{"id":335075,"date":"2024-06-28T10:09:34","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T08:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=335075"},"modified":"2024-06-28T10:09:37","modified_gmt":"2024-06-28T08:09:37","slug":"no-deal-country-firefighters-refuse-to-fight-wind-turbine-and-solar-panel-fires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=335075","title":{"rendered":"No Deal: Country Firefighters Refuse to Fight Wind Turbine and Solar Panel\u00a0Fires"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From STOP THESE THINGS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fed up country firefighters are refusing to fight fires started by wind turbines, solar panels and giant batteries. Placing their lives at mortal risk to save others and their property, would be heroic enough. However, most of them are volunteers who spend hundreds of hours being trained in firefighting methods and how to do so safely \u2013 at their own time and expense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Summer bites, spare a thought for rural communities riddled with wind turbines: the perfect incendiary device. Around the world, hundreds have blown up in balls of flame \u2013 in the process \u2013 each one raining molten metal and over 1,000 litres of flaming gear oil and hydraulic fluid (see our post here<\/a>) and burning plastic earthwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wind turbine fires are ten times more common than the wind industry and its parasites claim (see our post here<\/a> and check out this website: http:\/\/turbinesonfire.org<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Large-scale solar creates its very own fire risk<\/a>, with panels known to self-immolate without warning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, giant lithium-ion batteries will burst into toxic fireballs at the drop of a hat: firefighters simply stand upwind and watch them burn themselves out, over a period of days<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connecting thousands of generators spread across the countryside with a veritable cobweb of high voltage transmission lines increases fire risk, exponentially. Every time the wind picks up strength during summer there is a high probability of lines clashing, arcing and setting the country ablaze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, with more than their own lives at risk, Victoria\u2019s Country Fire Authority volunteers have said \u2018enough is enough\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This group of courageous volunteers knows full well that the insanely deadly risk created by part-time power generators can be readily avoided by returning to a sensible energy policy \u2013 starting by keeping Australia\u2019s coal-fired power plants up and running and ultimately moving to nuclear plants located on the same sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the articles below attest, Victoria\u2019s country firefighters are well within their rights to refuse to play ball, anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CFA strike: Volunteers refuse to fight wind, solar and transmission line fires<\/strong>
The Weekly Times
Peter Hunt
18 June 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least 24 CFA brigades are taking strike action, refusing to fight fires on land hosting high-voltage transmission lines, solar or wind farms, over what they call the Victorian Government\u2019s \u201creckless renewables expansion\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the brigades are in communities that are being carved up by the 500kV Victoria-NSW Interconnector and subject to more wind and solar farm developments, as the Allan Government rushes to generate 95 per cent of the state\u2019s electricity from renewable sources by 2035.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The volunteer firefighters have written to Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes and CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan stating they would \u201crestrict turn-out commitments to incidents at electricity generation and transmission infrastructure sites to \u2018property perimeter defence\u2019,\u201d only entering the site if lives were at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brigades\u2019 letter calls for \u201can immediate halt\u201d of all current and proposed high voltage transmission lines and renewable energy infrastructure projects, and demands the government give \u201cgenuine consideration of concerns and acknowledgment of the negative impacts to our people and communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFurther action will be considered and taken as deemed necessary,\u201d the letter stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gre Gre Village CFA captain and St Arnaud deputy group officer Peter Knights said: \u201cOur brigades are not prepared to defend renewables infrastructure that destroys our communities, carves up our land, reduces our productive capacity and divides people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the 24 brigades backing the strike sit along 120kms of the proposed VNI West transmission line corridor, from north of Stawell and out past Charlton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traynors Lagoon CFA captain Jason Barratt said Victorians lived in one of the most fire-prone places on earth, yet the government was rushing to roll out renewables that increased the risk of fire in regional communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCFA volunteers are becoming less and less, but they\u2019re increasing the load on us,\u201d Mr Barratt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brigades say they have no hope of fighting wind-turbine fires and warn the CFA has issued contradictory standard operating procedures for the fireground when working near transmission lines that put their lives at risk from smoke-induced flashovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CFA brigades are already struggling to deal with fires sparked by isolated powerlines and transformers that go unnoticed for hours, to become firestorms that engulf the state, as happened on Ash Wednesday 1983, Black Saturday 2009 and the St Patrick\u2019s Day fires of 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The International Association for Fire Safety Science estimates wind turbines catch fire at a rate of 1 in 1710, with UK research engineers finding \u201cthe three elements of the fire triangle, fuel (oil and polymers in the turbine), oxygen (wind) and ignition (electric, mechanical and lighting) are present and confined to the small and closed compartment of the turbine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMoreover, once ignition occurs in a turbine, the chances of externally fighting the fire are very slim due to the height of the nacelle (turbine) and the often remote location of the wind farm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy Safe Victoria estimates there are about 2300 turbines in Victoria, with planning records showing another 311 under construction and hundreds more seeking Victorian Government approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The volunteer strike leaves hundreds of wind turbines without firefighter protection this summer and raises questions over CFA command\u2019s ability to draw on Fire Rescue Victoria for support, given its urban pumpers are incapable of fighting fires off road and without access to hydrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Knight said he \u201ccan\u2019t imagine that book makers in insurance companies will think it\u2019s a good thing\u201d, so would cost them (renewable project developers) more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for fighting fires around transmission lines, Mr Knights said the CFA had issued standard operating procedures that were contradictory and dangerous to volunteers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CFA\u2019s SOPs advise brigades \u201cnot to directly attack fires in transmission line easement areas and crew members should maintain a safe working distance of at least 25 metres from lines or outside of easement areas, whichever is greater\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Barratt said there were \u201ctoo many grey areas in the SOP to make us feel safe\u201d, such as whether brigades should be 25m outside the easement and the role of fire behaviour during windy conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Knights said 25m was unacceptable and that brigades needed to be at least 100m from transmission lines during a fire, given the risk of smoke acting as a conductor and causing a flashover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CFA SOP states smoke from fires near or under transmission lines can create electrical arcs or flashovers that are \u201cpotentially life threatening to someone standing nearby\u201d, but gives no details under what conditions this can occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile the Australian Energy Market Operator has established a subsidiary Transmission Company Victoria, which is in the midst of seeking Essential Services Commission approval for a transmission licence, which would give it the right to enter properties without landholder approval and compulsorily acquire easements.
The Weekly Times<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Volunteer firefighters say they will not fight fires around new renewables projects, transmission lines<\/strong>
ABC Rural
Angus Verley
19 June 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volunteer firefighters from a number of brigades in Victoria\u2019s central north will not attend blazes at properties hosting renewable energy plants or transmission lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, captains from five brigades wrote to the CFA and the state government to declare that their members were not prepared to fight fires near or involving infrastructure such as the Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector (VNI West).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VNI West \u2014 a transmission line that would run hundreds of kilometres through farmland in western Victoria \u2014 has triggered angry protests from farmers who say they do not want it on their land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposed transmission line is one of many being planned across Victoria to get the power from planned renewable energy projects into the national electricity grid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Pretty simple\u2019<\/strong>
Jason Barratt, the captain of the Traynors Lagoon Fire Brigade and spokesperson for the newly formed Firefighters Against Renewables Over Victoria, told ABC Rural the group\u2019s message was \u201cpretty simple\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny renewable infrastructure or projects, we\u2019re just going to refuse to fight fires in and around them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll basically sit at the fence and wait for it to come out to us \u2014 we won\u2019t go in and put our lives at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Barratt said landowners who agreed to host transmission lines on their properties should not expect the assistance of firefighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnyone who\u2019s got renewable infrastructure will have to find their own way to protect it because CFA volunteers consider it too unsafe to do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have crops and sheep that will be unprotected and there could be insurance implications as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Barratt said an additional 19 brigades had agreed to join the action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Letter of demands<\/strong>
The group\u2019s letter of demands calls for an immediate halt to \u201call current and proposed projects\u201d and requests \u201cappropriate reconsideration of alternative solutions\u201d, which Mr Barratt said should include nuclear power generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cosignatories said infrastructure such as VNI West would \u201cgreatly impact our ability to control wildfire both on ground and particularly from the air\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Barratt said transmission lines and renewable energy plants would make it more difficult to fight fires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re worried about our ability to fight fires around transmission lines and the CFA hasn\u2019t been very good at all at giving us clear instructions on how safe it is to fight fires around them,\u201d Mr Barratt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, we are volunteers and the government is willingly putting this infrastructure in and adding risk to our community and our members and it\u2019s unnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the latest protest action by affected regional communities against planned transmission line projects being rolled out to connect planned renewable projects.
ABC Rural<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/www.farov.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Firefighters Against Renewables Over Victoria (FAROV)<\/strong>
Press Release<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are a collective of 5 Fire Brigades situated under the proposed VNI West 500kV Transmission Lines and in a proposed Renewable Energy zone as part of the Victorian State Government\u2019s mission to cover our food bowl and countryside in renewable infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have received commitments from a further 19 impacted Brigades and looking to add the support of many more either in joining our proposed action or taking their own variation of action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seek your support in publishing the attached call to CFA Brigades to sign on to proposed Industrial Action by the Volunteer Brigades, and to explain to our communities that our intentions are altruistic and with the safety of all residents in these areas and our volunteers in mind. We seek genuine long term solutions to energy production and transmission, not short term money grabbing by international investors and cash strapped Governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Letter of Demands from CFA Brigades to State Emergency Services Minister and CFA CO<\/strong>
Affected CFA Brigades have united in a call for industrial action to achieve demands with respect to the future of their role as firefighters in view of the Victorian State Government proposed reckless renewables expansion. We consider untenable the risks to lives and property, and irreparable damage imposed by proposed installations of High Voltage Transmission Lines and Renewable Energy Infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Industrial action is proposed until<\/p>\n\n\n\n