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ARFFS Inquiry - Update: UFUA gets busy & West Torrens opening statement. 

The RRAT Secretariat are on the ball -   

Via the APH website:

17 United Firefighters Union of Australia – Aviation Branch (PDF 7548 KB) 

17. Conclusion

Honourable Senators the Union would like to thank you for the opportunity to provide this submission
and to voice our concerns. Please accept our concerns are for the safety of the flying public as well as
the safety of our members. Members are seeing their fire service reduced to bare minimums. Unsafe
cuts being made to service provision, Airservices simply has to ask CASA for exemptions to current
rules and they are rubber stamped.

The Union trusts you will find our submission to you of value in your deliberations on the safety of the
ARFFS and the significantly increased risk appetite of the current ARFFS and Airservices management.

18 United Firefighters Union of Australia – Aviation Branch – Remote stations  (PDF 577 KB) 

3. Conclusion

Establishing and maintaining ARFFS at remote locations is complex and the Aviation Branch of the United Firefighter’s Union of Australia (UFUA) do not believe that Airservices has given adequate consideration to the risks associated with service provision in regional and remote stations. They attempt to narrow the scope of risk assessments and give too much weight to the impact of mitigating factors.
Insufficient numbers of firefighters at remote locations have far more of a significant impact where there are limited, or in some cases non-existent, external support. Access to reserve vehicles and agent are also extremely relevant, with agent only lasting 6 minutes into an event before having to be re-supplied. The lack of local external support means the re-supply or continued service would be impossible at many locations. ARFFS carry 200% of reserve agent in fire fighting foam, and a dry powder extinguishing agent, however without a means of accessing it or additional water, effectively renders it useless during a catastrophic event...

19 United Firefighters Union of Australia Aviation Branch – Brisbane ARFFS safety review  (PDF 1050 KB) 

5 Summary

Airservices, once upon a time, before the Accelerate Program (the rationalisation program for Airservices) used to use a Mission Statement titled ‘World’s Best Practice’. Sadly, this is no longer the case and this operationally based concept was replaced with a business model. The service the ARFF provides has been in steady decline ever since. If ARFFS were to chase ‘World’s Best Practice’, and follow many other first world countries, they need to stop looking for ways to cut the service. As eventually, any financial efficiencies gained will be lost when something goes wrong...

...It is a sad indictment that firefighters are spending more energy on trying to maintain the standard and level of service than the leadership team. Firefighters are a proud group and vigorously defend any attack on service provision, this is not out of self-interest. Firefighters as individuals gain nothing by holding the line, it must be acknowledged that we are defending the flying public. This includes all Australians, and our international visitors. Our international reputation is currently at risk as is our business, tourism, and economy, which would also suffer in the event of a catastrophic event.

 
And from Add docs:

1  Opening statement of the City of West Torrens, tabled at a public hearing in Adelaide, South Australia on 20 March 2019.
2  Correspondence between the City of West Torrens and the Hon Michael McCormack MP, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, regarding firefighting personnel at Adelaide Airport. Tabled at a public hearing in Adelaide, South Australia on 20 March 2019.

MTF...P2