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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-11-23 Daily Xml
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EMERGENCY SERVICES

Mr BIGNELL (Mawson) (15:21): I follow on with the same theme as the member for Chaffey. He had the floods and that severe rogue storm up in his part of the world a few weeks ago, and last Friday we had a bushfire at Blewitt Springs which caused a lot of heartache and angst for many people living in the local area.

I guess we would both like to pay tribute, as would most members of this house, to the fantastic emergency services people—the paid staff and volunteers throughout the state—who do such a tremendous job. The state government funds emergency services to the tune of more than $200 million each year, and it is money well spent.

On Monday night, I had the pleasure of going to the McLaren Flat oval, where the Mawson CFS group held an equipment display night. They do this each year, and it is fantastic to get out there. Initially, mainly the CFS crews would turn up, and they could compare appliances and show each other the latest equipment they had; whether it be boats for river rescues, or firefighting gear.

That was good, but they have done a really good job at expanding that into the other services and getting the other services involved. I have been really pleased to see, over the past decade, the cooperation between groups such as the State Emergency Services, Country Fire Service, the ambulance service and, of course, police and the Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS).

It is fantastic how the emergency services groups have come together under the one administrative structure of SAFECOM, and also to see it out at the front line. That was no better displayed than on Monday night, where people could come together in an environment that was not an emergency and could take the time to look at each other's equipment, talk about the roles of the various services, and generally have a good discussion.

Present on the night was the Mawson CFS group, of course, which had organised the event. They set up the pod, which is a device that is carried on the back of a large truck and is lowered onto the ground. It is fitted out with computers and air-conditioners, and it becomes an incident control centre. I noticed that the South Australian Ambulance Service had a similar sort of setup, although theirs was inside a truck, rather than a structure that could be lifted into place from a truck.

The MFS also have these pods, and they have become very handy for all the emergency services when it comes to running incidents, because people know the setup in the room. It does not matter whether it is dropped off in Glencoe down in the South-East, Wudinna up on Eyre Peninsula, or over on Yorke Peninsula or wherever it is in the state; the people in there who are running that incident know where everything is and have some familiarity. It is also equipped with marquees, water and all sorts of things that you need in an emergency but that you do not necessarily have time to pack when things go awry, whether through bushfire, flood, storm or whatever else.

The Kyeema, Heysen and Sturt CFS groups were also there. The Metropolitan Fire Service had their chemical, biological response personnel there, along with MFS crews. They had some regular appliances, but they also had their chemical response unit there. It was very interesting to see how they can go out to a site and analyse chemicals that may have been used as an accelerant in the fire. No longer do you have to collect things at the scene and take them back to a laboratory, they can do it in real-time at the scene. It was interesting to see that.

The South Australian Urban Search and Rescue group was there. They were giving demonstrations on how they cut through concrete and how you need to brace things, such as in the event of an earthquake or a bomb going off, and how you need to use woodwork skills, basically, to put in a structure underneath the crumbling structure to make it safe for not only the rescuers but also those people they are trying to rescue. Of course, these people did a brilliant job in Christchurch after their devastating earthquakes.

I mentioned that the Ambulance Service was there. SAFECOM and the police were there. It was also good to see the Sea Rescue Squadron, the State Emergency Services and St Johns, who do a great job around the state in filling those roles where the South Australian Ambulance Service is not. We congratulate all those volunteers and particularly the CFS. Let us hope you have a safe and uneventful summer. Given the bushfire risk that we all know is upon us this season, it is going to be a very difficult year and we wish them all the very best. Our state possibly could not survive in any way without the dedication and time that these people give for their community and for our state.

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