation at different times where there's

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Speaker 1: been a shortage at the Humpty Do fire station.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's correct, Coadie.

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Speaker 4: I've actually had to close the fire station there twice,

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Speaker 4: and only twice, and both of those times were either

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Speaker 4: in the wet season and or on the shoulder of

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Speaker 4: the wet season we had. The second one was just

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Speaker 4: after a really good rain as we're headed into the drive,

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Speaker 4: So I had to make that decision to manage my

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Speaker 4: staff and their fatigue, So I just redeployed the fire

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Speaker 4: fighters to other stations for that period of time. Now

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Speaker 4: understanding that it was also mentioned that you know that

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Speaker 4: Humpy Do station is open from Monday to Friday, including

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Speaker 4: public holidays, from eight o'clock in the morning to eighteen

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Speaker 4: hundred or six o'clock at night, and that's staffed. But

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Speaker 4: then after ours we have our fabulous volunteers and also

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Speaker 4: during the day we have our volunteers who are based

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Speaker 4: a Humpty to Do as well. That station is not

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Speaker 4: fit for purpose for a twenty four hour station was

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Speaker 4: designed for those periods of time and even when we

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Speaker 4: do have fire band aids, I'll actually have extra staff

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Speaker 4: located and hope to do as required.

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Speaker 3: And so Spainy.

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Speaker 1: If there is a fire after those hours or you

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Speaker 1: know on those two occasions where the stations had to

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Speaker 1: be closed down or shut for those two occasions, what happens?

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Speaker 1: Are you able to deploy people from different locations or

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Speaker 1: what do you do?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, look all around Dale and Parston we have what

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Speaker 4: they call emergency response areas where I have those fire

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Speaker 4: stations and we have day on Palmerston, Morara Embarynment and

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Speaker 4: of course have to do Monday to Friday. So when

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Speaker 4: I have to do is not there, we'll dispatch Palmerston.

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Speaker 4: And that leads into you know, I was out with

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Speaker 4: Minister Madison and Minister Order the other day looking at

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Speaker 4: the progression of the Palmeston Regional Complex and that's coming

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Speaker 4: on really well, and that's strategically placed to better respond

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Speaker 4: in those times. But once again, after those hours, I've

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Speaker 4: got my help to doolunteers.

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Speaker 2: They are ever ready batteries.

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Speaker 4: They just keep going and going and going, as do

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Speaker 4: my other three brigades out there, Virginia, Bee's Creek, Kilpina

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Speaker 4: and Howard Springs. They need the real big plug. They

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Speaker 4: are sensational workers. We're in their five seas now has

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Speaker 4: been mentioned, and they turn up day in, day out

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Speaker 4: for long hours a day, so they're unsung heroes as

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Speaker 4: permi volunteers and that up and down the highway. I

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Speaker 4: have twenty seven locations across the Northern Territory. Some are

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Speaker 4: manned career personnel, other's majority from my volunteers.

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Speaker 3: So sounds of it.

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Speaker 1: What you're saying is that you know even if there

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Speaker 1: is a situation on the rare occasion that the station

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Speaker 1: isn't open, that there is volunteers and that there are

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Speaker 1: also other you know, other people who are able to

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Speaker 1: be deployed out should there be an emergency involving a fire.

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Speaker 2: That's right.

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Speaker 4: Well, if you have a look at Palms, who got

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Speaker 4: mentioned the other day, it's over thirty two thousand people.

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Speaker 4: Now it's its own satellite city and it has been

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Speaker 4: for while. We're seeing the growth in high rise. So

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Speaker 4: what will happen is if I dispatch Palmerston into the

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Speaker 4: Humpty Do area after ours that are supported by volunteers.

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Speaker 4: Now minded you volunteers aren't road crash trained or hazard

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Speaker 4: as were trained.

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Speaker 2: But they will assist.

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Speaker 4: But what will happen is then I'll recall into the

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Speaker 4: stations that are vacant.

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Speaker 1: Could it mean though a delay in one of those

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Speaker 1: emergency situations I fire all as you've touched on there

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Speaker 1: a car crash.

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Speaker 2: That's what we run with at the moment. CARTI.

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Speaker 4: So it's my job at the end of the day

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Speaker 4: over the next couple of years is to work forward

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Speaker 4: with the executive that I've got and I've only had

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Speaker 4: them in place since January this year, is to present

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Speaker 4: the government the growth. We're a city, we're close to

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Speaker 4: We're big city assets, big tall buildings and if you

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Speaker 4: compare that to Ballarade or Bendigo, you know, I've got

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Speaker 4: thirty four story buildings.

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Speaker 2: Bendigo has two story buildings.

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Speaker 4: We have a port, we have a military base, we

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Speaker 4: have high volume aircraft flying over there on shipping, We've

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Speaker 4: got railway and then in the dry season, we have

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Speaker 4: a massive influx of our great nomads and younger people

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Speaker 4: now because of the COVID situation, so we do have

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Speaker 4: a swelling of that. So I've got to collect all

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Speaker 4: that data and that's what we've been doing over the

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Speaker 4: last six to twelve months and present those cases.

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Speaker 2: Are we ready? You know?

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Speaker 4: And let's put it forward and see knowing that we're

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Speaker 4: also competing with police what they have to put up

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Speaker 4: with health and education. They're on the news all the time,

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Speaker 4: so we're in a good position. I only have fineite resources,

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Speaker 4: and those finite resources are utilized into dangerous situations being

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Speaker 4: grass fires and all structured fires or has.

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Speaker 2: Matt or Roy crash.

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Speaker 4: It's up to me to be able to manage those

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Speaker 4: resources within my capability.

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Speaker 3: Now, I do want to ask you.

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Speaker 1: We know that August twenty nine is now the days

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Speaker 1: when we will be allowed to let off fireworks as

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Speaker 1: part of those Territory Day celebrations. What's going to happen

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Speaker 1: if there is a fireban? Are people still allowed to

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Speaker 1: let off their fireworks?

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Speaker 2: Not at all?

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Speaker 4: If there's a fireban, and that's evidence based through the

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Speaker 4: bomb and then through bushfires and myself. If there is

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Speaker 4: a fireban, there will be no lighting of any fireworks

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Speaker 4: that's deemed as a fire or ignition source, and there's

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Speaker 4: no to be no open cognition sources. So we came

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Speaker 4: close to it a couple of years ago on July first,

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Speaker 4: there's some correct horrific wind conditions come through, so fireban

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Speaker 4: that got pulled at eighteen hundred hours or six o'clock

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Speaker 4: through that and then the fireworks we are able to

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Speaker 4: go ahead. But at the end of the day, if

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Speaker 4: it's a tough if it's a fireban, you won't be

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Speaker 4: able to light your fireworks.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, goodness me, there'll be people listening who are concerned

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Speaker 1: by that is the likelihood, like at that time of

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Speaker 1: the year, at the end of August. Do we have

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Speaker 1: is a fireband you know? Is it something that we

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Speaker 1: see a bit off?

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Speaker 4: We monitor it closely. We've had two already as of

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Speaker 4: Sunday and Monday, but we expect this is known sort

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Speaker 4: of where the conditions that come through the dry through

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Speaker 4: the top end. But nevertheless, if the fireworks go ahead,

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Speaker 4: like I do every fireworks, I will have enhanced crewis

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Speaker 4: on there. My volunteers chump at the bit to assist

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Speaker 4: their communities, which they do regularly, and that's across the territory,

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Speaker 4: and then we'll deal with anything that pops up.

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Speaker 3: So no matter what, you guys will be ready.

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Speaker 2: For it absolutely.

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Speaker 4: And with our twelve recruits coming out on the twelfth,

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Speaker 4: of August, they will be certainly chomping at a bit

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Speaker 4: hopefully to be working that night.

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Speaker 1: Is it a pretty tough course for those recruits to

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Speaker 1: get through. I got told that becoming a fiery is

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Speaker 1: pretty difficult in terms of the fitness and what you've

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Speaker 1: got to do.

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Speaker 2: It's pretty hard, isn't it.

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Speaker 4: It's a four month process to get selected, and it's

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Speaker 4: a further four months through the initial recruit training, and

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Speaker 4: then you've got another eighteen months of getting.

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Speaker 2: All these skills consolidated through that.

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Speaker 4: So, as you can imagine, we don't do a lot

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Speaker 4: of writing, but we have a lot of big trucks

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Speaker 4: to play with, a lot of tools to play with.

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Speaker 4: So you've got to get all that together. And all

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Speaker 4: the incidents that we go to, whether it be as

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Speaker 4: I said, hazards materials, whether we structured fire, wildfire, ray,

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Speaker 4: crash shipping, whatever we have to get called to, that's

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Speaker 4: what we need to be prepared for.

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Speaker 3: Well, Mark Spain, It's always good to catch up with you.

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Speaker 1: The Northern Territories Chief Fire Officer will no doubt talk

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Speaker 1: to you again very soon.

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Speaker 2: Thanks very much, Cotie, thank you