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CFA Fire Fighters Attacked by Youths at a Fire
Last weekend, CFA volunteers were set upon and attacked by a mob of youths after being called to a deliberatly lit car fire.
The following was reported in one newspaper:
"Eight people have been arrested over the weekend after a drunken mob beat up firefighters putting out a blaze at a country Victorian BMX bike event.
On Saturday afternoon, Country Fire Authority volunteer firefighters were called by residents worried about a large plume of smoke coming from a BMX track near Bendigo in central Victoria.
When they arrived at the Strathfieldsaye track, they found a car that had been deliberately set alight and about 250 people, many of them drunk.
"They threw stubbies at the volunteer firefighters, physically fought with them and got on the fire truck and attempted to interfere with its operations," Bendigo Sergeant Tony Commadeur told AAP.
"The CFA called for assistance from police, one car drove into a volatile situation where a main bunch of 10-15 people surrounded them in a semi-circle and were closing in.
"They were told to back off, they didn't, so we used capsicum spray on one and then they got the message that we were not going to take it."
Sgt Commadeur described the incident in which volunteer emergency workers were physically attacked while trying to put out a dangerous fire as "outrageous".
"One CFA guy pulled up pretty sore, he was dragging people away from the truck after they jumped on it to interfere with their equipment," he said.
"They turned on him and hit him.
"It's disgraceful, no way in the world is that behaviour normal, to be intimidating towards or assault sacred volunteer community personnel such as CFA, SES (State Emergency Service), paramedics who are protecting lives and property.
"If the car had exploded, 250 people's lives would have been at risk."
The car was being used for daredevil "Evel Knievel" style bike tricks.
No one has been charged yet and Sgt Commadeur admitted police did not know who had organised the event, but investigations were continuing.
The event is known as the 'B-town Trailjam' and has been running for nearly a decade but is not officially sanctioned, with police being called there last year over a burning mattress.
This year it was believed to have been advertised over the internet through forums such as MySpace.''
And this news report of the incident:
The following was reported in one newspaper:
"Eight people have been arrested over the weekend after a drunken mob beat up firefighters putting out a blaze at a country Victorian BMX bike event.
On Saturday afternoon, Country Fire Authority volunteer firefighters were called by residents worried about a large plume of smoke coming from a BMX track near Bendigo in central Victoria.
When they arrived at the Strathfieldsaye track, they found a car that had been deliberately set alight and about 250 people, many of them drunk.
"They threw stubbies at the volunteer firefighters, physically fought with them and got on the fire truck and attempted to interfere with its operations," Bendigo Sergeant Tony Commadeur told AAP.
"The CFA called for assistance from police, one car drove into a volatile situation where a main bunch of 10-15 people surrounded them in a semi-circle and were closing in.
"They were told to back off, they didn't, so we used capsicum spray on one and then they got the message that we were not going to take it."
Sgt Commadeur described the incident in which volunteer emergency workers were physically attacked while trying to put out a dangerous fire as "outrageous".
"One CFA guy pulled up pretty sore, he was dragging people away from the truck after they jumped on it to interfere with their equipment," he said.
"They turned on him and hit him.
"It's disgraceful, no way in the world is that behaviour normal, to be intimidating towards or assault sacred volunteer community personnel such as CFA, SES (State Emergency Service), paramedics who are protecting lives and property.
"If the car had exploded, 250 people's lives would have been at risk."
The car was being used for daredevil "Evel Knievel" style bike tricks.
No one has been charged yet and Sgt Commadeur admitted police did not know who had organised the event, but investigations were continuing.
The event is known as the 'B-town Trailjam' and has been running for nearly a decade but is not officially sanctioned, with police being called there last year over a burning mattress.
This year it was believed to have been advertised over the internet through forums such as MySpace.''
And this news report of the incident:
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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You're spot on Cat. There's very mixed feedback as to what they were and weren't told during despatch and prior to arriving.
Even with little to no information about the mob, the potential was there right from the start with such a size crowd, fuelled by alcohol.
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Permalink Reply by Mark Montgomery on
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I have been in this situation here in New Zealand about 15 years ago. Got called to an unknown fire in a bit of bush in a park. When we approached the park we were advised by residents that there were 50+ cars and may 150 drunken people.
A decision was made that Police would run the show and we would wait for them, in addition as the area where the fire was was off road we called up a 4x4 fire truck so that could be used if required.
Everything was setup by Police once they arrived with a small riot squad, shields, helmets and long batons. Our Chief (wearing a firefighter rank helmet rather than his own) and one other firefighter went with them on foot into the scene to see what was happening and what was burning. We stayed with the truck which we had taken off the main exit road and pulled all the loose gear into the cab or lockers so it couldn't be used against us.
Turned out to be just a large camp fire and the 4x4 was called in as it had pump and run capability and the mob was dispersed by Police who had thoughtfully setup road stops for them out of sight a 1/2 a mile up the only road out :-D From memory they arrested about 9 and put 11 or 12 cars off the road as well.
No-one hurt, nothing really damaged and we all got to go back to station unharmed.
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Permalink Reply by Mac Conant on
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Personally, FireFighter or not, if im attacked, Im going to fight back. When your out numbered like that I feel it turns into the military term
"Shoot and sooot"
Back out slowly but keep your ass end coverd and ward off any attackers that need to be. I personally would have been worried about grass, trees, ect catching from the car. I also would have stayed with the truck and a deck gun with hand line to keep the people back until police arrived. I mean..
More questions arise..
I feel the truck was close enough to keep all the firefighters together and just fight from the area of the truck. Keep a small semi circle with the FF's you have to defend every one and just try and drop water on the fire from where you can.
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Permalink Reply by Tony P on
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I've thought about the possibility of the car fire spreading, maybe compromising safety, all of that. With the crowd there and their apparent reaction to the arrival of the fire truck - I couldn't give a rats' rectum about it. We'd stay back until all was under control. If the fire spread, well, call in more vehicles. And it'd always be another charge the cops could lay.
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Permalink Reply by Royce Terry on
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Wow
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Permalink Reply by PFC Harmon on
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I think that todays youth see firefighters and emts and ascociate them with police and authority. Wich in their drunken stuper or teenage stupitity they dont realize we are only trying to protect lives and property.
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Permalink Reply by A.J. on
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for sure get out of there if you can and if not im going for the deck gun and halligan tool and if i had to the axe my fellow firefighters would be more important than one of those punks but for sure calling law enforcement and trying to get out of there would be the best option.
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"At this time of yr that fire wasn't going anywhere, every thing was green and were just out of winter" Unfortunately, not so. Bendigo only had 151mm of rain this last winter - enough to kick-start some growth, but that's about all. Close to me we've had a grassfire start at 04:30 and burn out over five hectares before being pulled up. Could be interesting this summer, ask me in May 09...
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Permalink Reply by Jeanine on
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If this happened at my department, I would have ordered my guys back into the truck and called for priority traffic along with priority responce from law......Scene safety is FIRST and foremost.
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Permalink Reply by FireCat on
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These are my questions:
What happened to scene size up?
Staying a safe distance away?
Calling law enforcement for crowd control before the crowd became completely out of control?
Where in heck was the IC?
This incident escalated to a point that it shouldn't have because of poor judgment.
Just my 2 cents worth.
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Given the times are changing and today's youth are well aware that the law wont do s**t to them
Yes, that is a big problem becoming bigger as time passes.
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