Bushfire destruction sparks war of words
Paid firefighters angry at three-hour wait while homes threatened
AN ONGOING turf war between Fire & Rescue NSW and rural volunteers contributed to the loss of homes in Sunday’s devastating Tathra bushfire on the state’s far south coast, unions say.
The Fire Brigade Employees Union criticised Rural Fire Service management yesterday for attempting to “deflect criticism” of its handling of the Tathra blaze.
The RFS waited about three hours to call for the help of the FRNSW as a raging bushfire tore through Tathra, despite the FRNSW offering assistance more than once.
However, the RFS said the help offered by the FRNSW was a vehicle that would not have been able to gain access to the hilly terrain.
“As an urban structure firefighting vehicle, the pumper is not suitable for firefighting areas off established roads and does not have the correct safety equipment to be working in a remote bushland area,” an RFS spokesman said in a statement.
But the union dismissed the RFS explanation as a “coverup”. FBEU state secretary Leighton Drury said the dysfunctional, dangerous and competitive relationship between the two organisations contributed to the loss of nearly
‘‘ THE COMPETITION BETWEEN THE STATE’S TWO FIRE SERVICES IS DYSFUNCTIONAL AND DANGEROUS LEIGHTON DRURY
70 properties at the seaside town.
“The excuses coming out of RFS head office today don’t stack up,” Mr Drury said.
“The competition between the state’s two fire services is dysfunctional and dangerous.
“In this case, it has contributed to the loss of scores of homes that may have been saved had FRNSW urban crews been in Tathra. It has to stop.”
Meanwhile, Tathra residents worst hit by the bushfire have finally laid eyes on their scorched homes 48 hours after they were razed.
Displaced residents boarded buses mid-morning yesterday to tour their fire-ravaged town, which remains closed to the public.
Residents who lost their homes were given priority but weren’t allowed to exit the buses, so had to view the destruction through their tears and glass windows. Authorities remain concerned about downed power lines, asbestos and a still active fire front.
Many residents cried and embraced as they returned to the evacuation centre in Bega.
Ray Coates, who lives in a retirement village, considers himself lucky after finding his unit still standing.
“It’s heart-wrenching,” Mr Coates told reporters at the evacuation centre.
The retiree said people broke down as they passed their burned-out homes.
The hardest part was seeing one side of the street unaffected while the other was destroyed. “One (woman) saw her house and she just yelled out to people ‘Can you see my cat?’” he said.