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Speaker 1: Now as we know, tomorrow is of course Territory Day.

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Speaker 1: It's a fantastic day to celebrate all that makes the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory great and also an opportunity well to let

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Speaker 1: off fireworks. But we do need to make sure that

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Speaker 1: we stay safe and we also obviously we know that

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Speaker 1: our fires and Bushfires NTA do an incredible job at

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Speaker 1: making sure that everybody is really prepared and that they

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Speaker 1: are prepared should things get out of hand. Now joining

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Speaker 1: us in the studio this morning, we have got Bushfires

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Speaker 1: NTS Incident Controller Mark Williams. Good morning to you, Mark,

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Speaker 1: good morning, good to have you in the studio. And

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Speaker 1: we've also got the Chief Fire Officer for the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 1: Steven Saul, Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good a, Katie, good day listeners.

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Speaker 1: Lovely to have you both in the studio and well

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Speaker 1: giving us really a comprehensive sort of pre plan and

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Speaker 1: rap I suppose before Territory Day. Now, first off, how

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Speaker 1: are the conditions looking for Territory days, Stephen, We might

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Speaker 1: go to you first.

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Speaker 3: Very similar today, so we're going to have gusting winds

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Speaker 3: and the like, so but hopefully come that period between

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Speaker 3: six and eleven o'clock at night that the conditions will

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Speaker 3: calm down a bit.

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Speaker 1: So, yeah, we're hoping that Mark, you and I were

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Speaker 1: talking about this offair. We've seen it's been quite windy

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Speaker 1: the last couple.

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Speaker 4: Of days it has. Yeah, we've been very busy over

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Speaker 4: the last few days. A number of fires in the

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Speaker 4: landscape area already and that's going to be added to

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Speaker 4: obviously with the work for our crews tomorrow night. But yeah,

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Speaker 4: certainly hoping that those weather conditions do obeate a little

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Speaker 4: bit tomorrow evening.

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Speaker 1: Now, in terms of the preparatory work that happens in

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Speaker 1: the city and our urban urban areas, I should say, Stephen,

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Speaker 1: what you know, what kind of work do you guys

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Speaker 1: do from the fiery's perspective to make sure that if

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Speaker 1: things do go wrong, that you know that we're as

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Speaker 1: organized as possible to respond to it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: So we've been working for quite some time now with

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Speaker 3: stakeholders and stuff like that to make sure that mitigation

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Speaker 3: work has been done, like on land and you can

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Speaker 3: see what is green is green and what is brown

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Speaker 3: is like at risk. So yeah, so crews know like

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Speaker 3: where their problem areas are within We've like asked crews

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Speaker 3: to be available if needed, and we'll have all our

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Speaker 3: resources in the way vehicles will be staffed for the night.

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Speaker 3: So we're going to set up an EOC as well,

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Speaker 3: so we'll have that running out at PMC for the event,

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Speaker 3: so they'll be staffing there and not to manage like

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Speaker 3: and make sure that we're well resourced.

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Speaker 2: And obviously we're treating our priorities right.

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Speaker 1: So is there additional cruise on.

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Speaker 2: There will be, so everything will be enhanced for the evening.

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Speaker 1: Like how many are we talking how many fire is

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Speaker 1: going to be on duty tomorrow night?

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Speaker 3: Well, pretty much as many as we can get, so

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Speaker 3: that's it. So there will obviously be something out there

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Speaker 3: partaking as well, Like it's a beautiful time and it's

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Speaker 3: a great event and it's the only place in Australia

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Speaker 3: where you can actually do it. The planes will be full,

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Speaker 3: there'll be people flying in for the event as well,

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Speaker 3: and they'll be leaving you know shortly after.

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Speaker 1: This is the thing, right, it's a juggle because we

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Speaker 1: all want to be able to continue to let those

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Speaker 1: fireworks off, like we enjoy doing it, but we want

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Speaker 1: to do it safely. I mean mark for bushfires into

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Speaker 1: in terms of the crews that are on I know

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Speaker 1: that you guys are quite heavily reliant on volunteer volunteers

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Speaker 1: as well. How are things looking from that perspective.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, certainly. The volunteers are the backbone of our organization.

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Speaker 4: We've got twenty brigades throughout the territory and all of

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Speaker 4: them will be on a height and awareness status tomorrow.

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Speaker 4: Some of them will actually actually be on duty. We're

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Speaker 4: working with our colleagues into your FRS as well in

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Speaker 4: numerous locations such as down as Allison up here as well.

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Speaker 4: We've got an incident management team set up at Acacia

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Speaker 4: Hills as well. So the volunteers, a lot of them,

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Speaker 4: as I said, will be in and around their hot

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Speaker 4: spot known in their local areas. A lot of them

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Speaker 4: will be out there patrolling those and interacting with the

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Speaker 4: community as well because they want to enjoy the evening.

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Speaker 4: They might not be actually partaking in the fireworks itself,

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Speaker 4: but they're hoping to actually enjoy that night as well

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Speaker 4: and not having to respond to fire activity doing for

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Speaker 4: that as a result of careless letting off a fireworks.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and this is the thing you guys are

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Speaker 1: doing so much to make sure the Northern Territory is

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Speaker 1: prepared and make sure that we're prepared up here in

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Speaker 1: the top end. But what do we as territorians need

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Speaker 1: to do as well to make sure that we do

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Speaker 1: things safely? I mean, do we need a bucket of

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Speaker 1: water there where we're letting off fireworks? Do we need

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Speaker 1: to make sure that we're in a space where we're

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Speaker 1: not going to light up a bush?

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Speaker 3: You know, just ahead of celebrations, Katie. What listeners can

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Speaker 3: do is they can make sure that they're gutters. You know,

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Speaker 3: not all houses have gutters up here, but some of

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Speaker 3: them definitely do so, like I've got them on half

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Speaker 3: of my house. But make sure they're clear from leaves debris.

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Speaker 3: Make sure you wet down your lawns and your gun

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Speaker 3: beds prior to the event. Make sure you clear any

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Speaker 3: flammable materials from around your home or your shed. So

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Speaker 3: it's important that on the night that people actually set

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Speaker 3: off firefly fireworks in a clear area away from flammable

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Speaker 3: materials and structures, and sure use fireworks are completely cool

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Speaker 3: before you throw them away, and safely dispose of any

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Speaker 3: unused fireworks by returning them to anti work safe or

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Speaker 3: otherwise in remote areas and that they can hand them

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Speaker 3: into police stations.

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Speaker 1: And we will take our listeners through those different areas

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Speaker 1: as well where they can drop them off if they've

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Speaker 1: got unused ones, I mean out in the rural area

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Speaker 1: then as well. Mark, I would imagine that, you know,

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Speaker 1: the areas like people have got a bit more space

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Speaker 1: to let off those fireworks. But are there some further

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Speaker 1: concerns in terms of maybe some of those areas not

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Speaker 1: being green.

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Speaker 4: Yes, most certainly we are in the you know, I

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Speaker 4: guess the bush fire season coming into the dry now,

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Speaker 4: so you know, those areas. We ask people to prepare

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Speaker 4: those areas, make sure they've got the area slashed, as

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Speaker 4: Steven said, make sure the areas went down, make sure

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Speaker 4: they've got a water source of some sort, you know,

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Speaker 4: if an accident does happen, you know, buckets of water

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Speaker 4: that they can call off the fireworks or extinguisher a

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Speaker 4: small fire while they can capture it while it's safe

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Speaker 4: to do so. But also be prepared that if something

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Speaker 4: does happen to call Triple O immediately and we can

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Speaker 4: provide as much advice as we possibly can. We are

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Speaker 4: a finite resource throughout the territory. We can't get to

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Speaker 4: every single location, so people, we do rely on the

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Speaker 4: members of the public to be self sufficient and be

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Speaker 4: aware that you know, we're obviously letting off fireworks. They

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Speaker 4: do and can cause not only injury but damaged by fire,

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Speaker 4: and we really ask people to enjoy the night and

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Speaker 4: just act a little bit more responsibly and make sure

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Speaker 4: that they take that bit of time to yeah, serve

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Speaker 4: the fireworks off safely.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, if fire fighters are out there actually doing a

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Speaker 3: very hard job like on the night. So last year

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Speaker 3: there was just in that period alone, there was two

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Speaker 3: hundred and forty one fire calls and one hundred and

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Speaker 3: fifty one of them were actually wildfires, so they tie

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Speaker 3: up resources for a long time. So yeah, so if

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Speaker 3: you do see the firefighters out there working, make sure

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Speaker 3: you treat them with a bit of respect and that

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Speaker 3: as well. And a lot of these firefighters are volunteers,

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Speaker 3: you know, even from within our organization, and that we

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Speaker 3: have nearly three hundred volunteers that will be working the night.

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Speaker 3: They've all had busy days and stuff like that, and

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Speaker 3: they'll be rotating through the vehicles and.

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Speaker 1: Doing it so that we can all enjoy ourselves. I

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Speaker 1: think that's a really big thing to remember, is that

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Speaker 1: everybody's working really hard from both of your organizations tomorrow

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Speaker 1: night so that the rest of us can really celebrate

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Speaker 1: territory Days. So please try your best to do the

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Speaker 1: right thing. Don't put your half bloody, unused firecracker in

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Speaker 1: the wheelly bin and then wonder why it lights up

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Speaker 1: or wonder why it melts. Please, you know, make sure

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Speaker 1: that if something has not gone off, that you don't

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Speaker 1: go over the top of it and put your face

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Speaker 1: in front of that firework. You know, the last thing

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Speaker 1: we want is to see people injured. So just like

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Speaker 1: you know, we're talking about this with Andy Thomas just

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Speaker 1: a couple moments ago from Saint John, use your common sense.

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Speaker 1: I know sometimes it can be hard to remember, but

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Speaker 1: you've got to use that common sense, right.

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Speaker 4: Absolutely, it's not as common as we might.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's exactly right.

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Speaker 3: And there's a lot of kids and I mean they

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Speaker 3: love it. They having a crazy time. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 3: so that's it. It's a fun family thing to do

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Speaker 3: and we just got to look after each other.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, spot on, Hey, before I let you go, now, Mark,

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Speaker 1: I know out in the rural area over the last

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Speaker 1: couple of days, we've had a few people message through

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Speaker 1: sort of saying there's one here, Hi, Katie. There were

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Speaker 1: heaps of fires around Catherine. I'm not sure who that

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Speaker 1: falls under on the weekend. Were they planned burns or deliberately.

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Speaker 4: List There's a bit of a mix out there. We're

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Speaker 4: certainly entering our busy period and the weather conditions over

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Speaker 4: the last weekend didn't help with the windy nature that

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Speaker 4: we had. Certainly we are getting some suspicious activity out there,

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Speaker 4: and where we do have that, will report them directly

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Speaker 4: with police and we're working with them to investigate any

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Speaker 4: those But a lot of them we're actually seeing are

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Speaker 4: actually permit burns, not necessarily requiring us to respond. We're

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Speaker 4: certainly sucking up some resources when we do have those

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Speaker 4: escape burns, So people not being prepared to undertake their burns,

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Speaker 4: not having their slash brakes in place, and the likes

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Speaker 4: of that. So we do ask again in relation to that,

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Speaker 4: we are in the bushfire season, so please make sure

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Speaker 4: you've got the appropriate breaks in place, make sure that

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Speaker 4: they've got the notifications through to their neighbors and that

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Speaker 4: they are prepared to undertake any of the burning that

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Speaker 4: they're doing, but certainly over the weekend it has been

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Speaker 4: very busy right throughout from Catherine right through the top end,

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Speaker 4: and we've still got a lot of fire out in

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Speaker 4: the landscape, so people would have been seeing a fair

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Speaker 4: bit of smoke around the place at the moment. It

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Speaker 4: is part of this time of year in the territory, unfortunately,

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Speaker 4: and we've got to take the opportunities where we can

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Speaker 4: to burn out some of those high risk areas as

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Speaker 4: well to better protect the public as we continue in

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Speaker 4: through the season.

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Speaker 1: Another listener question, just a quick one, just bush fires.

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Speaker 1: Nt have any plans for burning the road verge along

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Speaker 1: door at Row between Adelaide River and Robin Falls before

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Speaker 1: crack and ie. That person's asking.

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Speaker 4: Certainly won't be undertaken before crack and eight because that

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Speaker 4: is only tomorrow. But we do have a fair amount

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Speaker 4: of fire that has been in and around that landscape

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Speaker 4: area door At Road and we're continuing to patrol that

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Speaker 4: area as well, so we'll have cruise in and around

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Speaker 4: that area, and the local brigade is also on height

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Speaker 4: and awareness in that area, so certainly keeping an eye

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Speaker 4: on that area. It's one of our hotspots. And yeah,

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Speaker 4: we're certainly aware of that.

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Speaker 1: Well, all the very best for Territory Day tomorrow. Let's

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Speaker 1: hope that everybody uses that common sense and does the

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Speaker 1: right thing and you're not you know, you're not having

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Speaker 1: to deal with, you know, with too many serious incidents

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Speaker 1: or any serious incidents. Let's hope that things are pretty calm.

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Speaker 1: Chief Fire Officers Stephen Sewell with the Northern Territory Fire

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Speaker 1: and Rescue Service and Bushfires Into Incident Controller Mark Williams.

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Speaker 1: Thank you both very much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: No worries. Thanks