Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now. I actually want to head across to Catherine
because I received a message yesterday or actually towards the
end of last week that said, Hi, Katie. Not sure
if you've been talking about this, but there's a fire
that's burning at the Edith Cotton Gin. And they say
that it's well local, saying that it's caught in seed.
But this person's saying it smells like plastic wrap and
(00:22):
it's been burning for a number of days. Now joining
me on the line, I'm very excited to say that
some of you might know this person. Her name is
Lauren Loss. She used to be on breakfast here at
Mix one O four nine with Rick many years ago.
Good morning to you, Lauren.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Good morning Katie. How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Ah? So good? How wonderful to hear your voice.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
It's been a while, it's been almost twenty years, which
is scary.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
It is scary. We're both grown up a bit since then.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Loss, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Now, unfortunately, are you, you know, having a chat about
something that's not so nice, and that is this fire
that's been burning at the Cotton Gin.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
What's the go Listen, Katie, it's been well. From my understanding,
we in the Edith Farm's community. So me and my
family live on Edith Farms Road and we're part of
the Edith Farm's community. Members of that community and myself
has been able to smell a very acrid, almost rubbish
burning like smell since around the nineteenth of October. A
(01:29):
couple of days after that, it was about the Wednesday
last weekness smoke became so thick that you couldn't see
the end of Edith Farms Road. I only lived about
a kilometer from the end of it, like to the
highway on Edith Farm's Road, and we couldn't see the
end of the road. That the smoke was seeping into
our homes and waking us up at night, which it's
still doing. And it started to seep into the township
(01:51):
of Catherine as well, so locals here and Catherine can
smell the burning smell. It wasn't until last Friday when
you know, members of the Edith Farms community started to
kick up a stink so to speak, at saying what's
going on? Why haven't we been informed? Very clearly? When
you drive past the Cotton Gin on the highway, you
can see that there's a fire burning there. Another member
(02:12):
of our community rang up and spoke to the general
manager of the cotton gin and he said, yeah, look,
it's cotton seed. It got a little bit hot and
then it's spontaneously conbusted and it's burning. Its non toxic.
Everything will be okay. Now, what we as community members
are concerned about is that the quick Google search will
very quickly tell you that unrefined cotton seed burning is
(02:33):
not non toxic. It causes acute poisoning, respiratory problems, and
can cause infertility problems. So then we were also told
by the general manager that it will burn for up
to three more weeks.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
So we've been breathing it in for over a week
and a half, we're expected to breathe it in for
another three weeks. There's over four hundred families live out
in the Edith Farms Edith community, and we haven't been told.
We haven't been informed up until a week use me
a week after the fact that we could smell it
in our homes and we're angry about it and we
want to know what's going to be done to put
(03:08):
it out. Apparently they've tried to put it out and
then they were told that they couldn't smother it. No
one could dig the ground because it's too hard, so
that wasn't an option to bury the fire. Wow, I
couldn't put it out with water, So we want to
know what's going to happen in the future. While we
communicated with earlier, there are ways to get in touch
with the Edith Farm's community, whether that's through our volunteer
(03:29):
Volunteer Fire Brigade or our community Facebook page. And we
just want answers.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Basically, yeah, which I think is absolutely fair enough. Five
one answers as well, like Lass, how thick is this
smoke and what's it like for you in terms of
trying to go about your daily business.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
It's Look, it's the winds change direction. As you know
in the build up, it tends to blow from the northwest,
so that means it's actually flowing into our homes now
and it's difficult. I've been getting My youngest daughter's developed
a cough in the last week. Whether that's related, I'm
not sure. There are elderly people who live in our
community as well who already have respiratory problems and it's
(04:10):
very difficult to breathe, and it's difficult to see while
we're driving into town. So it's not nice, especially when
it's waking you up at night in that stiller part
of the day where there is no wind and it's
just sitting their stagnant, and it's not good enough.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
No, it's I mean, it sounds like it'd be a
terrible situation to be in. I mean in terms of
like I mean, it might sound like a weird question.
But what's it like in terms of the sky, And
you know the density I suppose of the air.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
So yesterday I went for a run at about five
point thirty which I was running up Eve's arm throat,
and you can see where the inversion layer is, so
where the hot temperature coming off the ground, the hot
air coming off the ground meets with the cooler air
up in the sky. There is a definite line of
putrid air towards the ground in that in that inversion layer,
you can definitely see how congested this guy is and
(05:01):
how dirty and smokey it is. Like I said, all
you have to do is drive past the cotton Gin
if you're heading towards Darwin from Catherine, and you can
see that it's burning and burning and burning. The smoke
is prolific.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
We loss let us make some calls. You know, I
think at the very least I would suspect that the
local member, who I believe is Joe Hersey, I'd be
trying to seek some you know, if I was her
I'd be trying to get some answers from that Cotton
gin as to you know, what steps can be taken
here to First off, you know, get this fire out
and try to mitigate the risk of it happening again.
(05:35):
I know that you've been told or that certainly you
guys got told it's a spontaneous combustion. But then you know,
what's what are the next steps in terms of it
not happening again or trying to prevent it from getting
to this point again if it's even possible.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
That's right, Katie. We know it's going to happen again
because we live in a very hot climate and we've
had rain, it's gotten wet, and it's spontaneously combusted. It's
going to happen. Want to know why wasn't there safety
measures put in place before? What are the safety measures
moving forward? Many of our community community members have been
in touch with the EPA. I certainly haven't haven't had
(06:11):
any response I've also emailed Joe Hersey and I texted
her directly on the weekend and she said she's been
in Parliament for two weeks and wasn't aware. I've still
had no response back from Joe, so we're just sitting
here with no answers expected to breathe in toxic fumes.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Laws. Let us see what we can find out and
you know, and yeah, well we'll stay in touch. I'm
sure you'll stay in touch. In fact, I think I've
just found, you know, my newest correspondent for Catherine.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Really, thanks down here in kown.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I love it. It's so good to talk to you. Yeah,
I really appreciate you making us aware of this issue as.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Well, no worries. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Thank you. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks Los
Right now. I actually want to head across to Catherine
because I received a message yesterday or actually towards the
end of last week that said, Hi, Katie. Not sure
if you've been talking about this, but there's a fire
that's burning at the Edith Cotton Gin. And they say
that it's well local, saying that it's caught in seed.
But this person's saying it smells like plastic wrap and
(00:22):
it's been burning for a number of days. Now joining
me on the line, I'm very excited to say that
some of you might know this person. Her name is
Lauren Loss. She used to be on breakfast here at
Mix one O four nine with Rick many years ago.
Good morning to you, Lauren.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Good morning Katie. How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Ah? So good? How wonderful to hear your voice.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
It's been a while, it's been almost twenty years, which
is scary.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
It is scary. We're both grown up a bit since then.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Loss, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Now, unfortunately, are you, you know, having a chat about
something that's not so nice, and that is this fire
that's been burning at the Cotton Gin.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
What's the go Listen, Katie, it's been well. From my understanding,
we in the Edith Farm's community. So me and my
family live on Edith Farms Road and we're part of
the Edith Farm's community. Members of that community and myself
has been able to smell a very acrid, almost rubbish
burning like smell since around the nineteenth of October. A
(01:29):
couple of days after that, it was about the Wednesday
last weekness smoke became so thick that you couldn't see
the end of Edith Farms Road. I only lived about
a kilometer from the end of it, like to the
highway on Edith Farm's Road, and we couldn't see the
end of the road. That the smoke was seeping into
our homes and waking us up at night, which it's
still doing. And it started to seep into the township
(01:51):
of Catherine as well, so locals here and Catherine can
smell the burning smell. It wasn't until last Friday when
you know, members of the Edith Farms community started to
kick up a stink so to speak, at saying what's
going on? Why haven't we been informed? Very clearly? When
you drive past the Cotton Gin on the highway, you
can see that there's a fire burning there. Another member
(02:12):
of our community rang up and spoke to the general
manager of the cotton gin and he said, yeah, look,
it's cotton seed. It got a little bit hot and
then it's spontaneously conbusted and it's burning. Its non toxic.
Everything will be okay. Now, what we as community members
are concerned about is that the quick Google search will
very quickly tell you that unrefined cotton seed burning is
(02:33):
not non toxic. It causes acute poisoning, respiratory problems, and
can cause infertility problems. So then we were also told
by the general manager that it will burn for up
to three more weeks.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
So we've been breathing it in for over a week
and a half, we're expected to breathe it in for
another three weeks. There's over four hundred families live out
in the Edith Farms Edith community, and we haven't been told.
We haven't been informed up until a week use me
a week after the fact that we could smell it
in our homes and we're angry about it and we
want to know what's going to be done to put
(03:08):
it out. Apparently they've tried to put it out and
then they were told that they couldn't smother it. No
one could dig the ground because it's too hard, so
that wasn't an option to bury the fire. Wow, I
couldn't put it out with water, So we want to
know what's going to happen in the future. While we
communicated with earlier, there are ways to get in touch
with the Edith Farm's community, whether that's through our volunteer
(03:29):
Volunteer Fire Brigade or our community Facebook page. And we
just want answers.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Basically, yeah, which I think is absolutely fair enough. Five
one answers as well, like Lass, how thick is this
smoke and what's it like for you in terms of
trying to go about your daily business.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
It's Look, it's the winds change direction. As you know
in the build up, it tends to blow from the northwest,
so that means it's actually flowing into our homes now
and it's difficult. I've been getting My youngest daughter's developed
a cough in the last week. Whether that's related, I'm
not sure. There are elderly people who live in our
community as well who already have respiratory problems and it's
(04:10):
very difficult to breathe, and it's difficult to see while
we're driving into town. So it's not nice, especially when
it's waking you up at night in that stiller part
of the day where there is no wind and it's
just sitting their stagnant, and it's not good enough.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
No, it's I mean, it sounds like it'd be a
terrible situation to be in. I mean in terms of
like I mean, it might sound like a weird question.
But what's it like in terms of the sky, And
you know the density I suppose of the air.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
So yesterday I went for a run at about five
point thirty which I was running up Eve's arm throat,
and you can see where the inversion layer is, so
where the hot temperature coming off the ground, the hot
air coming off the ground meets with the cooler air
up in the sky. There is a definite line of
putrid air towards the ground in that in that inversion layer,
you can definitely see how congested this guy is and
(05:01):
how dirty and smokey it is. Like I said, all
you have to do is drive past the cotton Gin
if you're heading towards Darwin from Catherine, and you can
see that it's burning and burning and burning. The smoke
is prolific.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
We loss let us make some calls. You know, I
think at the very least I would suspect that the
local member, who I believe is Joe Hersey, I'd be
trying to seek some you know, if I was her
I'd be trying to get some answers from that Cotton
gin as to you know, what steps can be taken
here to First off, you know, get this fire out
and try to mitigate the risk of it happening again.
(05:35):
I know that you've been told or that certainly you
guys got told it's a spontaneous combustion. But then you know,
what's what are the next steps in terms of it
not happening again or trying to prevent it from getting
to this point again if it's even possible.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
That's right, Katie. We know it's going to happen again
because we live in a very hot climate and we've
had rain, it's gotten wet, and it's spontaneously combusted. It's
going to happen. Want to know why wasn't there safety
measures put in place before? What are the safety measures
moving forward? Many of our community community members have been
in touch with the EPA. I certainly haven't haven't had
(06:11):
any response I've also emailed Joe Hersey and I texted
her directly on the weekend and she said she's been
in Parliament for two weeks and wasn't aware. I've still
had no response back from Joe, so we're just sitting
here with no answers expected to breathe in toxic fumes.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Laws. Let us see what we can find out and
you know, and yeah, well we'll stay in touch. I'm
sure you'll stay in touch. In fact, I think I've
just found, you know, my newest correspondent for Catherine.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Really, thanks down here in kown.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
I love it. It's so good to talk to you. Yeah,
I really appreciate you making us aware of this issue as.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Well, no worries. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Thank you. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks Los
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