Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, we know that Bushfires NT are battling a number
of major fires in central Australia, some out of control,
resulting in the closure of a national park and also
threatening key roads. It has been a tough few weeks
for staff, for volunteers, rangers and indeed landholders who've banded
together to battle those fires. Now joining us on the
(00:21):
line for an update on the situation is Bushfires NT
Fire Incident Control Officer Tony Fuller. Good morning to you,
Tony s here.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Good morning Katie mate.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
It's a bit ironic, I guess, because I'm looking out
my window this morning and it looks like it's going
to bucket down. But that is not the case across
the rest of the Northern Territory, is it.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, and no confuses us some days two looking out
the window and seeing all the rain and realizing we've
got a holigo fires across the top of the rest
of the territory.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yeah. How many bushfires are you guys currently responding to?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Look at the moment, there's about thirty eight act fires
burning around the territory that we're looking at, so there's
obviously others around that passed us, and that in the
middle of nowhere that we don't not particularly worry about,
but there are thirty eight fires of significance at the
moment that we're keeping an eye on.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
What areas do they span across.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Basically from Catherine south to the border.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Yeah? Right? And are there still threats to highways and
major roads at this point in time or what ones
are you keeping a bit of a closer eye on.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I guess well, the Davenport Range is probably the main
one we're keeping an eye on. That's been burning since
about the ninth of October I think it started, so
that's gone right through and estimates at the moment about
eighty percent of the park has been affected by the
(01:46):
fire itself. It moves through the ranges and pops out
at different locations, so that one's been going a fair while.
So there's still some smoke around for that one, and
we're just monitoring that to see if we get some
pretty strong winds, it may take a run again, and
we just have to reassess and work out where we're
(02:06):
going to try and stop it.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
So tiny which national parks have had to be closed.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
At the moment, the Davenport and also the Carlukalu or
Devil's Marbles has been closed until the fourth of November
of the stage, just through potentially the potential threat that
that fire from the Davenport will take running to that area.
We had Stanley Chasm closed yesterday. That's I believe it's
(02:37):
been reopened. That's a private company that run to day.
But the Larapiner trials either side that chasm is closed
at this stage.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And do you know what has caused these fires? Are
any of them deliberately?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Lease? Yeah, some of them, definitely. We've noticed quite a
few that have started on the side of highways, but
there's a significant number of these that have also been
started by dry lightning, So they're a mixture. At this
time of the year with the storms going through and
the lightning strikes, we're getting a lot more in remote localities.
(03:16):
But there certainly is a pattern of roadside ignitions going
on as well.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
And like roadside ignitions meaning like people doing it on purpose?
Are they throwing a cigarette butt out their window? What's
going on?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I'd say majority of actually deliberately. There's few that might
be accidental, but majority on the roadsides are generally, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
What is wrong with people? Why on earth would you
light a fire on the side of the road.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Oh well, different different ideas and different people. I'm afraid, yeah,
I do not know.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Like you just think to yourself, My goodness, what goes
through people's brains, especially then when you understand, like when
you get a better understanding of what is acquired to
then get some of these blazers under control. And from
what I can gather, you've had Cruise battling blazers for
like some time. How's everyone holding up.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Well, we've actually been fighting for since May from the
top end or April actually, so it's been continuous for us.
But we're just moving our staff down into Central Australia.
We've got a crew of volunteers that are swapping out today.
So we've had three volunteers at Tennant Creek for the
last week. They'll be replaced by another three who were
(04:34):
flying down this morning so they'll be in station. Then
we've got additional cruise station in Tenant Creek just to
respond to the Davenport and the Berkley if needed. We've
also I've got cruise that have moved down to Catherine,
so we've increased the staffing levels in that office because
(04:54):
we've had a fire on the Carpenteria Highway near three
Ways I think it was, yeah, Highway in So we're there.
I been there for the last couple of days doing
a holy of the burning. So they're still act be
fire close to the Carventary Highway.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Goodness mate. Well, you know, hats off to all the staff,
to all the volunteers, everybody doing what they can to,
you know, to get all of these fires under control.
What is your message for territorians this morning, particularly, you know,
those that are in those regions that are being impacted
by these bushfires.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah, look, before so that hats off a lot of
the past lists. They've been doing it really hard, some
really big fires on some of the partial releases that
we haven't got to and they've been managing by themselves
or with neighbors, so you know, some of them have
been battling fires for a couple of weeks now. Yeah,
and some of the damage reports were getting through this
(05:50):
and significant losses of pastor land out there at the moment.
But yeah, our message is, look, please don't light fires
on the side of the road. You don't know where
it's going to end up, who's going to impact Even
if we don't have a fire band. Just be really
careful with your campfires, make sure they're out, don't leave
them unattended. And if you see f are, it doesn't
(06:13):
matter where it is. We ask people ring triple zero
first and I'll pass on to us whether or not
we need to respond to.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Very very good advice. Well, Tony Fuller, mate, thanks very
much for your time this morning. Big thank you to
everybody out there working hard to get these fires under control.
And you know, it sounds like it's been a massive
year really fighting fires since April.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, it certainly has. But yeah, interesting the way the
patterns from.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah, thank you, thanks mate. We'll talk to you again soon.
Thanks Tony,
Well, we know that Bushfires NT are battling a number
of major fires in central Australia, some out of control,
resulting in the closure of a national park and also
threatening key roads. It has been a tough few weeks
for staff, for volunteers, rangers and indeed landholders who've banded
together to battle those fires. Now joining us on the
(00:21):
line for an update on the situation is Bushfires NT
Fire Incident Control Officer Tony Fuller. Good morning to you,
Tony s here.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Good morning Katie mate.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
It's a bit ironic, I guess, because I'm looking out
my window this morning and it looks like it's going
to bucket down. But that is not the case across
the rest of the Northern Territory, is it.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah, and no confuses us some days two looking out
the window and seeing all the rain and realizing we've
got a holigo fires across the top of the rest
of the territory.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yeah. How many bushfires are you guys currently responding to?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Look at the moment, there's about thirty eight act fires
burning around the territory that we're looking at, so there's
obviously others around that passed us, and that in the
middle of nowhere that we don't not particularly worry about,
but there are thirty eight fires of significance at the
moment that we're keeping an eye on.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
What areas do they span across.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Basically from Catherine south to the border.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Yeah? Right? And are there still threats to highways and
major roads at this point in time or what ones
are you keeping a bit of a closer eye on.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I guess well, the Davenport Range is probably the main
one we're keeping an eye on. That's been burning since
about the ninth of October I think it started, so
that's gone right through and estimates at the moment about
eighty percent of the park has been affected by the
(01:46):
fire itself. It moves through the ranges and pops out
at different locations, so that one's been going a fair while.
So there's still some smoke around for that one, and
we're just monitoring that to see if we get some
pretty strong winds, it may take a run again, and
we just have to reassess and work out where we're
(02:06):
going to try and stop it.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
So tiny which national parks have had to be closed.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
At the moment, the Davenport and also the Carlukalu or
Devil's Marbles has been closed until the fourth of November
of the stage, just through potentially the potential threat that
that fire from the Davenport will take running to that area.
We had Stanley Chasm closed yesterday. That's I believe it's
(02:37):
been reopened. That's a private company that run to day.
But the Larapiner trials either side that chasm is closed
at this stage.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And do you know what has caused these fires? Are
any of them deliberately?
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Lease? Yeah, some of them, definitely. We've noticed quite a
few that have started on the side of highways, but
there's a significant number of these that have also been
started by dry lightning, So they're a mixture. At this
time of the year with the storms going through and
the lightning strikes, we're getting a lot more in remote localities.
(03:16):
But there certainly is a pattern of roadside ignitions going
on as well.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
And like roadside ignitions meaning like people doing it on purpose?
Are they throwing a cigarette butt out their window? What's
going on?
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I'd say majority of actually deliberately. There's few that might
be accidental, but majority on the roadsides are generally, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
What is wrong with people? Why on earth would you
light a fire on the side of the road.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Oh well, different different ideas and different people. I'm afraid, yeah,
I do not know.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Like you just think to yourself, My goodness, what goes
through people's brains, especially then when you understand, like when
you get a better understanding of what is acquired to
then get some of these blazers under control. And from
what I can gather, you've had Cruise battling blazers for
like some time. How's everyone holding up.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Well, we've actually been fighting for since May from the
top end or April actually, so it's been continuous for us.
But we're just moving our staff down into Central Australia.
We've got a crew of volunteers that are swapping out today.
So we've had three volunteers at Tennant Creek for the
last week. They'll be replaced by another three who were
(04:34):
flying down this morning so they'll be in station. Then
we've got additional cruise station in Tenant Creek just to
respond to the Davenport and the Berkley if needed. We've
also I've got cruise that have moved down to Catherine,
so we've increased the staffing levels in that office because
(04:54):
we've had a fire on the Carpenteria Highway near three
Ways I think it was, yeah, Highway in So we're there.
I been there for the last couple of days doing
a holy of the burning. So they're still act be
fire close to the Carventary Highway.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Goodness mate. Well, you know, hats off to all the staff,
to all the volunteers, everybody doing what they can to,
you know, to get all of these fires under control.
What is your message for territorians this morning, particularly, you know,
those that are in those regions that are being impacted
by these bushfires.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Yeah, look, before so that hats off a lot of
the past lists. They've been doing it really hard, some
really big fires on some of the partial releases that
we haven't got to and they've been managing by themselves
or with neighbors, so you know, some of them have
been battling fires for a couple of weeks now. Yeah,
and some of the damage reports were getting through this
(05:50):
and significant losses of pastor land out there at the moment.
But yeah, our message is, look, please don't light fires
on the side of the road. You don't know where
it's going to end up, who's going to impact Even
if we don't have a fire band. Just be really
careful with your campfires, make sure they're out, don't leave
them unattended. And if you see f are, it doesn't
(06:13):
matter where it is. We ask people ring triple zero
first and I'll pass on to us whether or not
we need to respond to.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Very very good advice. Well, Tony Fuller, mate, thanks very
much for your time this morning. Big thank you to
everybody out there working hard to get these fires under control.
And you know, it sounds like it's been a massive
year really fighting fires since April.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, it certainly has. But yeah, interesting the way the
patterns from.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah, thank you, thanks mate. We'll talk to you again soon.
Thanks Tony,
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