Open letter from the Firefighters Union
Here is an open letter from the Firefighters Union that was published in The Age earlier this week. It’s powerful hearing this from the people who are on the front line.
Open letter from the Firefighters Union
We will be fighting more fires unless we tackle the problem’s source
DEAR Mr Rudd and Mr Brumby,
On behalf of more than 13,000 firefighters and support staff in Australia, I write this open letter to request a review of Australia’s fire risk and our readiness to meet future catastrophic events.
The fires in Victoria have ripped through towns and suburbs, farms and forests, destroying lives and livelihoods. Ashen remains are the sorrowful legacy of the devastation they caused. Never before in Australian history have we been confronted with such destruction at the hands of fire.
Firefighters work in conditions that most of the public try to flee. We often put our lives on the line. We understand that our job is dangerous by its very nature. However, we are gravely concerned that current federal and state government policies seem destined to ensure a repeat of the recent tragic events.
Consider the devastation in Victoria. Research by the CSIRO, Climate Institute and the Bushfire Council found that a “low global warming scenario” will see catastrophic fire events happen in parts of regional Victoria every five to seven years by 2020, and every three to four years by 2050, with up to 50 per cent more extreme danger fire days. However, under a “high global warming scenario”, catastrophic events are predicted to occur every year in Mildura, and firefighters have been warned to expect up to a 230 per cent increase in extreme danger fire days in Bendigo. And in Canberra, the site of devastating fires in 2003, we are being asked to prepare for a massive increase of up to 221 per cent in extreme fire days by 2050, with catastrophic events predicted as often as every eight years. Given the Federal Government’s dismal greenhouse gas emissions cut of 5 per cent, the science suggests we are well on the way to guaranteeing that somewhere in the country there will be an almost annual repeat of the recent disaster and more frequent extreme weather events.
Something is going on. As we battle blazes here in Victoria, firefighters are busy rescuing people from floods in Queensland. Without a massive turnaround in policies, aside from the tragic loss of life and property, we will be asking firefighters to put themselves at an unacceptable risk. Firefighters know that it is better to prevent an emergency than to have to rescue people from it, and we urge state and federal governments to follow scientific advice and keep firefighters and the community safe by halving the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
Unfortunately, the scientists are advising that no matter what we do, a “low global warming” scenario is almost inevitable, and so we must make fire plans accordingly. Fire does not respect state borders and we need a national inquiry into the state of readiness of the country’s fire services to meet this century’s challenges.
Our existing resources cannot be expected to cope with even the “low global warming” scenario of a 25 per cent increase in extreme fire days — and catastrophic fire events every five years — in major Victorian country locations in just under 12 years’ time. Likewise, when the scientists tell us that under a “low warming” scenario in 2020, Wagga Wagga faces “very extreme” events every two years, warning bells must surely be ringing.
Climate change, however, is only one factor. There are many other pressures on our fire services. As cities expand into formerly rural areas and “growth corridors”, many volunteer brigades find their new members have full-time jobs in the city and all the pressures of urban life, and therefore less time to devote to firefighting. These areas need more resources. And professional firefighters routinely perform duties from rescue to emergency medical response, and we are now trained to be part of the front-line response to any terrorist attacks: duties we are proud to perform but which will increasingly put us under strain as we respond to more and more fires.
The real question now must be whether the nation as a whole is devoting the resources it needs to fire prevention and suppression. We are gravely concerned that the royal commission to be set up in Victoria will have a narrow brief to investigate a geographically specific disaster. It cannot have the scope needed to provide an overview of Australia’s fire readiness. Further, we want to ensure that it is not a whitewash, with narrow terms of reference designed to ensure political cover for the Victorian Government. The proposed Victorian royal commission should be folded into a broader national inquiry into the nature of Australia’s fire risk and our preparedness to meet that risk.
Consideration must also be given to massive new federal and state investment in infrastructure and firefighters. A portion of any stimulus package must go towards preventing future disaster, as well as rebuilding after the current one.
Finally, now is not the time to play a “blame game” with respect to the Victorian fires. But at the appropriate time, we hope to be able to publicly air the concerns we have been conveying over many years to those in power about the state of readiness of our fire services. A national inquiry would allow Australia to get to the bottom of what happened, but also to work out how to ensure that nowhere in the country will it happen again. We urge state and federal governments to make sure this tragedy wasn’t completely in vain: grasp this opportunity to develop Australia’s first-ever national approach to fire and rescue.
Peter Marshall, National Secretary of the United Firefighters Union of Australia
February 15th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Now is not the time for hesitation and this letter has reached us here in Canada. We no longer have the longer, colder winters of 20 years ago, our winters are short, and violent now. It is February and we have no snow on the ground. The climate is indeed changing and we need a change in governments who will not hide their heads in the sand. The time has come to put this earth first not political game play and to develop a strategy to combat global warming. More fires such as the one you just had, will scorch most of what will be left of Australia.
March 1st, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Let’s stop ignoring the evidence that is all around, we so seriously need to alter our lifestyles and begin to recognise what’s really important. … and it’s not consumption!
March 16th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Congratulations to Peter Marshall and his colleagues on bring up this issue at this time. I know he is being very diplomatic in seperating the risks faced from climate change from those due to land management. But the two need to be addresses at the same time, as both impinge on the safety of urban development in forest areas.
For my part I believe those who choose to live in such areas should shoulder the cost of professional fire protection. They should also be made to build underground fire protection bunkers similar to those built by people living in tornado zones.
These areas are not suitable for urban growth and land zoning should keep all future urban expansion out of such high risk fire zones. Let the urban areas be built up instead of continually sprawling into the rural areas like spot fires. Enjoy the bush on visits - don’t destroy it with housing estates.
March 17th, 2009 at 12:41 am
This has been going on for decades now and still it seems no one who is in the position of being able to change things is taking it seriously. We, the general public are contributing in many, many ways but many individuals are still just waiting for someone to do something.
Someone, anyone - but not me! Someone to tell me what to do, when to do it, how to do it and how to fit it in to my busy lifestyle. All with pictures please and can you send someone around to get things started?
Seems to me it may help if we look back at other major issues we have fought for & against - and won! It is time, I believe for some serious, serious protest people, for the times they are a changin’ and as we have proven in the past - if we all stand together, we shall overcome.
Of course the lack of action is due to the age old issue of money, as were our previous battles. This time however, the ones who stand to lose the most ($’s) are, for the most part, the ones who held hands in protest back when those times were changing. But surely even these people can see that in the end result there will be no wealth for anyone. There will be nothing…..we will simply use/waste our way out of existence, as did the inhabitants of Easter Island.
So how about it Flower Children…show us how it’s done!
I’ll walk in a MASS protest; I’ll lay down in front of anything in a MASS protest. Let’s show our numbers to world leaders en mass to let them see we really do exist in those numbers, we’re not just names on an email petition that could have been “created” by anyone. Hell, you can probably buy ready made petitions on eBay!
Let’s get off our butts, en-masse, and do something instead of sitting at our computers sending emailed petitions into the spam folder.
March 17th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
It’s time for us all to make changes in our life to minimise our impact on the planet. The Governments have to take a brave stance and put the planet before big business and politics.
We have such a beautiful planet we have put our short sighted greed aside.
May 12th, 2009 at 3:41 am
Well Julie, this flower child does not stand to lose $ because part of that whole philosophy was live not chase greed so I didn’t and don’t and you might find those with $ did not participate in the demos anyway.
However, I would join a protest and present anywhere suitable if I thought it would help. Those in past times in Australia did not have a good record of success and I know because I was there and watched for a long time afterward. A few worked, but not many. This climate issue was demonstrated about in the 70’s or even before, to no avail, as was genetic engineering of food and every other issue people are now acting surprised about.
There are however a few things we can all do that go alongside this issue that will help a lot if enough people do it and remember that thoughts and intention do influence others. This is probably the obvious to you and to many reading this, however, I think, just in case not, it is worth saying.
One is to vote Greens at the next election if you are truly serious about doing something where it counts. That does not mean we will get a perfect society, nor that we will be happy with everything about it, but it does mean that climate change will go to top priority. I have no loyalty to any party in particular, but go with what seems right at the time, so I am not trying to recruit political favourtism here, just promoting the point of ecology right now. Understand that the present government system and voting for liberal or labour consistently keeps capitalism going, which only serves the elites and they seem to believe that they have another way of surviving without the planet. Certainly their consideration of future generations is absent if we go by what the present system achieves. Do your homework and you will find that the minorities,who believe that the planet is worth saving, do not stand a chance by this current system without this vote.
If we write to the government and say that Australia should be an Aboriginal Republic to get sanity happening around climate change, they will sit up wide eyed. I think it should be for other reasons as well as this, but never mind that now. My reason for saying it here is that many people suggesting this to them is likely to put them into action mode. If we write to the government about this, individually, rather than by petitions it will work better. Petitions are just a series of faceless people. Although very useful, they are not sufficiently annoying. Millions of letters all sent within the month would get the point through. Also, if you have an impressive tax bill each year, tell them how much they normally get from you and also what you do. I think when we send petitions without impressive credentials, like degrees and mentions of how much they stand to lose from us, we weaken our leverage.
Thirdly, stop buying products that cause destruction en masse to the planet expecially the ones the most difficult for many to give up and those that we are expected to buy. For example, meat, cheese and milk. Yes cows, pigs, chooks and so on…. go vegan and yes I am serious and no, neither you nor your children will die if you do it sensibly. There are plenty of information sites on the web. I have done it for years and raised primarily vegan children and they are very strong healthy parents themselves. See, I am a flower child!
Fourthly, write to every company you used to buy animal products, plastic, non environmentally friendly products from and tell them why you stopped. It isn’t enough to just stop buying, they do not get it unless many people tell them, and those are some of the very groups we need to get it through to. This is not an exhaustive list and this website has lots more to tell us than this, but thought I would add these few details. Cheers.