A senior NSW forestry firefighter publicly criticised the fire crew that posted photos to social media of a remarkably unscathed Pooh's Corner on the fire-ravaged Clyde Mountain for ignoring safety advice issued for the Kings Highway.
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The Carwoola Rural Fire Brigade posted pictures of Pooh's Corner, which has been a tourist favourite for nearly 50 years and which survived the fire, to Facebook on Friday night.
"Pooh's Corner has survived the fire! Here is photographic evidence to prove that, while the fire has burned all around, the beloved fluffy toys at [Pooh's Corner] are all OK and are just fine," the brigade posted.
"Thanks to Carwoola deputy captain Lewis Conn [and] his crew for checking during one of their night shifts!"
Andrew Condie, a protection co-ordinator with Forestry Corporation of NSW, then admonished the brigade for putting its crew's lives at risk.
Mr Condie said the crew had gone "against the [incident action plan] which clearly states, 'No vehicles are to be west of Government Bend [on the Kings Highway] due to high numbers of extremely dangerous trees' just to get a photo with some fluffy toys. Smart real smart!"
But the Carwoola brigade responded saying they did not have an incident action plan with anything more than a general caution about dangerous trees.
"If there's an issue, we're happy to discuss it offline," the brigade said, in response to Mr Condie's now-deleted comment.
In a separate comment, Mr Condie said his team had been having issues with dangerous trees.
"One vehicle crushed and many near misses. Now seeing stupid stuff like this," he wrote.
Later the Carwoola Fire Brigade posted an update to say the matter had been cleared up with Mr Condie offline.
"Seems there was a bit of a disconnect between the two zones as the boundary is near there and a safety message was missed so that will be cleared up with the incident management team in the morning," the post said.
"Everyone stay safe and forgive the odd minor oversight."
Mr Condie could not be reached before deadline for comment.
RFS public liaison officer Marty Webster said he was unable to comment on the incident.
"Community members were glad to know that landmark has come through the event unscathed," he said.
The corner was created in the early 1970s by Crookwell farmers Barbara and David Carter, with an official sign installed in the early 1990s.
Correction: Andrew Condie is an employee of Forestry Corporation of NSW, not the Rural Fire Service, as an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated.
Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
