TRAINING in exactly the situation encountered at Port Welshpool on Wednesday this week, January 22, when a recreational fishing boat caught fire and ultimately burnt to the waterline, likely saved the Port Welshpool fishing jetty.
Brigades from Toora Fire Brigade, Welshpool Fire , Hedley Fire Brigade and Leongatha Hazmat answered the alarm at about 2.13pm on Wednesday with a reports that an unoccupied boat was on fire at the Port Welshpool Jetty.
“This was a combined brigade effort and we had trained for this exact scenario a few months ago,” said a spokesperson for the Toora Fire Brigade, Ray Argento.
“Unfortunately, we couldn't save the vessel itself, but we were able to keep the other assets safe from damage. No one was on board at the time of the fire.”
Speaking on Gippsland ABC Radio on Thursday morning, Mr Argento praised the professionalism of the local brigades in dealing with the complex nature of the fire and also the other authorities, including Gippsland Ports, who participated in the “team” response.
Mr Argento was the incident controller at yesterday's fire and acknowledged that a complex situation confronted firies with a gas bottle onboard venting and 500 litres of diesel fuel in the boat’s tanks.
“Yeah, it certainly was. It was a complex fire that we had to deal with yesterday afternoon with local brigades responding around 2.13pm,” said Mr Argento.
Asked if there were flammable, even explosive materials onboard, Mr Argento said it was one of the complicating factors.
“Yeah, when we arrived, were confronted with, you know, a gas cylinder, that was venting quite fiercely, and also the likelihood of other fuels located on the boat, including around 500 litres of diesel fuel.”
He was also asked if the boat on fire was close to other boats and infrastructure.
“Yeah, certainly our main concern was the infrastructure around the ports and as well as other vessels which were close by. So, we took the decision early in the piece to relocate the vessel on the eastern side of the port, giving us ample room and distance away from valuable infrastructure,” he said acknowledging this had to be done while the boat was on fire.
Asked if the brigades received assistance in towing the boat away and fighting the fire, Mr Argento said it was a team effort.
“We had assistance from the Leongatha hazmat brigade, which assisted us with pumping, as well as local brigades and Gippsland Ports which we were working with to ensure that everyone's safety was taken into consideration, as well as local vessels, which aided in our fire fight.
“On one of the vessels, we were able to utilize to tow the vessel that was on fire to the eastern side of the port, as well as assisting us to enable us to get closer to the vessel to attempt to extinguish it.”
Is this something that you're trained for?
“We have trained, given that this port is within our vicinity, and we have trained in the past few months for just such an event, but you don't think that it's going to occur as soon as it does after training for the event.”
Mr Argento acknowledged it was a complex, changing situation.
“It was a fluid type of incident where it was changing every couple of minutes, and we had to adapt our firefighting tactics to achieve an outcome.”
No one was onboard at the time and so far, there’s no indication about what caused the fire to start.
“It’s being investigated by CFA investigators and so we’ll await the results of that.”
Mr Argento said the fire ultimately burnt to the waterline.
“Yeah, so we were also hampered by strong south westerly winds, which caused the vessel to drift further eastwards, and then it eventually lodged itself on a bit of a sandbar, and yes, it burnt to the water line and probably attempts will be made to salvage the remains.
“It certainly was a team event that enabled us to get it away from the valuable infrastructure,” he said.
