In an article just before Christmas Perisher fire fighters presented their views of the summer ‘closure’ of the Perisher fire station. Now, Chief Superintendent Kenneth Murphy of Fire & Rescue NSW replies.
A recent article, “Perisher fire station – the fighters fire back”, published in your paper on December 22 2011, expresses concern about the ‘closure’ of the Perisher Valley fire station. The same piece, purporting to have been written by Perisher Fire Fighters, also inaccurately — and unfairly — suggests firefighters from Jindabyne do not ‘have sufficient training to do the job’.
Not only is it highly inaccurate to persist with the line that Perisher Valley fire station will ‘close’, it is also highly offensive to the 7,000 plus firefighters throughout the state of NSW to suggest our firefighters are insufficiently trained.
To reiterate, from myself, the FRNSW Area Commander qualified within FRNSW to comment on operational decisions — Perisher Valley fire station is not ‘closing’.
It has widely been stated by FRNSW in the media, and through community stakeholder engagement, in the absence of fulltime firefighters during the non-ski season peak periods, the Perisher Valley fire station will operate as a retained (part-time) response capability – as do a significant number of regional NSW fire stations, all year round. The major issue for FRNSW in this area is finding sufficient people in the Perisher Valley to fulfil this role.
The retained firefighters of Perisher Valley, like their 3,380 retained colleagues throughout NSW, will remain on-call to respond to emergencies as required.
Recent recruitment has seen the addition of new retained firefighters, several of whom live or work in the immediate Perisher Valley area. Over 20 local people from the local community recently answered the call for retained firefighters – each prepared to play a significant frontline role in protecting valuable business and infrastructure located in the valley. This is a demonstration of the community’s willingness to answer the call for firefighters, and FRNSW’s willingness to train and equip (through the existing resources located at Perisher Valley fire station) a locally retained firefighting capability. As FRNSW has previously stated, those retained firefighters will be supported by a fulltime capacity during the peak period, and supported by Jindabyne fire station should there be a delay in responding the Perisher Valley fire truck. FRNSW urges all Perisher Valley residents who may be interested in a position as a retained firefighter to contact FRNSW.
A number of factors are taken into account when developing a business model that appropriately services the firefighting needs of any local community. These include, but are not limited to: demand, population, appropriate allocation of resources, operational costs (including on-costs), deployment of appropriately skilled personnel and existing fire protection capabilities (fire detection technology and availability of allied services with fire combat capabilities), and the environment to name a few. Perisher Valley — notwithstanding it will continue to have a retained firefighting capability — meets the majority of the criteria that allows FRNSW to appropriately adjust resources as required in non-peak periods. Modern fire detection and fire suppression technology in nearly 100% of Perisher Valley’s dwellings is also key to influencing this business model – as seen by the negligible number of actual fires (albeit confined/small) in the village, through to the high number of automatic fire alarm (AFA) activations/callouts where there was no fire.
It is the latter that significantly influences the cost to both the fire service and the building owners. The impact of this cost to the community of NSW is further compounded by the on-going costs associated in running an under-utilised fulltime firefighting capacity in Perisher Valley during non-peak periods. To illustrate:
* An AFA activation requiring a recall of a fulltime crew after hours has a significant impact on the overtime budget for the fire region, funded by the community of NSW. A fulltime crew, recalled to an AFA after hours, can cost in excess of $1000.
* To assign a fulltime firefighter (five in total) to Perisher Valley, on secondment from other regions within the state, costs the community of NSW a significant amount every week. This includes on costs for each firefighter including living away from home and travel allowance, overtime and specific personal protective equipment required for specialised equipment attached to Perisher Valley.
* There is also a significant cost of replacing these firefighters temporarily attached to Perisher Valley at their base stations throughout NSW; this is often at overtime rates.
* FRNSW is an urban fire service that covers major metropolitan areas and towns, FRNSW must manage resources to ensure that all of the areas covered by FRNSW are receiving the appropriate resource for the risk.
* Resort owners can assist by adopting latest-technology fire detection systems. This in effect will increase the level of fire protection as well as provide a cost saving to the business – minimising false AFA activations
A meeting with key stakeholders and FRNSW as a part of our detailed and on-going community engagement is scheduled to take place on 20 January.
Meantime, I will continue to engage in one-on-one dialogue with business owners and community members. I also continue to stand by the commitment by FRNSW that the community of Perisher Valley can continue to feel safe in the knowledge they are not losing a fire station or retained firefighting capabilities.
Chief Superintendent Kenneth Murphy
Area Commander Regional South Fire & Rescue NSW
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