Comment by MURRAY COWPER MLA for Murray Wellington
THE good people who survived the historic January 2016 inferno that engulfed Waroona and Yarloop have generally welcomed the findings and recommendations of Euan Ferguson in his long-awaited report.
There was concern that as appointed special inquirer for the WA government, he would come down on the side of career, rather than volunteer firefighters in WA.
Very much to his credit, he was quick to see that this disaster was the product not only of confused, dysfunctional control amongst firefighters in the Department of Parks and Wildlife and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services and the volunteer brigades, but also in other areas such as the lack of official fire alerts, local maps, effective equipment and the road blocks that frustrated vital efforts to manage the fire.
Ray Wheeler, who loans his property at Coolup as a base for water bombers, told me not only how his water and fuel tankers were held up at road blocks, but that his airstrip was allowed to become virtually unserviceable because he was unable to authorise gravel for repairs at the peak of the fire.
Mr Ferguson said complaints about road blocks dominated a high proportion of local submissions he received.
Many of those complaints came from farmers who were barred from returning to their farms, or for directing transport to move damaged or endangered livestock.
Then as the fire control bureaucracy was installing itself with the massive police and fire communications vans, the pop-up coffee booths and the deck chairs for countless career staff on the football oval at Waroona, there was a serious contrast less than 100 metres away in the Waroona Fire Station.
Long-standing local volunteer fire chief John Twaddle indicated to me that he was being kept largely "in the dark" by the nearby control centre, but that he was 'being monitored' by a young DFES officer from Perth.
Watching as John assisted a local farmer to get transport through the barriers to move his endangered stock, the comment was: "That's your problem John, you care too much about your local community."
Much worse was to come on the evening of January 7 when the control centre at Waroona failed to respond to repeated calls from Harvey chief bushfire control officer Phil Penny for urgent help to save Yarloop.
A later admission was that Mr Penny was "requesting support, but he wasn't actually within the structure".
Perhaps attitudes such as this stem from a belief that if you pay someone to do a job there is no need for any voluntary input.
That is where Mr Ferguson has disappointed career firefighters by formally recognising their inability to perform when compared to the farmers, the volunteer firefighters and the townspeople with so much at stake and with so much to offer.
Accordingly, he has paved the way for the government to recognise the essential service provided by local volunteer firemen, farmers, foresters, shires and communities by providing them with the recognition they need via a new independent Country Fire Service.
His suggestion that it might be formed as a type of DFES subsidiary has been quickly rejected by State volunteer firefighters, who want not only the necessary autonomy, but also independent funding from the revenue stream to do what they do best.
Mr Ferguson has identified many sound opportunities to give fire control in country WA new meaning.
I see further opportunities to establish a state-of-the art fire and emergency services training facility with storage and an ability for the rapid despatch of essential materials from fire units, to water bomber compounds, and even down to body bags in the event of a major emergency.
This could also provide formal strategic training for mining and other private industry.
But time is short and the new fire season will be quickly upon us, with many fuel loads at even higher levels and similar high temperatures and winds almost assured.
Premier Colin Barnett has indicated a September timeline for a plan to respond to the proposed "reframing of rural fire management in WA", but positive changes must be ready to be implement well before the end of the year - and certainly before the next State election in March.
I look forward to working with farmers, volunteers and the local shires and communities throughout WA to ensure the right outcome.
