SA Country Fire Service (CFS) staff and volunteer trainers have been teaching vital firefighting skills to people in the remote communities of the State’s far-north.
Regional Officer Outback Areas for CFS, Peter Ikonomopoulos said the Outback Rural Team (ORT) conducted three Basic Firefighting Trainings across the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands during May.
“It’s amazing working with these communities and seeing how we can incorporate different cultural practices into our training,” Mr Ikonomopoulos said.
“This year we saw the ORT train 24 new brigade members from communities of Ernabella/Pukatja, Pipalyatjara, Kalka, Amata and Mimili,” he said.
“The newly trained members will now be able to provide support to their home brigades across the APY Lands.”
Mr Ikonomopoulos said CFS staff and volunteer trainers travelled upwards of 800km from Port Augusta to deliver the much-needed training.
“The challenge of providing adequate firefighting support to communities in the APY Lands stems from several factors including remoteness, limited effective communications, and difficulty in readily understanding cultural and community needs,” he said.
“However, these challenges have not stopped the Agency from ensuring the locals can protect the lands they call home.”
Mr Ikonomopoulos, whose role was created to achieve a greater level of fire safety for outback communities in the pastoral regions of South Australia, said the training was vital.
“Trucks and equipment are housed in appropriate community facilities instead of in dedicated stations, and whilst callouts are few and far between, the threat of bushfire is ever-present, particularly due to the increased growth of buffel grass, which is known to burn extremely hot and erratically,” he said.
“Between 2017 to 2019, the APY Lands were ravaged by large scale bushfires that threatened several communities and homelands in the region,” Mr Ikonomopoulos said.
