More Defence news: 09 February 2009 - 15 February 2009

Operation VIC FIRE ASSIST
The Prime Minister and Victorian Premier visit Kinglake

15 February - The Prime Minister and the Premier of Victoria, along with Defence leaders, have made a visit to the bushfire ravaged community of Kinglake.

The Prime Minister, the Hon. Kevin Rudd MP, accompanied by Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, toured the Civil Relief Centre, where they met with local residents, before talking with Defence Health Support personnel, who have been providing medical and counselling services to the region.

The Prime Minister’s arrival coincided with a visit by Victorian Premier, the Hon. John Brumby MP, along with Acting Head of the Victorian Bushfire Recovery and Reconstruction Service, Major General John Cantwell, AO, and Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon.

The Premier’s first stop was the Kinglake cricket ground, where he talked to troops deployed with the Search Task Group (STG) as part of Joint Task Force, supporting the Victorian Government bushfire relief effort.

Premier Brumby told the soldiers that the support they had provided over the past week had made a big difference in the lives of those people and communities affected by the bushfire.

Up to this point, the STG teams have searched more than 3000 premises in bushfire damaged areas, including Kinglake, Flowerdale, Marysville, Hazeldene, St Andrews, Yarra Glen, Whittlesea, Narbethong, Toolangi and Traralgon.

More: Image gallery

Operation VIC FIRE ASSIST
Bushfire Memorial Service, East Timor

15 February -Australian and New Zealand Defence Force members serving in East Timor as part of the International Stabilisation Force hold a memorial service to pay tribute to those affected by the Victorian bushfires.

More: Image gallery

Operation VIC FIRE ASSIST
CDF visits fire ground

14 February - Most recent imagery of Operation VIC FIRE ASSIST including visit from CDF and memorial service held in East Timor.

More:
Image gallery - Visit from CDF
Image gallery - Memorial service

Operation VIC FIRE ASSIST
Australian Defence Force tasks under COMDISPLAN – VICTORIA

13 February - The Australian Defence Force has established a Victorian-based Joint Task Force of over 600 people under the command of Brigadier Michael Arnold, the commander of the Army’s 4th Brigade. The Joint Task Force primarily consists of Army Reserve personnel.

The number of personnel in the Joint Task Force will continue to fluctuate over the
following week as emergency assistance tasks and the individual availability of
reserve personnel changes.

Approximately 475 personnel are currently engaged in providing specialist and
emergency support to government agencies and a further 160 in Puckapunyal are
providing additional support when required.

Defence thanks all the employers of our reserve personnel for their generous and
understanding support during this time of crisis.

More: Operation VIC FIRE ASSIST | Image gallery

Incident in Afghanistan

13 February - In the early hours of Thursday morning, 12 February 2009, soldiers of the Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) conducted clearance operations through a number of compounds of interest in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan.

During the conduct of this operation the soldiers were fired upon by Taliban insurgents.  The SOTG engaged the insurgents, returning fire in accordance with their rules of engagement.

No Australians were injured in the engagement, but a number of people have been killed and wounded during this incident. Current reporting indicates that those killed include a suspected insurgent and, sadly, local nationals including five children killed, and two children and two adults injured.

The injured have been treated on site and evacuated to medical facilities for further assessment and treatment if required.

The Australian Defence Force has commenced an investigation into this incident.

More: Media Release | Transcript | Image gallery

Operation VIC FIRE ASSIST
Commonwealth Disaster Plan update

12 February - Under the Commonwealth Disaster Plan, the ADF has established a Victorian-based Joint Task Force (JTF) under the command of Brigadier Michael Arnold, the commander of the Army’s 4th Brigade.    

As at Thursday 12 February, 520 personnel have deployed on operation with around 360 personnel currently engaged in providing specialist and emergency support to government agencies and a further 160 to provide additional support when required.

Engineers completed enhanced containment lines in the vicinity of Wandong township. Today work will be carried out to establish a containment line along Shiralee Road and route obstacle clearance on Strath Creek Road. Planning is underway on possible fuel reduction tasks near six sensitive aboriginal heritage sites that are possibly threatened by the Beechworth fire. 

The Flowerdale search is now complete and the search task has moved to Kinglake West.  A search team in Traralgon is supporting Victoria Police. Teams in St Andrews are searching and clearing buildings. The search teams in Yarra Glen are conducting road clearance, road searches and handing out police-issued food parcels.

Accommodation for 160 people, including tents, a field kitchen, bedding and stretchers for a relief centre in Alexandra is underway.

Defence has deployed its own medical and counselling teams to support the personnel in the Joint Task Force. Where they can, these teams are also supporting the wider emergency effort.

More: Media release | Image gallery | Operation VIC FIRE ASSIST

Navy’s views on shark attacks

12 February - Following the recent shark attack on Wednesday 11 February, involving Navy Clearance Diver, Able Seaman Paul deGelder, the Royal Australian Navy has confirmed that shark attacks on Clearance Divers are not common and this is the first recorded attack on a clearance
diver.

The incident occurred just before 7am, in waters alongside the Navy’s Fleet Base East Wharf at Woolloomooloo.

Able Seaman deGelder has undergone surgery and is in a serious but stable condition in hospital.

Navy Clearance Divers use world class risk assessment procedures to ensure the safe conduct of all operations.

A Hazard Risk Assessment is conducted for every dive, taking into account a wide range of factors and issues such as potential equipment problems, nearby boats or shark sightings to minimise the dangers.

Divers are also briefed on what to do in emergencies before every dive.

The procedures Navy uses align with those used by the commercial diving industry.

Exercise KONDARI is a major undertaking and the risk assessment for this activity began months ago. It concluded that the risk of shark attack was very low.

The fact that the on site crew reacted so quickly and pulled the diver to safety shows the procedures and training worked well.

Diving operations have been suspended pending an investigation of this incident.

More: Image gallery

Operation VIC FIRE ASSIST
Commonwealth Disaster Plan update

11 February - Under the Commonwealth Disaster Plan, the ADF has established a Victorian-based Joint Task Force (JTF) under the command of Brigadier Michael Arnold, the commander of the Army’s 4th Brigade.

As at Wednesday 11 February, 450 personnel have now been assigned to the Task Force, 300 personnel are currently engaged in providing specialist and emergency support to government agencies and a further 140 are available to provide additional support when required. The task force includes full-time and reserve Defence members.

The Task Force has provided tents, stretchers and sleeping bags to accommodate 120 people in Yea and Alexandria and 150 portable beds or mattresses have been provided to relief centres in the Baw Baw Shire in West Gippsland helping emergency workers with rest facilities to continue their tireless work. 

More: Media release | Image gallery | Operation VIC FIRE ASSIST

Operation VIC FIRE ASSIST
Minister for Defence visits bushfire devastation

11 February - On Tuesday 10 February, the Minister for Defence, the Hon. Joel Fitzgibbon visited the devastation left by the Victorian bushfires with Commander of the Defence Joint Task Force, Brigadier Michael Arnold.

Mr Fitzgibbon reaffirmed the Prime Minister’s commitment to do all possible to help the Victorian Government and the local communities in their response to the disaster.

Yesterday the Australian Defence Force;
• deployed heavy earth-moving equipment and teams of chainsaw operators to build fire-breaks and clear roads near Broadford and Yea;

• the Air Force flew an AP-3C Orion aircraft over the fire-affected area to assist with identification of the fire front; and

• deployed 160 soldiers to Kilmore to conduct a wide area search task in Traralgon, St Andrews, Flowerdale and Yarra Glen.

Defence is preparing to:
• transport a five person Victim Identification team from the Western Australian Police to Victoria and will deploy two medical and psychological support teams in the next 24 hours to provide specialist health support including counseling services;

• provide a qualified officer to assist in the tasking and coordination of aerial reconnaissance operations conducted by emergency services and the Australian Defence Force.

The Australian Defence Force is currently operating in nine locations throughout the affected area.

More: Media release | Image gallery | Operation VIC FIRE ASSIST

Operation VIC FIRE ASSIST
Heavy equipment arrives on the scene

10 February - On Tuesday, 10 February the Engineer Support Group, now consisting of about 70 personnel, including 7 heavy plant machines, two chainsaw sections and logistics support began assisting with fire containment measures, re-opening of roads and fire fighting measures around the Victorian town of Yea.

On Monday night the Engineer task group had cut about 10km of fire breaks in the vicinity of Broadford and Yea. The task group is aiming to cut a total of 100 km of fire breaks by Friday.

The Army is providing a variety of plant equipment which will operate in the Yea region including: a grader, two heavy bulldozers, two medium bulldozers, a light bulldozer and a front-end loader.  Four Armoured Personnel Carriers fitted with communication and emergency evacuation capabilities have also deployed into Yea to assist the military engineers. Other military vehicles including trucks and four-wheel-drives are being made available to assist in rugged locations.

A Search Task Group comprising around 160 Reserve soldiers is headquartered in Kilmore. This manpower is providing four search teams to assist the emergency management agencies searching through rough terrain on foot near Traralgon, St Andrews, Flowerdale and Yarra Glen.

Soldiers are well briefed and equipped to conduct this type of activity.
Soldiers who are currently conducting pre-deployment training prior to conducting operations in Solomon Islands are providing surge capacity for short duration tasks. They are based out of Puckapunyal and are not due to deploy to Solomon Islands for a number of weeks.

A Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion aircraft will assist in the search for households affected by the fires in remote areas.

Defence will deploy two medical and psychological support teams from Tuesday to assist government agencies with the provision of specialist health support including counselling services.

Cairn dedicated to the unknown HMAS Sydney II sailor on Christmas Island

09 February - On Saturday 7 February the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, the Hon. Warren Snowdon MP attended a cairn dedication service on Christmas Island to mark the original grave of the unknown sailor believed to have served on HMAS Sydney II.

HMAS Sydney II and her 645 crew were tragically lost in November 1941 following a fierce engagement with the German raider HSK Kormoran.

More: HMAS Sydney II website | Image gallery | Media release | Speech

Defence support to the bushfire emergency

09 February - On Sunday 8 February, Defence responded to a request for portable bedding and dispatched bedding for 150 people to the residents of Warragul.

Last night, tents, beds and sleeping bags for 120 people were dispatched to Yea.

An Army Engineer has joined the Integrated Emergency Response Centre in the CFA Head Quarters in Victoria to assist with a review of the bushfire situation and provide advice on additional Defence support, if required.

Defence responds to Victorian Bushfire Crisis

09 February - On Monday 9 February, Brigadier Arnold constituted two task groups within the Joint Task Force (JTF): an Engineer Support Group and a Reserve Response Force Support Group.

The Engineer Support Group consists of 15 plant operators, seven bulldozers andfront-end loaders, their associated operators, two chainsaw sections and logistics support.
 
A team of five plant operators and heavy lift truck drivers have moved to Puckapunyal Army Base to load the bulldozers and plant equipment in readiness for the hour-long trip to the Yea area.

The plant that was despatched from Puckapunyal included: two heavy bulldozers, two medium bulldozers, a light bulldozer, and two front-end loaders.

Additional logistics support is being provided by 4 Combat Support Services Battalion.
The Reserve Response Force Support Group formed this morning ready to deploy from Melbourne. This task group comprises of approximately 160 Reserve soldiers.

A reconnaissance team of three personnel including a liaison officer and signaller have already been despatched to the CFA Regional Command Centre.