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Another stinker December 29, 2008.
MFB inaction over a contaminated site in south east Melbourne has local firefighters fuming about management incompetence and lack of concern about their health and the well-being of their retired colleagues.
 For more than 20 years, the Melbourne Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board (MFB) has owned a contaminated, former bus depot behind the Caulfield South Fire Station. Firefighters fear it could be a health hazard and have asked the United Firefighters Union (UFU) to get the MFB to clean it up.
"This is yet another example of the MFB's failure to act in a timely way to protect firefighters," says Peter Marshall, Victorian Branch Secretary of the UFU. "The MFB purchased this land back in the 1980s but we are still waiting for a detailed report about the extent of contamination - and a cleanup plan. We fear this incompetence on the part of MFB management could be putting firefighters at risk."
Diesel found
Firefighters believe the MFB plans to build a training facility on the site, but are yet to hear anything official. "The Union's health and safety delegates were alerted last year when Station 32 firefighters reported petro-chemical fume odours," says Peter Marshall. "Diesel fuel tanks were discovered on the site and an investigation was commissioned. However, the MFB has failed to release anything but the preliminary findings that do show diesel fuel contamination."
Firefighters used the old bus depot as a temporary fire station for more than two years back in the early 1990s and crews on shift slept there while a new fire station was built. "The dangers of diesel are well known and scientific studies have found that exposure to diesel fumes can cause cancer related illnesses," says Peter Marshall. "Yet, to date, the MFB has failed to organise health checks for either the active - or the now retired - firefighters who worked there."
Clean it up now
It is still not known if there are other toxic substances, like asbestos or trichloroethylene residues, on the property. "The MFB seems to go for contaminated sites," says Peter Marshall. "The Burnley training complex site was contaminated when the MFB purchased it and it then had to be cleaned up at considerable cost. Now, they have another to deal with at Caulfield South."
An independent audit of soil contamination at Burnley was withheld from the Union's health and safety representatives and that forced the Union to threaten legal action to get it released. "We are saying to the MFB, don't play these games again with South Caulfield," says Peter Marshall. "We need to know all the facts now and see action by the MFB to clean this site up."
Firefighters have added South Caulfield to the list of MFB management failures. "We need a complete overhaul of the management of Melbourne's fire service," says Peter Marshall. "The Victorian Government needs to step in right now and fix the mess."
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