Thread: Children and Arson.

Originally Posted by dullbird

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I'm just pointing out to frantic's comment that I don't believe ADF can be held responsible for house losses that occurred outside the state mine fire. It was I feel quite badly reported in the news because we all want someone to blame.
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I saw several interviews with the Fire Commissioner and with some of the firefighters where every single one of the journalists' questions was aimed at getting someone to say that we should all be jumping up and down about what a dreadful thing the Defence Force had done and to say that they should be held accountable.

None of the interviewees were bullied into giving the sort of answer the journalists wanted.

As a member of the local brigade in Sydney I have been to Holsworthy army base to chase a fire. This was on the live fire range and the Army guys wouldn't go in

I've got a friend who's in the Army Firies in Darwin. If there's a fire their instructions are to call the Fire Brigade.

Originally Posted by clubagreenie

There's always Woomera

Did you miss the bushfires there a few years ago?

Apparently so,

Originally Posted by Eevo

DD asked to chop down the trees but the greenies/council wouldn't let them.

Strange, as they don't need permission from the council - Local government doesn't have much say over federal land much less defence land. DD do have some fairly stringent environmental laws/regs of their own though.

Originally Posted by jx2mad

As a member of the local brigade in Sydney I have been to Holsworthy army base to chase a fire. This was on the live fire range and the Army guys wouldn't go in

There is no fire service at Holsworthy now, (been gone probably 15years) range control is now largely in the hands of civilian contractors, that have neither the capacity or equipment to fight large fires. Significant sections of Holsworthy are 'no go' areas due to UXO, most of the range is 1st order saturation, with only areas around the perimeter being regarded as 'safe'. I'd say the area you were in was safe, or you were given some VERY poor advice, or possibly your OIC ignored some good advice .

Originally Posted by clubagreenie

I've got a friend who's in the Army Firies in Darwin. If there's a fire their instructions are to call the Fire Brigade.

That's due to the MOUs with civil fire services to manage fire on bases, ADF firies have been reduced to only deliver their core roles, which is to provide fire protection during operations, field exercises etc.
FRNSW and NSWRFS have MOUs for fire protection/firefighting within the Liverpool Training Area (LTA/Holsworthy)
We hold regular familiarisation tours with defence through LTA, fight plenty of fires within the range, as well as undertaking hazard reduction in cooperation with defence contractors.
Have been in and out of the range since the mid 70s with fire services, although it wasn't always as strictly controlled as now.

Martyn

or you were given some VERY poor advice, or possibly your OIC ignored some good advice .

Probably a case of ignored poor advice and thought they knew better (how often is that the case).

I was down there a number of years ago training some guys and we were directed to use an area that was away from live training that was underway. The directions we were given drove us directly into the backside of the live area. Shook a few people up coming over a hill and being under fire. Fortunately the OIC at the other end shutdown immediately and someone got a talking to when they saw the map.

Hi Bushie. We were taken into the area by an army guy and were told to stay on the dirt path, not to touch anything that looked suspicious. He picked up a couple of bullet cases and threw them into a small fire near the track when no-one was looking. I saw him do it so was not surprised a short while later when these went off, scaring the other guys. Jim