Fiskville Parliamentary Inquiry

Mick Tisbury, United Firefighter's Union, BCOM

Michael Tisbury Senior Station Officer MFB 26 years service as a professional firefighter Attended Fiskville for promotional SO Course Instructor since 2002 I have received the following awards and commendations Executive Officer Commendation National Medal MFESB Long Service and Good Service medal

UFU Branch Committee of Management Member Business transition Manager for FOLD project (design and

construction of VEMTC Craigieburn campus)

Background From June 2012, since the UFU was notified by members of

the quality of water at Fiskville I have been campaigning to get the truth about the site and the contamination.

As an Instructor I am very concerned that I have unknowingly subjected recruits and firefighters to train in and with contaminated water.

This issue has been all-consuming as firefighters and members of the public have contacted me throughout the past three years with information and concerns.

Water contamination December 2011 the late Former CFA Chief Officer Brian

Potter concerns of a Fiskville cancer cluster has wide media coverage.

UFU concerned about exposures to firefighters and staff at Fiskville.

The HSR releases a few water testing results to the UFU.

I start to research water standards, testing and information on the various bacteria and chemicals tested for.

BACKGROUND REPORTS Since 1988 there have been a series of “independent” reports,

some commissioned by the CFA, which have demonstrated the contamination of the soil and water.

Refer to paragraph 103 of my written submission which details the various reports.

I have provided the 2014 EPA Report to the committee (which includes the reports I refer to)

1988 A.S. James report Re: contaminated dam water, "this risk is not acceptable and the materials

must be removed from the site and disposed of in a suitable manner.”

Appendix D Key Correspondence of the EPA 2014 report

1996: 9th May: Pictures confirm Dam 1 caught fire and burnt for over 4 hours.

“It is noted that people have an extremely high risk of ingesting water from dam 1 during drills on FLP (Flammable Liquid Pad) and there risks of contamination getting into Barwon Water Catchment Area.

“Recommendation to close the FLP immediately and clean out dams 1 & 2."

1996 Mineco Environmental Services Pty Ltd

Recommends immediate actions by CFA to remove & bio-remediate heavily contaminated soils from Dams 1 & 2.

Urgent action was required to commence clean up of contamination of Dams

1996 Diomides-Environmental site assessment

All samples from dams exceeded Dutch C Value, requiring immediate management & remediation.

Dutch C Value means intervention value and requires immediate management and remediation and notification to the EPA.

1996 Coffey Report

Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons exceed Dutch Value C in dams 1 & 2 Copper, chromium, nickel, lead & zinc exceed Dutch C in dams 1, 2 & Lake Fiskville Therefore requires immediate management and remediation and notification to the EPA.

November 1996 CRA ATD Found heavy soil & water contamination exceeding guidelines. Recommended immediate remediation and installation of water

treatment plant. 1997 Rio Tinto

Commissioned to provide Remediation Action Plan for Old fire pits ONLY, - the Dams and drum burial pits were not included in the plan despite earlier reports demonstrating significant contamination.

1998 GHD report. Found extensive & significant contamination of dams 1 & 2.

1999 Rio Tinto Report Confirmed the Dams still hadn’t been remediated.

February 2007 Ecowise First report I have seen where Fiskville dam water is tested for

Pseudomonas Aeruginosa . (See Ecowise Report in Tab 13 of my submission ). Found only in Dam 1.

Safe levels are less than 10 orgs per 100ml, results show 33,000 orgs per 100ml.

Training was not stopped, staff weren't told about exposure.

Documents show James Stitz was telephoned and emailed the results from the consultants.

Report states "the presence of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa at these levels indicates the water is unsuitable for primary contact.”

E.Coli 450 orgs per 100 ml – standard was <10 orgs per 100 ml

Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Lung infections, Pneumonia, Eye infections, External ear infections Skin infections Blood poisoning Urinary tract infections Wound infections particularly burn wounds Antibiotic resistant If colonises in lungs, urinary track or kidneys it can be fatal

2007 Wynsafe Report

“It is recommended that Class A Standard water plus Pseudomonas Aerginosa levels of 10 orgs per 100 ml or less should be the target for firefighting water at training grounds.”“Testing has shown that the standard was generally achievable and adoption of this standard brings it into line the CFA Draft Standard Operating Procedure 9.37 “Recycled Water Use and Management Of ”which states the Class A recycled water may be used for operational activities including training. The SOP also states that Class A and B recycled water may not be used for training purposes. “

[Page 8 of Tab 12 attached to my written statement]

2009 SRS Sludge Report

Tab 9 my written statement

Pond Sludge contains TPH at 60,000mg/kg

This is classified as “Category A Level contaminated soil”

“At this concentration this soil is banned from disposal to landfill.”

“The cost for excavation, transport, treatment and disposal to landfill is estimated at $750,000.”

6 July 2012 on ABC Ballarat CFA CEO Mick Bourke denied knowledge of this report (see Transcript Tab 8 my written submission)

2009 Wynsafe report.

"Dam 1 is known to be heavily contaminated with heavy metals & petroleum hydrocarbons from past practices and continues to be contaminated with firefighting foam and hydrocarbons from the flam pad.”

“It should be noted that the Management Plan has NOT been adhered to as training has continued even though water quality is unacceptable.”

2009 CFA CHANGE WATER MANAGEMENT PLAN

CFA change the water standard in consultation with EPA

Change standard for E.coli from <10 orgs per 100 ml to <150 orgs per 100 ml.

Even at that time test results showed failing to meet new standard.

September 2009 Mick Bourke leaves his role as CEO of EPAand becomes CFA CEO

2010 Wynsafe Report

Found heavy contamination in dams as well as unsafe levels of pseudomonas aerignosa

February 2012 ALS Water Investigation Report

"Sludge in Dam 1 is considered Category A Industrial waste”

"Water in Dam 2 is outside reuse guidelines“

Appendix one test results show arsenic, copper, lead, mercury, nickle, zinc, benzene, toluene, xylene which are all known carcinogens were above safe exposure limits in Dam 1.

22nd Feb 2012 Email marked URGENT from Justin Justinto Lex DeMan & Mick Bourke re ALS report

"We should act quickly to remedy the situation to ensure we have steps in place ensuring water quality for firefighting is of no concern.”

“SRS be engaged to quote on the removal of sludge from Dam 1 and remediation with these works to be scheduled as a matter of urgency.”

"I have not released this report to other parties and will only do so once I have your approval to do same.“[Tab 10 attached to my written statement.]

2012

19 June 2012 MFB Instructor Tony Martin sends me photos of the state of the water and says it is worse than ever.

20 June 2012 UFU writes to CFA CEO Mick Bourke and MFB CEO Nick Easy requesting all training cease pending appropriate testing and confirmation that water is fit for use.

21 June 2012 MFB write to UFU detailing the immediate transfer of recruits and promotional courses to other CFA training grounds and the MFB Burnley complex.

25 June 2012 CFA CEO Mick Bourke writes stating the water being used met the "relevant health parameters"

[see Peter Marshall written submission paragraph 31]

2012 In addition to the repeated requests to the CFA, the UFU

repeatedly requested the MFB for the testing regime and results and all information regarding the quality of water.

These requests were formal in writing and through the consultation committee processes.

MFB also refused to even look at the limited documentation that the UFU had obtained that showed the water was not meeting the standard.

2012October 2012 MFB notify staff that training will recommence at Fiskville and refer to 3 October letter from Worksafe Director Jarrod Edwards to CFA Project Manager Sherry Herman referring to a site visit at Fiskville on 10 August 2012:

“Worksafe was advised that control of risk to health and safety from the use of recycled water is being achieved by the exclusive use of mains/town water for fire fighting training at Fiskville”

“Worksafe acknowledges the continued operation of the FiskvilleTraining Facility in accordance with the risk controls associated with dangerous goods and fire fighting water presented during inspector visits conducted since 6 December 2011.”

2012 The UFU lodged a grievance against the MFB to stop the return to

training at Fiskville.

During the grievance process the MFB finally agreed to look at the limited documentation that the UFU had obtained.

Early 2012 MFB Deputy Chief Officer Peter Rau confided in me and others that he has a series of medical conditions that a medical opinion had attributed to his time at Fiskville. When employed by CFA, Peter Rau was OIC at Fiskville from April 2005 until July 2008.

Peter Rau came to the UFU office to look at the documents – the 2009 SRS Sludge Report and the test results which I detail in a table in my statement from page 12.

2012 18 October 2012 MFB delegation including Deputy

Chief Officer Peter Rau conduct a site visit of Fiskville.

The MFB site inspection report is Tab14 attached to my written statement.

MFB never return to Fiskville

2012 By 18 October CFA had installed two new tanks replacing

Dam 1 and Dam 2 water usage for firefighter training. Tanks were 260,000 litre capacity each One 50 mm hose uses 450 litres of water per minute. 4 x 50 mm hoses are connected to a pumper as deliveries.

4x450=1800 litres per minute. MFB generally uses 5 pumpers at a time for recruit courses.

5x1800=9000 litres per minute. Approximate time to empty one tank is therefore approx 28.8

mins. MFB's own documents states Tank 1 takes 12 hours to fill; Tank

2 takes 5 days to fill.

2014 April 2014 MFB Craigieburn campus operational (now

called VEMTC Craigieburn) I was the Business Transition Manager on the FOLD

team which designed, developed and oversaw the construction of the training college.

Sought expert advice as to water quality and standards for firefighting training

Craigieburn utelises recycled water treated and tested to the potable standard i.e. Drinking water

[Refer paragraphs 39 to 43 of my written statement and Tab 3]

PFOS Foam CFA have said in their submission that they ceased using foam

containing PFOS and PFOA in 2007.

As seen in Tony Martin’s presentation often the foam containers were not labelled.

On 18 October 2012 the MFB inspected Fiskville as they intended to recommence training there. Tab 14 attached to my written statement is the inspection report where it was recorded that despite initially been told otherwise, the MFB inspection team saw that CFA had stores of banned PFOScontaining foams.

PFOS Foam In February 2014 it was reported in the Herald Sun that the

CFA used the banned Forexspan S foam in the Grampian fires “to use it up”.

I have been told that because of the expense to properly dispose of the banned foams that CFA would send it Fiskvilleto be used in training to get rid of it without cost.

The Australian Government Department of Health National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS) issued 6 alert sheets from 2002 – 2008:“PFOS-based fire fighting foam not be used for fire training purposes to limit environmental release”

2015 – CFA Water Management Plans In March 2015 all CFA training sites except Fiskville had

water testing conducted by consultants Senversa.

I understand that the CFA have received the test results but have not made them public.

This suggests that the test results have shown water quality issues at other training sites.

To my knowledge CFA have not notified of any adverse water testing reports to firefighters or those working and training on these training sites.

2015 – CFA Water Management Plans The subsequent Draft Senvesa Report recommended: to reduce the standard and quality of water to "industrial

water" for fire training activities. The threshold for E.Coli to be changed from 150 orgs per 100

mls to 100 orgs per 100ml. In 2009 the E.Coli standard was changed from 10 orgs per 100 ml to 150 orgs per 100 ml.

The threshold for Pseudomonas Aeruginosa to be changed from 10 orgs per 100 ml to 100 orgs per 100 ml.

2015 Even now, in 2015 – after everything we have gone through –

after all the publicity and this Inquiry being announced –CFA continue to fail its staff and firefighters.

Rather than admit there is a water quality issue that is putting the health and lives at risk the CFA only act to lower the water standard.