Community Notice Notice of Annual General Meeting

NOTICE is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the Darlington Review Inc. is to be held at 6A Brook Road, Darlington at 7:00pm on Tuesday 14 March 2023. AGENDA

Nominations are invited for three committee positions – editor, business manager and advertising manager. Nominations must be in writing. The nominator must be a member of Darlington Review Inc. The nominee must give written consent to their nomination.

Betty Pitcher | Business Manager

Particularly at this time of the year, the Review considers the Darlington Volunteer Bush Fire Brigade’s notes as this magazine’s most important read. They are written by Ricky Harvey who has spent more than a dozen years fighting fires – and worrying about some of the ‘unprepared’ houses he encounters driving through Darlington. Are they defendable? Sometimes, his blunt answer is, no.

Ricky Harvey fights fires, but he also juggles this volunteering with family life and two professional jobs: as a freelance television cameraman (he covered the Tokyo Olympics) and as a fire & emergency management trainer with FIREtrain, a locally owned and operated organisation.

When you freelance (always unpredictable) the impulse to say ‘yes’ to every job that comes your way can result in working 14 days straight with just one day off – which is what Ricky had just done when we chatted in November. However, when you get the brigade’s publicity officer talking about firefighting, you quickly appreciate his commitment to the brigade and his fascination with the managerial processes that come into play when fighting major fires – which, he says, can be similar to a military operation.

What is he feeling as ‘the fire season’ approaches, given that memories of the Wooroloo fire are still lingering?

“Well, you’ve done your upskilling and fitness training over winter, so now it’s all about getting into the mindset of being on the roster, on call, managing your time, making sure you’re hydrated should you suddenly find yourself heading out to a fire,” says Ricky, who has been both Captain and Fire Control Officer at the DVBFB, and has trained as a Sector Commander.

Because of his seniority, when the brigade tanker he headed arrived at the Wooroloo fire’s incident control point, Ricky was instantly recognised by a senior Shire officer and told that he’d be a Sector Commander.

“That changes your mindset a bit because as a Sector Commander you’re assigned a part of the fire and all the trucks in that section. It’s a bit like being manager of a larger geographic area,” Ricky explains. “As a fire escalates, the incident control team will scale up or down the number of trucks, equipment, personnel and sectors engaged in fighting it, so no one section gets overwhelmed. It’s close to a paramilitary operation with each level of the hierarchy given specific rules, tasks and responsibilities. Everyone has a clear understanding of their roles, so it doesn’t matter what you think, you respect the chain of command.”

He won’t forget being in the brigade’s light tanker in a blazing paddock when winds were so strong the fire was travelling as fast as they could drive. “Then we popped a front tyre which stuck us in a situation when the fire was burning all around us, but fortunately, it was stubble and the fire was travelling really quickly so it passed underneath and around us fairly quickly, but yes, it was a bit scary because its sheer scale and the fact that it was changing so fast,” he recalls.

“Every fire is a learning experience because each situation and location are different and that’s where your experience of previous fires becomes important. When you’re called out to a fire and you grab your keys, the adrenalin starts running. You get updates as you head to the fire site, so while you try to remain cool and calm, there’s a mix of fear, anxiety and trepidation because you are heading into an environment that is dynamic and dangerous. And, of course, you’re aware your family will be worrying, because they’re watching coverage on TV or listening to the radio, so whenever you have the chance, you call to reassure them that you’re OK.

“One of the frustrations of being a firefighter is that, inevitably, as you drive around Darlington, or across Mundaring, you find yourself looking at properties in terms of their preparedness. People move to the Hills because it’s so beautiful to live among trees and bushland, but on those drives you just know that if there was ‘the big one’ here – and we’ve dodged it so far in Darlington – there are certain homes and certain idyllic locations where, if people haven’t prepared, no amount of fire trucks would be able to save these properties.

“That sits uncomfortably with me but I guess it's a by-product of being a firefighter. Despite all the emphasis – from DFES, Local Government and the brigade – about shared responsibility, some residents still think that if a big fire came, there will be a fire truck in their drive. That’s not realistic. There is only so much government can provide and owners must do their bit.

“There are people trained in property triage (just like doctors in emergency) and they will drive up and down streets making decisions about which properties are defendable and this information is given to firefighters.

That can lead to some sad conversations. For instance, whether a driveway is wide enough for a fire truck to get in and out safely will have been assessed, because as much as we’ve signed up to put ourselves on the front line to protect lives and property, ultimately decisions will be based on a property’s defendability and the dangers of sending in firefighters. And, at the end of the day, we all want to return home to our families.

“Some residents tend to dance around the topics of defendability, property maintenance and protection zones, but as firefighters and emergency service people we have to talk about these issues, to plan around them.”

That’s a message we need to hear as we take a long hard look at our properties, and think about the volunteers who could be called upon to defend them. Currently, unlike other brigades that are constantly seeking more volunteers, Darlington’s brigade has a healthy membership of well over 50, with six new trainees accepted last year.

We call them our local heroes with good reason.

Delegates are reminded that our next quarterly meeting is on Monday, 27th February at 7.00pm in the Community pavilion and is our Annual General Meeting. At this meeting, the election of Chairperson and Secretary will take place, as well as nominations for Community Representatives. Delegates from community groups below please ensure your group is represented. DCRAG Capital Items Requests for 2023* for the Shire of Mundaring will be discussed.

As per our Terms of Reference* we encourage community members to join DCRAG as a representative from the Local community otherwise not representative of a particular user group, to give broader input to the group. If wishing to nominate for this community role, please come along to the quarterly meeting, or advise Secretary Colin James on cwj101@my.nlv.com.au

• To provide information and advice to the Shire on matters relating to the recreation facilities in the Darlington precinct.

• To assess the local community’s recreation needs and wants and keep the Shire informed of these needs.

• To assist the Shire by providing recommendations on future planning of the recreation facilities in the Darlington precinct.

• To make recommendations to the Shire on capital items relating to recreational facilities within the Darlington precinct.

• To be a focal point and act as a link between the Shire and the local community.

• The Fire Brigade was most pleased that the Bonfire removed a lot of ground fuel in the recreational bushland.

• The Darlington Community Garden have completed their earthworks, and new garden beds and tree plantings are planned, along with a shade shelter for the wagon.

• Lower Area Master Plan Phase 2 – Wetlands Rehabilitation Action Plan (WRAP)* steering committee has been formed with volunteer Project Manager Chris Arnold at the helm. This significantly degraded bushland has been surveyed and has had an ecological assessment courtesy of The Review/ Shire of Mundaring and Terratree respectively. Chris will be actively seeking funding for this local environmental project.

• DaSRA working on connecting power to the garden area.

• History Group continue to seek final funding for the Six Season Garden to be located between the Hall and the oval.

• Replacement of vertical pine bollards 1.5 meters back toward the road and creation of earth walkway* on the southside of the oval. This will help get cars off the tree root protection zone. Shire works will occur in January/February along with some new seating on the South and East sides of the oval.

• New Pine Terrace large tree planting will occur in autumn to replace the large Pine Trees we keep losing to canker disease. Thanks to Tree Custodian Stacey August for working with Shire officer on the Large Tree Management Plan*.

Shire contractors will replace the pine bollards 1.5m south of their existing location. This will still leave 6.5 - 7m for cars. Note the dead pine tree in the background has now been removed. New replacement large tree plantings will be installed in autumn.

Four new bench seats for the south (3) and east side (1) of the oval will be wood look aluminium seating.

• The Darlington Club’s design proposal* for the BBQ area to be upgraded has been allocated funds by the Shire.

• The *Lower Area Masterplan I – Skatepark/Pump area has been allocated $25,000 funds by the Shire for planting of trees. David Grant continues to liaise with the Shire using Gerry Healy’s LAMP I Landscape Plan.

• Capital Works 2023 requests will be discussed by DCRAG delegates.

• The Sports Clubs’ proposal for the widening and realignment of the Darlington Oval, has now been technically assessed by the Shire Officers. The Shire advises that a ‘Whole of Shire Review” of its Recreational Facilities Informing Strategy will occur in 2023/24. DCRAG awaits advice from the Sports Clubs as to whether they wish to submit their proposal to the Shire Review. If they do wish to pursue the proposal, the DCRAG Oval Widening and Realignment Subcommittee will be activated according to their DCRAG Terms of Reference* which includes informing/ consulting/engaging with the wider Darlington community. The revised proposal will also be published on the village website in due course if this proposal is submitted as part of the RFIS Review.

*Further DCRAG information and documents can be found here: https://www.darlingtonvillage.org/community-groups/ darlington-community-recreation-advisory-group-dcrag/ Trish Cook, Chair | Colin James, Secretary

Initial concept design by David Lavell from The Darlington Club showing one BBQ at each end of the extended shelter with small stone walls as seating.