We are the Hepburn Rural Fire Brigade. When a fire starts here we rush to it and put it out as quickly as we can. We go to the aid of other brigades and in turn they come to our aid.
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Our aim is to protect lives and property as best we can. At the moment we do this from a 40-year-old shed and with a 23-year-old fire truck. The CFA will give us a new state-of-the-art truck but it is too big for our tin shed. A new fire station is needed in Hepburn Springs.
This month, Hepburn councillors turned down that fire station. They did so even though council officers had ticked every box and dealt with every aspect of the proposed station and recommended it be approved.
The new station should not have cost Hepburn Shire Council one cent. The CFA have bought the land and funding for the building is approved. Now the CFA have to take this to VCAT and it will cost Hepburn Shire financially.
More importantly, the CFA cannot start the building until the VCAT process is finished. That is one more summer that we go out to fires with dated equipment from a tin shed that is not big enough to store all the safety gear we need. That is one more summer of higher risk than should have been.
A lot of work was done to make sure the new fire station fitted in with its surrounds. Planning officers gave due credit. Arrangements were made and approved for washing trucks at Daylesford so water use at Hepburn Springs would be minimal and run-off negligible. Planning officers also gave that due credit.
The CFA commissioned a Traffic Management Assessment and the planning officers gave it credit.
The CFA provided records of the small number of Code 1 emergencies (that mean lights and sirens). They are 10 a year. Not much. Council planning, engineering and environmental health officers and DSE (now DEPI) all recommended the new fire station.
Six out of seven councillors, in the face of all this expert advice, voted the CFA against proceeding with the new fire station at Hepburn Springs.
Let us lay out some facts:
• State planning policy prioritises the protection of human life over other policy considerations in planning and decision making in areas at risk from bushfire (C1 13.05)
• Hepburn Springs is listed by the Black Saturday Royal Commission as one of the most dangerous places in Victoria for fire.
• On the day before Black Saturday, Friday February 6, 2009, a fire north of Hepburn Springs was contained and then monitored overnight by crews. Hepburn Springs was saved by a whisker.
• On Black Saturday (February 7, 2009) 173 people died in fires in Victoria. Hepburn Springs was spared by the work of the night before.
• The CFA rates Hepburn Springs as in extreme danger from fire.
The new fire station is to be near Hepburn State School. There are some more facts we need to lay out:
• We don’t recklessly drive out from the station.
• We obey all road laws and speed limits including the 40km/h outside the school.
• If a crossing attendant holds up a stop sign, we stop.
• On code red days, the school is closed. These are the most likely days for a major emergency.
• We don’t use the station siren to summon volunteers. We use a pager system. The siren is only used if the pager system breaks down (which is rare) or if a community-wide alert is warranted.
• Our mission is to protect public safety in all aspects and that includes school children and their families.
Hepburn Springs needs a new, safe fire truck and a new fire station. Six councillors have denied it.
We, the listed volunteers of Hepburn Rural Fire Brigade endorsed this statement.
MICK YANNER,
Hepburn Springs
