VFBV

VFBV NOTE FOR VOLUNTEERS – 20 February 2014

Latrobe Valley Open Cut fires

This note is intended to provide a general update on the operations under way in the Latrobe Valley, in particular in the Hazelwood open cut and the Yallourn open cut.

Large numbers of CFA personnel, both volunteer and career, as well as personnel from MFB and other agencies, and mine contract staff, are currently deployed in rotating shifts to these hazmat/fire incidents.

The predominant deployment is to the Hazelwood brown coal open cut mine.

This is a high risk incident environment and CFA has initiated a number of precautions, along with safety management procedures, to manage the risk to personnel and in particular manage any effects of exposure to an identified carbon monoxide exposure risk.  Being a brown coal fire environment, there is potential for exposure to other gas and substance-specific risks dependent on the location of the firefighter within the open cut, combustion patterns, and resultant gas/substance concentration pockets and conditions impacting at the time.  These exposures are hard to predict or identify, which is no doubt part of the logic underpinning CFA’s decision to treat this incident as a hazmat incident.

At VFBV’s request, the Fire Services Commissioner has engaged an independent monitor to review the safety procedures required and in place, at and around the open cut incident.  VFBV has also requested a transparent process to keep us informed of the results of the audit.

The audit was requested last Friday morning by VFBV, and approved and actioned by the Fire Services Commissioner by late Friday/Saturday morning.  We understand the monitor has been onsite for much of the intervening time and is providing advice to the Fire Service Commissioner.

VFBV representatives have also visited the site both as observers and as operational volunteers, confirming to us the importance of best possible safety procedures and confirming our desire for independent monitoring.

In the meantime VFBV has also requested that significant improvements be made to CFA’s communications with members, to ensure that anybody considering deployment to the incident is aware of; the incident situation, the potential exposure, particularly to high carbon monoxide levels, and the precautions that should be taken.

At the minimum, our advice to members is that those with any respiratory vulnerability should consider whether it is appropriate that they deploy to this incident.  CFA has also advised that there is heightened risk of impact to unborn children and therefore that women who either are, or could possibly be, pregnant should not attend the incident.

There should be specific advice and instruction about these matters in CFA’s incident action planning and deployment arrangements, and members should refer to this or seek this advice formally from CFA before being deployed.

CFA has implemented procedures at the open cut site to monitor carbon monoxide exposure levels amongst crews, and carbon monoxide gas detection units are being deployed with each crew.  VFBV has raised a concern about the adequacy of this arrangement, requesting consideration of individual allocation of gas detection for all personnel entering the open cut.  We will continue to pursue this issue.

Work arrangements are in place based on a risk assessment of the various zones being worked within the open cut, and where a particular zone is considered to be of a certain risk level, then CFA advises that BA equipment is on immediate standby for each person working in these particular areas (on a one-for-one basis).

CFA has instigated work rotation cycles for personnel being deployed into the open cut and we expect these are going to be continually reviewed and refined in light of the ongoing carbon monoxide monitoring trend results.  Once again, any person being deployed to the open cut should ensure they are made aware of these procedures and follow them.

We have asked CFA to provide more specific and reliable regular updates of communication to members about the incident, the risk exposure and the safety precautions in place.

There are also potential impacts on the general public near the open cut and in areas impacted by smoke from the fires, and VFBV has expressed concern and asked CFA to ensure that the public messaging about the situation and potential exposures is reviewed to ensure it is adequate.

For more information, see www.cfa.vic.gov.au - Should you have any concerns to report, contact VFBV at (03) 9886 1141 or on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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