Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the few minutes that remain to me this evening, I will pay tribute to and thank the courageous South Australian firefighters and volunteers who fought the disastrous and deadly bushfires in Victoria. Since the horrendous fires transformed many Victorian villages, hamlets and farmhouses to ashes, about 750 South Australians have volunteered to fight fires and provide support to our sister state and have demonstrated great courage and determination in keeping the flames at bay. South Australians know only too well about the extreme dangers of bushfires and the havoc and devastation they can cause, not to mention the human tragedy. They have been pleased and willing to put up their hands to volunteer for duty in the fire ravaged areas of Victoria.

At last count almost 640 Country Fire Service, Forestry SA and Department for Environment and Heritage volunteers have been deployed in Victoria, in addition to more than 110 Metropolitan Fire Service personnel. Some of these brave firefighters have volunteered two or three times. We also sent over 48 operational staff, some of whom went more than once. We also sent to Victoria 25 Country Fire Service and Department for Environment and Heritage appliances and two paramedics, as well as an Erikson aircrane, which was deployed on 8 February for a total of six days.

All in all, South Australia’s Country Fire Service has sent 19 teams of firefighters and five incident management teams—a considerable number when one considers that each Country Fire Service team comprises up to 75 people: a mixture of firefighters and incident management, planning, logistics, mapping support and stress prevention staff. A 20th team was due to have been sent on 4 March but was cancelled due to the much-needed rain that started falling on the fire areas. Each team has been deployed for five days in total, including rest time and travel time. All teams have flown to Victoria and have fought fires in most of the ravaged areas of the state. All 110 Metropolitan Fire Service firefighters have been volunteers and have been deployed on their rostered days off, so their involvement, therefore, has not impacted on MFS resources at all in Adelaide. These firefighters have fought blazes in a variety of areas, including Hamilton, Churchill, Whittlesea, Alexandra and Murrindindi.

Of course, the work of the Country Fire Service is not without its hazards and great dangers. One of our Country Fire Service firemen, Ian Kleinig, a lieutenant from the Burra Brigade in Region 4, was struck by a large tree limb while working on the containment of the Murrindindi complex of fires near Alexandra, north-east of Melbourne. He was helicoptered to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with head injuries, where he remains in a high-dependency ward, although staff say they are seeing improvements each day. Mr Kleinig is married with two young children, and his wife flew to Melbourne to be by his side. I am sure that everyone in this chamber and in the other will join with me in wishing Ian well.

Victorian deployments are based on formal requests from that state, with South Australia making a decision on the requested deployments as they arise. They are conducted in such a way that resources are taken from across South Australia in consultation with each region so as not to leave any area of the state short of resources at any one time. So far, South Australia’s Country Fire Service has been able to provide assistance when it has been sought, and, fingers crossed, will continue to have the personnel to do so, provided South Australia remains free of bushfires.

The state of readiness of firefighters in South Australia is not impacted by these ongoing deployments to Victoria. The CFS in South Australia has more than 10,700 volunteers and 90 staff who are willing and able to respond to incidents in South Australia on a daily basis. It provides a range of fire and emergency services to more than 434 communities across South Australia and each year attends more than 7,000 incidents, including bushfires, structure and motor vehicle fires, road crash rescues and hazardous material spills. The CFS also supports the state’s Metropolitan Fire Service and State Emergency Service and works closely with local government to perform the important role of fuel removal, bushfire prevention and community bushfire and fire safety education.

At this time, I would like to reassure South Australians that there is no danger or any fear of any interstate deployments leaving our own state shorthanded in the event of fire outbreaks. At the same time, I must offer my thanks to the South Australian firefighters, support staff and paramedics for the sterling effort they have achieved in Victoria. Indeed, South Australians, while fiercely determined to beat the Vics at football, are just as fierce in their determination to help their brother and sister firefighters and friends over the border. The Victorian fires, savage and disastrous though they have been, have proven yet again that when it comes to tragedy Australians work together as if state borders never existed. They have, in the true spirit of mateship, fought the fires and worked together in the face of adversity and have overcome all the fury that nature threw at them. I congratulate them and sincerely thank them for the totally selfless and courageous work that they undertake in keeping our communities safe from fire and other incidents, be they working in South Australia or elsewhere in Australia. Thank you.