As a Berrigan home and a business burned on the morning of Australia Day three fire trucks sat silent — just 75 metres away from the engulfed Chanter St property.
The trucks and their crews were in the dark as Fire + Rescue NSW units from as far as Finley and Corowa rushed to the scene.
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They were in the dark as one of their own — a volunteer firefighter named Munasingha ‘Panda’ Gunaratne — watched his house burn.
Now, the volunteer crew of Berrigan Rural Fire Service has just one question: ‘‘Why weren’t we called?’’
At about 1.35am on the morning of Wednesday, January 26 Panda woke to the sound of several smoke alarms.
The siren filled his large two-bedroom unit, which atops Avalook Antiques on Berrigan’s main street.
A trained firefighter, Panda wasted no time.
He notified triple-zero of the blaze and ran just one block down the street.
On instinct, he had arrived at the RFS building where he waited, desperately, for reinforcements to arrive.
The street sat silent for almost 30 minutes as he watched his home burn.
Then Fire + Rescue crews sprung into action.
As their single truck left the building — which neighbours Berrigan RFS — a feeling of relief washed over Panda.
‘‘Good,’’ he recalled thinking at the time. ‘‘RFS crews won’t be far behind.’’
Panda phoned triple-zero a total of three times that morning.
On each occasion he told the operator that an RFS station was not only close by, but in view of the blaze.
‘‘We have three dedicated appliances in the Berrigan RFS station,’’ said NSW RFS Berrigan Captain James Macartney. ‘‘At an overall cost to the taxpayer of over one million dollars,’’ he added.
‘‘We have 10 fully-trained village firefighters and qualified members, all of whom have a willingness to volunteer their help.
‘‘To have not been called is disrespectful, dangerous and dumb.’’
There is a memorandum of understanding between the Rural Fire Service and Fire + Rescue NSW.
The volunteer firefighters of the Rural Fire Service respond primarily to bushfires.
The career firefighters of Fire + Rescue NSW are trained, and equipped, to respond to complex urban fires.
But the ‘Significant Asset Mutual Aid Agreement’ ensures that all available equipment, from either service, be made available in the event of an extreme emergency.
On any occasion that night emergency dispatch or the attending FRNSW Duty Commander could have sounded the alarm, triggering the pagers of all 10 RFS volunteers.
But they didn’t.
At three o’clock that morning Capt. Macartney received a call.
‘‘It wasn’t from Fire + Rescue,’’ he said.
‘‘It was from a member of the public. My natural instincts was to respond.
‘‘I set off the pagers and we headed to the scene.’’
By that time the fire had run its course.
Panda’s home had been destroyed.
‘‘When we got there I was told that it was ‘all over mate, you can go home’,’’ said Capt Macartney.
‘‘I stuck around the scene for a bit, and then at about six o’clock in the morning I took Panda home.’’
Panda has been a resident of Berrigan for almost 10 years.
A qualified engineer, he currently works with DAWMAC Industries.
‘‘Men aren’t really that sentimental, you know, we don’t have a lot of stuff,’’ he said.
‘‘But what I lost you just can’t replace.’’
After 31 years of tertiary study, spanning three different countries, Panda had become an avid collector of study notes.
‘‘I had every shortnote you can have on mechanical engineering,’’ he said.
‘‘I love to collect them because I know that when someone needs a hand I’d be able to share them with my classmates.
‘‘Now, everything is gone.’’
Last week, Panda’s co-workers helped him purchase new clothes and toiletries.
He has been overcome by the support from a community he has always thought of as family.
‘‘Everyone here has helped me. Everyone,’’ he said.
‘‘Even the guys from Fire + Rescue helped me.
‘‘I’m not blaming anyone. But they could have been smarter, they could have asked for help.’’
RFS Federation Zone Group Captain Greyd’n Davis said that the emergency response on Wednesday morning was caused by ‘dysfunction’ and a break down in communications.
‘‘You can lose control of a fire in just five or seven minutes,’’ Mr Davis said.
‘‘In a situation like this, time is everything.
‘‘I’m not saying there would have been a significantly better result had we been called, but what I am saying is that there could have been.
‘‘Sure, can’t enter the building with the equipment we have on hand. But we could have begun defensive firefighting, which would have limited the risk to neighbouring businesses and homes.
‘‘And it could have made a difference. There was a complete dysfunction between us and FRNSW that night.
‘‘There’s only two reasons why this happened.
‘‘The first is a lack of training — which is unforgivable.
‘‘The second is naivety — which is also unforgivable.’’
An FRNSW spokesperson told the Southern Riverina News that the Berrigan crew had summoned units from Jerilderie, which is over 30km away and Corowa, which is over 70.
‘‘The Berrigan crew assessed that a Breathing Apparatus-equipped truck was required to allow firefighters to enter the unit after it had suppressed the flames,’’ said the spokesperson.
‘‘The local RFS crew is not equipped with B/A gear, and as such, was not required.
‘‘However, if the FRNSW Duty Commander in that area deems it necessary in the case of a blaze, Fire and Rescue NSW would have no hesitation in seeking assistance from local Rural Fire Service crews.’’
It is still undetermined how the fire started — though some suspect the cause was faulty wiring.
But that’s not the question Berrigan RFS want answered.
They want an official review into the management of last week’s fire. They want an explanation.
And fearing the consequences, they want to prevent this from ever happening again.
‘‘What if someone else was there instead of me?’’ asked Panda.
‘‘Someone without fire training, someone who could have panicked, someone that could have stayed and tried to fight the fire?
‘‘They might not have come back.
‘‘And you would be writing this article in the past-tense.’’