ACT Rural Fire Service volunteers will be trained in using lights and sirens when driving to blazes from later this month, as the Emergency Services Agency attempts to address one of the main sources of anger among brigades over the summer season.
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Emergency Services Agency commissioner Georgeina Whelan said the first course to train volunteers in driving under so-called "urgent duty" conditions would start on August 29.
Then ACT Rural Fire Service chief officer Joe Murphy banned volunteers from operating lights and sirens ahead of last summer, insisting it wasn't safe for them to undertake the "extremely risk activity" because of a lack of training.
The ban sparked a furious response from brigade captains, who described it as "impracticable and unworkable".
They warned the ban, which meant vehicles were not allowed to run a red light, could delay a crew's response to a fire emergency.
One submission to the ACT Legislative Assembly's inquiry into the bushfire season blamed the "absurd instruction" for the low morale among volunteers, claiming it sent a message they weren't trusted by the agency's paid officials.
The brigade captains' rebuke prompted the blanket ban to be relaxed at the height of Canberra's bushfire season, when crews responding to the Beard and Orroral Valley fires were given some exemptions to allow them to break normal road rules.
The senior firefighters also called for training to be rolled out immediately.
Emergency Services Minister Mick Gentleman initially said that rural fire service crews didn't need to use lights and sirens in their duties, meaning training was not necessary.
He clarified that statement less than a week later, confirming that a training course would be rolled out ahead of the next fire season.
In seeking to explain the rationale for the original directive, the agency pointed to an incident last year in which a woman died after her car was struck by a ACT Fire & Rescue vehicle to highlight how dangerous urgent duty driving was, even for professionals who drove under the conditions on every shift.
Commissioner Whelan referenced that incident again last week when she confirmed that the volunteer training program would go ahead.
"We had two events where we had accidents under UDD [urgent duty driving], and I was very proud that there was no fault to be found with our first responders," she said.
"I want to be able to stand in front of a coroner and say exactly the same thing, God forbid, if something ever happened to a rural firefighter."
Commissioner Whelan said volunteers had been involved in helping to design the course over the past eight months.
She said it important that, once trained, volunteers were able to maintain those skills.
Commissioner Whelan, speaking following the release of two reviews into the ACT's worst bushfire season since 2003, signaled that extra training and development opportunities would be offered to rural fire service volunteers in the future.
Volunteers, as well as paid ACT Rural Fire service staff, expressed frustration about being underused on the fire ground, and left out of key positions inside the agency's incident control centre.
The commissioner said she wanted to develop the skills of ACT Rural Fire Service volunteers so they could help to lead emergency responses, as ACT SES volunteers were able to do at the end of her tenure with the organisation.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
