SESVA President David Price, Vice President Dave Beard and Treasurer John Capes met with acting FESA CEO Frank Pasquale on Wednesday 31/08/2011. This was for a briefing on the present arrangements within FESA and the way forward following the release of the report into Perth Hills Bushfire February 2011.
Frank spend a considerable time briefing the SESVA and provided an sight on the present situation and the mechanisms the Government has put in place to affect change within FESA following the report into Perth Hills Bushfire February 2011. There was frank and open discussion of the implication of the report and the possible changes within FESA.
The SESVA strongly expressed the opinion that even though the majority of the recommendations made in the report were fire related there was concern on how some of them would impact on the SES particularly the restructure, Department name and possible changes to the ESL and appointment of a Commissioner of Emergency Services.
A number of issues were also discussed including the restructure of the FESA Training Centre and how that would impact on training recourses to SES Volunteers.
David Price said “I would like to express my thanks to Frank for making the time to meet with the SESVA and proving a very detailed briefing on the situation. David also said “FESA is an all hazards Agency and even though the recommendations in this report concern the Fire Fighting arm of the Agency they will also have a great impact of the SES and VMRS and these groups should be not forgotten and be included in every level the change process”
The SESVA has also written to Department of Premier & Cabinet and Minister of Emergency Services with the intention of having meetings to express the same concerns in these forums.
