Apart from the secret Kent risk assessment report into the Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service there are other matters of concern to firefighters. Little Darwin understands that earlier this year a medico warned the fire service it could find itself responsible for the death of one of its own if it did not promptly address the heat stress issue.
In a slow response, permanent firefighters were given personal resuscitators to combat smoke and toxic fumes. But these were only handed out if firefighters emailed or personally applied for them instead of being supplied en masse as a basic protective measure.
For some odd reason , probably penny pinching, these resuscitators have not been provided to volunteer firefighters. How can this situation exist? Apparently the Chief Minister and his advisors are unaware of this situation otherwise instant action would have been be taken to rectify this culpable and intolerable siuation. Are volunteer firefighters expendable? It is well known that gamba grass fires, common in and around Darwin, create temperatures much higher than native grasses . Firefighters wear heavy protective clothing which by its very nature is hot.
And scattered about the Top End are numerous wartime dumps through which dry season fires rage. Very little is known about the location and content of these dumps. During the war surplus auctions in Darwin after WW11 thousands of gas masks were sold. This raises the possibility that gas containers were stored in the Territory. There is a report that something like deadly mustard gas was found in the Top End.
The proposed large Harbourside shopping centre project at Berrimah , now on hold because of the GFC, had earlier been delayed because an investigation was to be held into the suggestion that it was on a site said to be used as a wartime dump. There has also been no public report on the outcome of that investigation which is surely of interest to the community .
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