Grievance Debate

Wilmington Fire

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:11): I would like today to congratulate and commemorate the incredible work done by the CFS, DEW and the local farm fire units throughout the Wilmington fire, where 5,414 hectares were burned. They were ably assisted by 554 aircraft drops totalling 1,400,000 litres of water. All of the 1,190 personnel worked together to bring the blaze under control. It was an outstanding effort from all those involved, not only the professional firefighters but the farmers, the pastoralists and the local community, who rallied together to save the majority of what could have been very much worse.

I want to pay a special mention to Michael Wigg, a firefighter with the CFS who suffered major burns in that fire. He is well on the road to recovery after having surgery back in February. There were concerns raised after the fire, and the post-mortem analysis of that fire was alarming. Sadly, unforgettably, the event has brought the issues of our emergency response to light. The opposition has received correspondence from a number of people involved in the fire, including the Outback Communities Authority, members of farm fire units and adjoining property owners.

The following are just some of the issues raised that we have learned of. Shift changes were occurring at the staging area rather than on the fireground, leaving sections of the fire unattended without replacement crews, sometimes for up to 1½ hours. On 5 February, an aircraft dumped multiple loads of foam on a containment line that was being managed by the CFS and the farm fire units at Battery Ridge Track. They had no notice that this would occur and the fire subsequently spread further north of the track.

Mr Modystach owns a property that borders Battery Ridge. On 8 February a back-burn was lit approximately 100 metres from his property without notifying or consulting him. This back-burn was left unattended, which significantly extended the fire front and it burned into Mr Modystach's property and damaged his fences. It is unknown whether he will be compensated.

Prior to the Salvation Army assisting, there was a lack of food and water provided to the farm fire units that were helping in the response and some were even refused drinking water—outrageous. There are also reports that on multiple occasions farm fire units were refused extra water for firefighting, and there are conflicting and unclear guidelines for certain buffers and track maintenance and many tracks are not being maintained to an appropriate level and buffer zones are not in place.

This lack of maintenance resulted in fire jumping Battery Ridge Track on 5 February, and some of the documentation has not been updated in a decade and urgently requires a review. Yesterday in question time in the other place, the minister said that she had launched an independent after-action review, which the opposition has called for, and it is now going to be undertaken. We look forward to seeing the result of that review and ensuring South Australia can be better prepared for the future.

Sir, as you know, as a regional MP—and many regional MPs would understand—fire is one of the natural disasters that puts life at risk at every opportunity. We want to commend those that put their life on the line to fight those fires, to contain those fires so that they did not spread creating more property damage and potential loss of life.

What we did see was that there were injuries to those firefighters and it just shows you that we need regular, updated knowledge of firefighting units and how they interact with the farming firefighting units. It is absolutely outrageous that they would be deprived of drinking water. It is unconscionable that in a firefighting experience they would be denied water to fight the fires. I think that the independent review needs to be undertaken quickly. It needs to have a response so that we can better document and better fight fires to keep humans safe and be able to reduce the incidence of those firefighters having their life put at risk.