Tuesday, March 3, 2015

FISKVILLE FIRE TRAINING FACILITY CLOSED AFTER BANNED CHEMICAL FOUND IN DAM WATER. WORKSAFE HEADS FIRED OVER FISKVILLE CFA CENTER CONTAMINATION











MARCH 2, 2015

Water tanks at the CFA facility were found to contain perfluorooctane sulfonate, which was phased out because of health and environmental concerns
The controversial Fiskville firefighter training facility in regional Victoria has been closed indefinitely, after a banned chemical was found in four dams used to store water for training exercises.

Water storage tanks at the Country Fire Authority facility were found to contain perfluorooctane sulfonate, a manmade pollutant that was in firefighting foams used until 2007 but which began to be phased out because of concerns about health effects and the inability of the substance to break down in the environment.

Study confirms cancer cluster among CFA Fiskville firefighters in Victoria

The closure of the Fiskville site follows the release of a comprehensive study earlier this year which found firefighters who worked there between 1971 and 1999 had a higher incidence of skin, testicular and brain cancers because of exposure to chemicals and recycled firewater.

The facility is also the subject of a landmark parliamentary inquiry examining pollution, contamination and unsafe activities at the site from 1970 to 1990.
Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, said on Tuesday that WorkSafe chief executive Denise Cosgrove and chairman David Krasnostein had resigned at the government’s request.

Andrews said the government had lost confidence in the safety watchdog because it had given “clear advice” that the water was safe last year.

After the discovery of the toxin in the water, the government had demanded an explanation, Andrews said.

“They can not explain how they got this wrong,” he said. “In fact, they can not guarantee us that they even tested the water in the first place. I will not be lied to, and I will not accept incompetence.”

The CFA chief executive, Michael Wootten, said further testing of all water, including drinking water, would be conducted at Fiskville over coming days.
“Since 2012, mains water has been used on the practical area for drills, which has been stored in two large tanks,” he said. “Recent tests of the tanks show the presence of these residues.”

Remediation of the dam water and sediment would take place “in the near future,” he said.

The Victorian emergency services minister, Jane Garrett, said the investigations would be exhaustive, and that the government would be seeking advice from chemical and medical experts.

“This is a very serious and distressing matter for all those people connected to Fiskville,” Garrett said. “We will offer every assistance to those who have been exposed to this water. The investigation will be definitive and give us the answers that so many people deserve.”

The site may never be reopened, United Firefighters Union Victorian secretary Peter Marshall told the ABC on Tuesday morning.

“There’s a dark, dark, cloud hanging over the long-term viability, or even the short-term viability, of Fiskville,” he said. “Whatever happens, it is our job to make sure that the employment of those people affected is secure. We will engage with the state government over that, and also ensure that their health is monitored.”

Along with a training facility at Craigieburn, Fiskville was a main training site for firefighters. Craigieburn and smaller facilities across the state would have to absorb staff and trainees while the Fiskville facility was investigated, Marshall said.

The union believes the testing should have been carried out earlier, he said, and concerns about the safety of the site have been raised many times.

“The quest is to make those accountable who have knowledge and have not divulged that knowledge to personnel in the past,” he said. “They should be worried because there is a parliamentary inquiry and the truth will come out. 

There’s been information covered up, and testing results that weren’t given to staff.”

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The heads of Victoria's workplace safety watchdog have been sacked over the toxic contamination of water at the Fiskville CFA training centre.

The firefighter training college at Fiskville, north-west of Melbourne, was immediately closed indefinitely on Monday after a dangerous chemical was found in water tanks.

Premier Daniel Andrews said he had "lost confidence" in WorkSafe chief executive Denise Cosgrove and chairman David Krasnostein.

The government asked for their resignations after they were unable to guarantee they had tested the water at Fiskville, despite assurances in December that the site was safe.

"I will not be lied to, and I will not accept incompetence," Mr Andrews said.
Following news on Monday about contamination at Fiskville, WorkSafe was again grilled about site safety and was unable to confirm the water had been tested.
The toxic residue found in the new test results – perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) – was in firefighting foams used at the site until banned in 2007.

It is the latest contamination to be uncovered at the Fiskville centre, near Ballan, which has been dogged by health fears since 2011 after being linked to a cluster of cancer diagnoses.

The controversial site already the subject of a parliamentary inquiry into concerns firefighters were exposed to carcinogenic chemicals dating back to the 1970s.

Questions now remain about Fiskville's long-term future, with CFA chief executive Michael Wootten unable to confirm if it will remain open after a two-week probe into the latest contamination.

"The future of the site is something we will work through after we determine whether the water at the site is safe," he said.

"We are currently conducting further tests across the site to check if there are residues at any other outlets, taps, shower heads."

Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett said she was "deeply disturbed" by the latest contamination, and "can't imagine this site will ever operate again".
Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley refused to be drawn on the site's operational future.

"I'm not here to say Fiskville will close ... we have to let the process run a little longer," he said.

But Mr Lapsley said a new fire site in Craigieburn, which opened its doors last year, would bolster the network of eight training centres statewide.
United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall said more officials within WorkSafe, the CFA and the former Coalition government must be held to account for systemic failures at Fiskville.

He said the discovery of contaminated mains water was the "latest chapter in this sorry saga", which has exposed firefighters to grave danger and long-term health implications.

"WorkSafe, the CFA and the Napthine government have failed to protect firefighters despite knowing that the water using in training firefightres sat on sludge so dangerously contaminated that it is illegal to move it from Fiskville without years of expensive remediation," Mr Marshall said.

"More heads will roll."
Environment Protection Authority chief Nial Finegan said the latest contamination at Fiskville was uncovered as a result of two clean-up notices from his agency in 2013.

The CFA had been ordered to appoint an environmental auditor, who recommended taking samples of drinking water, he said.

"The rigour of the independent auditor system overseen by EPA provides robust oversight and can give the community confidence in our work," Mr Finegan said.
Operations at Fiskville were downgraded in late 2014 after the parliamentary inquiry into the cancer cluster began. Long-running health fears held by cancer-affected firefighters and their families were confirmed in January with a Monash University study finding elevated rates of brain, skin and testicular cancers among more than 600 firefighters.

Sixteen firefighters have died from cancer and 53 have been diagnosed.
The government has confirmed WorkSafe's insurance business unit director, Clare Amies, will be appointed acting chief executive of the organisation.
TAC chairman and WorkSafe board member John Walter will be acting chairperson.