<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/firefighter-group-hits-back-at-wild-claims-and-fear-mongering-over-transmission-lines-and-fire-risk/>
"“Wild claims” that fire fighters will not attend fires on properties hosting
power lines that form part of a contested transmission network upgrade in
regional Victoria have been called out as “disingenuous” and “potential
misinformation,” after a fresh round of reporting on the subject.
Australian Firefighters Climate Alliance issued a statement on Monday in
response to multiple news reports that some volunteer firefighters in
Victoria’s rural west would not would attend a fire on a property crossed by
the Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector (VNI) West high voltage
transmission line.
The reports, mostly doing the rounds this week on country radio, including in
Swan Hill and Horsham, are based on the now oft-repeated claims of sixth
generation Gre Gre North farmer Jason Barratt, a volunteer fire fighter who is
captain of the Traynors Lagoon Fire Brigade.
Barratt, who is also spokesperson for the Firefighters Against Renewables Over
Victoria, shared with regional radio stations and local paper on Monday the
same message reported by ABC Rural last month:
“There’s absolutely no way [we would] attend a fire on a property crossed by
the VNI west high voltage transmission line.”
The comments were also picked up and repeated in state parliament by Victorian
Liberal MP Bev McArthur:
“These brigade volunteers come from communities which will bear the brunt of
the government’s rushed, incompetent efforts to implement its 95 per cent
renewables target by 2035 and of its inexplicable attachment to [VNI West],”
McArthur said here on July 01.
“Will the Minister for Emergency Services simply acknowledge, as the brigades
demand, that high-voltage lines are potentially lethal in wildfire scenarios,
that they jeopardise firefighter and community safety and that powering down
500 kilovolt transmission lines during wildfire events is not a realistic
protection mechanism?”
Barratt has, in the past, also extended the claim to “any renewable
infrastructure or projects” – as he told the ABC last month.
“Any renewable infrastructure or projects, we’re just going to refuse to fight
fires in and around them,” he said.
As the ABC reports, Firefighters Against Renewables Over Victoria is calling
for an immediate halt to “all current and proposed projects” and “appropriate
reconsideration of alternative solutions,” which Barratt says should include
nuclear power."
Apparently he’s keen to fight fires at nuclear power plants.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
