Upper Yarra
5 Tuesday, 10 March 2015
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Mail Covering the Upper Yarra Region of the Yarra Ranges Shire
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It was ‘Riskville’ By KATH GANNAWAY
Healesville firefighter Mick Tisbury wants the truth on Fiskville. 135699
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THERE’S no relief for Yarra Ranges MFB firefighter Mick Tisbury in the closure last week of the CFA’s Fiskville training facility. There is, however, some sense of vindication. Mr Tisbury, a firefighter for 27 years and on the executive of the United Firefighters’ Union, has been investigating and pushing for a thorough investigation into the use of toxic materials, and water contamination, at Fiskville for the past three years. It’s been a harrowing experience that started with a media report in 2011 of a suspected cancer cluster in people who had trained at Fiskville. Mr Tisbury said a series of reports and correspondence showed that it was not only people at the higher echelons of the CFA that knew of the health dangers, but in government. The CFA, however, says it has acted on information and reports and has consistently cited reports that indicate that risks identified were “low and acceptable”. CFA Chief Executive Officer, Mick Bourke, is on record as saying: “No stone has been left unturned and no expense spared in ensuring Fiskville is safe.” If anyone is convinced, it’s certainly not Mr Tisbury - or, the Victorian Government. Heads have already rolled with the sacking by the Labor Government of Worksafe Chairman, David Kransnostein, and its CEO, Denise Cosgrove, after they were unable to guarantee the water at Fiskville had been tested. Worksafe had assured the government in December that the site was safe, prompting Premier Daniel Andrews to say he had lost confidence in them. The closure of the training ground, where thousands of MFB firefighters and CFA volunteer and career fighters have done training over several decades, follows the announcement in December of a parliamentary inquiry into Fiskville. Mr Tisbury, who was also an instructor at Fiskville on and off between 2001 and 2012, said he had been stonewalled at every turn in his efforts to get information, and/or action. “For the past three years using freedom of information we’ve gained access to about 180,000 pages of reports and documents,” he said. Continued on Page 3