Country Fire Service

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. E.S. Bourke:

That this council—

1. Congratulates the over 200 CFSS volunteers from across South Australia for coming together to support the Yorke Peninsula community by fighting the recent fires that broke out and destroyed pastoral lands, livestock and homes;

2. Acknowledges the work of all community services, including the local police force, CFS and health services, in supporting individual families and the community to evacuate safely and in a timely manner;

3. Calls on the Minister for Emergency Services to work with regional communities to increase the number of local CFS volunteers;

4. Thanks all CFS volunteers for risking their lives to protect South Australians; and

5. Wishes all Country Fire Service volunteers a safe fire danger season.

(Continued from 27 November 2019.)

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (17:28): I rise on behalf of government members in relation to this motion. In the first instance I move the amendment standing in my name as follows:

Paragraph 3:

After the words 'Services to' insert 'continue to'

I will elaborate more on that later in this brief presentation. I rise to support the motion of the Hon. Ms Bourke and thank her for moving it. In many ways, words fail most of us in acknowledging the commitment of people who go out and fight fires in appalling conditions. It is worthwhile that we do just give a few moments in this place to that voluntary commitment.

In the week of 19 November to 24 November, the South Australian Country Fire Service responded to 219 separate incidents across the state, including rural fires, vehicle accidents and structure fires. There were 357 support responses, which included responses in support of 209 incidents attended. An example of that is the multiple brigades that attended the Yorketown fire.

The current recorded hours for these 576 turnouts are listed as 33,312 hours, and these numbers are likely to increase once reports are lodged by CFS brigades. At the peak of activity on Wednesday 20 November, the CFS had 600 personnel and 150 fire trucks committed across the state. On that day, the CFS responded to over 60 fires, with large fires recorded at Price on the northern Yorke Peninsula, Appila in the Mid North, Beaufort in the Mid North, Yorketown on southern Yorke Peninsula, Finniss on Fleurieu Peninsula and Angaston in the Barossa.

The Yorketown fire was the largest and most dangerous of these, with over 250 firefighters committed to it. A total of 11 homes were destroyed and significant stock losses were reported. Volunteers, CFS staff and MFS staff were supported by their colleagues from the SES and other government departments in dealing with these fires. The crews' responders were supported by catering from local volunteers and the Salvation Army. Many of the fires were attacked by aerial bombardment with the state's own resources, with one bombing run from a large aerial tanker from New South Wales to protect the town of Coobowie. A total of 14 aircraft were deployed across the state.

Despite the terrible loss of several homes and livestock, these outcomes demonstrate a successful joint response across the whole state that resulted in a better outcome than might have been expected, with few injuries and no human lives lost. I want to add that the response right across the community of Yorke Peninsula—all the volunteers in many capacities and the response from members of a range of government agencies, including certainly a number out of the Department of Human Services, and many others—I think was outstanding.

In regard to the CFS in particular, I have a large list of the brigades that attended, but I am not going to read them all out. In summary, brigades from Aldinga Beach to Nuriootpa and from One Tree Hill and Shea-Oak Log to Seaford, and from many other places in between, attended the Yorketown fire. Of course, in doing so, they were all in unfamiliar territory.

I have related in this place previously my vivid memories of fighting serious fires in unfamiliar territory in the Ash Wednesday fires of both 1980 and 1983, where as flat-country firefighters we were thrown up into the depths of the Adelaide Hills, where the different nature of the terrain and the conditions was striking. I have some very vivid memories of those events, even though they were many decades ago. I do give great credit to those who went, as I said, from places like Aldinga Beach, Seaford and the Barossa Valley, and many other places, across to southern Yorke Peninsula into an area that they were completely unfamiliar with.

Just in conclusion, just to elaborate on the reason for my amendment, which is a minor amendment, and with great respect to the minister, paragraph 3 as it stands states:

Calls on the Minister for Emergency Services to work with regional communities to increase the number of local CFS volunteers;

My amendment, if it was successful, would amend the paragraph to say: calls on the minister 'to continue' to work with those regional communities.

I am aware, through my own knowledge of his activity, of the significant amount of work the minister has done in supporting local CFS brigades and also in being out there in the community showing his support for the CFS and encouragement to members of the community to assist the CFS and in many cases to join up. I am aware of some people who could not physically go out and fight fires but have joined up to become the administrators back in the bases, on the public address and providing really strong communications support.

But I do know that in his time as minister the Hon. Corey Wingard has visited 77 CFS stations and met with members of more than 100 brigades across South Australia. He has also obviously had many other members of parliament represent him on occasions. I have certainly done that myself. With those remarks I would again thank the honourable member for her motion and would seek the support of the council to just add those two words as indicated in my amendment.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (17:36): I rise to speak overwhelmingly in support of the Hon. Emily Bourke's motion. I will be short, although, I promise you, Mr Acting President, that if I was to speak about the wonderful efforts of our CFS over the years I could probably break my record from last night. Unlike the Hon. John Dawkins, I have never actually had to fight a fire alongside CFS volunteers, but in my long career as a journalist I had many, many occasions to be covering fires that were fought by our CFS volunteers.

It goes back to the Ash Wednesday fires where the Hon. John Dawkins fought as a firefighter. I have been able to witness firsthand the courage, the bravery, the concern that these people have for property and also for people. In many cases they are often oblivious to their own safety in order to protect our communities. I just could not speak more highly of the CFS as an organisation and for what they have done, what they have achieved, the lives they saved, the properties they have saved and the commitment they do give to the state they serve.

Let me just say that their firefighting heroics are legendary not only in Australia but also overseas. When I was in Europe in August I went to the town of Mati, where there were some horrific wildfires last year that devastated the town, which we spoke about in a motion in this parliament. When I went there and visited and spoke to the fire chief who was in charge of that particular region—and it is a pretty large region—he also spoke highly of our firefighting efforts in Australia. He knew already what the CFS did in this country and what it did in our state and could not speak highly enough of them. In fact we actually spoke about even an exchange training program between Greece and Australia, so highly did they think of our firefighting efforts.

In closing, I would also like to pay tribute to the people who employ our CFS volunteers because, when they are called out in an emergency, some of them probably have to leave their jobs. It is fantastic that they have the support of their employers, who allow them to go there without any penalty at all. We also must pay tribute to the employers who strongly support the CFS and the CFS volunteers in their work both in the Adelaide Hills area and in our regions as well. In closing, I warmly endorse this motion of the Hon. Emily Bourke and also the words of the Hon. John Dawkins.

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (17:40): I would like to thank the members who have spoken on this, the Hon. John Dawkins and the Hon. Frank Pangallo, for your kind words towards the volunteers who make the heart of this nation beat so strongly. I will be more than happy to accept the Hon. John Dawkins' amendment that he is putting forward today because, as I stated in my speech, whoever the government of the day is, we all need to be working to make sure that we have volunteers in our regions.

That is why I am more than happy to accept an amendment that makes sure that the minister of the day continues to work with our regional communities to make sure that we have those volunteers to come together, as we saw on 20 and 21 November this year. People literally dropped what they were doing, no matter if that was working in the local supermarket or at home on the farm on the catastrophic day. I really do think that it is a very valuable motion to be putting forward to recognise their important contributions to our communities.

Amendment carried; motion as amended carried.