Newsletter 2/2019

23/05 /2019

NEWSLETTER NO 2. 2019

Hi to all.

Again I take deep regret to have to advise that another of our members has passed on.

Steve Ryan RIP

The funeral for Steve was held in Penrith on the 16th May. We all send my deepest sympathy to his son John and all the family members.

CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION HELP:

I would like to report that I am now at a standstill and I need help from everyone to take our fight for a compensation package in relation to our chemical contamination claims to the next level. I do not believe that I can offer any more information that we now have to justify calling for compensation.

I am now calling on DVA to either:

A. Immediately issue the Gold Card to all of the members of the Defence Fire service including those members other than Firefighters, (eg Mechanical fitters etc.) who were on strength at the Fire School plus the Army and Navy members who trained at the RAAF training schools during the 1957 to 2000 period. Or
B.Provide a lump sum payout. Similar to the one given for the Reseal/Deseal claims which were provided due to contamination from one chemical as opposed to our proof of the combinations from 163 chemicals.

If neither of these two options are taken up I will be calling on everyone to indicate if they wish to join me in taking our case to a legal firm with the prospect of instigating a class action for compensation.

There is no doubt that all of our members are sitting on a time bomb as there is also no doubt that at some stage this contamination will manifest in some form for many. Granted we only have positive evidence for the Point Cook training ground however it is my estimation that all of the Base Fire Training pits at every Base will contain at least 85% of the same chemicals that were found at Point Cook. My requests for extensive soil testing on other Bases has not been considered and it is my belief that this will never happen. In some cases Defence has closed these areas and construction has occurred. In one instance the area has been sold off and a housing development built.

I have attached a separate submission titled, “DEFENCE FIREFIGHTERS SEEKING JUSTICE” with this Newsletter. In this I have attempted to give a brief outline of our history and responsibilities of our mustering with the emphasis this places on the variety of chemicals, their medical effects and the results obtained from 128 of our members. There can be no doubt that the combined effect of the 163 established chemicals have had a drastic effect on all of our lives. The key word in this is “combined” we are not talking about single contaminations.

I know that some will ask why I have made no mention of AFFF contamination and for me the reason is simply that there is no evidence that this has caused any medical problems at this stage. Our members were at the forefront with its use and whilst we have indisputable evidence of the conditions caused from the 163 chemicals I am unable to obtain the same evidence for AFFF. In fact I believe that this red herring has resulted in our claims being disregarded.

It may also be said that age is a factor with some deaths and this is certainly true however in many or the deaths after age 70 we can establish that a large percentage of those members endured many years of severe suffering from conditions because of possible chemical contamination.

DVA has informed me that the results of my findings as listed in the attached report will be given to the Repat Medical Authority, RMA, for consideration. My question to this is, were the Reseal/Deseal claims handled in this manner and if not why?

I have had some correspondence with the Department of Defence, Work Health Safety Branch in reference to my claim that we burnt Agent Orange at Point Cook. They have in two separate correspondences denied that this occurred. They acknowledge that Agent Orange was made from equal parts of the herbicides 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T) however they continue to state that the two chemicals I listed were 2,4-dichlorophenyl and 2,4,5-trichlorophenile, (the first letter stated 2,4,5- dichlorophenol) and did not produce Agent Orange. This is nothing except a lot of mumbo jumbo as I have never mentioned these in any correspondence. The evidence shows that 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T was found in the fire ground and no amount of denial will alter this. I still have the written evidence for all of this. I also believe that we should not become too preoccupied with these two chemicals as they were only two of the 163 that were found.

As I stated in the beginning of this, I believe that I have now achieved all that I can to this point and now it is up to everyone to make a noise. I would like all to send copies of my submission, ”DEFENCE FIREFIGHTERS SEEKING JUSTICE” to send out to your local Federal MP’s, Senators and all media outlets please. Please feel free to place your contact details with mine on the submission. Any questions may be directed through you or directly back to me. We have waited for more than seven years and witnessed the slow agonising death of to many of our mates. Please get behind this.

In conclusion I would like to mention that in the past I have been asked by members if it is okay for them to use information I have sent out in the Newsletters when making a claim. Yes I am more than happy for everyone to use anything I have sent out. I do not publish anything that I do not have concrete evidence on.

Good health to all

Pat

DEFENCE FIREFIGHTERS SEEKING JUSTICE.

The Defence force Fire Service commenced with two RAAF Sergeants appointed after completion of a course conducted by the Melbourne Fire Brigade in 1956. The first course for RAAF members was conducted at Fire Training School, RAAF Base, Point Cook, Victoria in January 1957. Courses continued at this Base until 1986 when the Fire Training school was relocated to RAAF Base Amberley Queensland.

Firefighting training included extinguishing of fires where solid and liquid waste generated from within the Base and civilian industries were ignited and extinguished. These were extremely large and dangerous fires designed to ensure that trainees had the confidence to endure the dangers and heat generated. Clothing consisted of a heavy duty plastic coat, Second WW2 seaman’s leather Gum Boots and an open face helmet. These items were upgraded to the wool coat and trousers, lace up boots and a helmet with face mask during the 1980 period. Demand Breathing Apparatus were issued in the mid 1960’s and upgraded to Positive pressure some years later. These were not to be used for normal practice fire training.

Regulations called for hot fire continuous training be conducted on a regular basis once the student had successfully completed initial training and been posted to a Base. Fuel for this practice was sourced from the Base and local industries. It became the practice that at least one hot fire would be conducted at least every second shift for all shifts. The practice of conducting this form of training was discontinued in 2001 because of the associated dangers to both the environment and humans.

On 26 July 2011 the Commonwealth of Australia Parliament Standing Committee on Public Works released a Hansard report, “Contamination remediation works, former fire training area, RAAF Base Williams, Point Cook, Victoria.” This report listed over 120 chemicals still active in the ground and stated that there may be others.

In 2012 I collected statements from three other Ex Firefighters and submitted an appeal calling for DVA to recognise the fact that the listed chemicals had shown that they were responsible for conditions including deaths, cancers and several other medical conditions. It has been established that some of these chemicals can remain dormant in the body for over 40 years. We believe that there were approximately 1000 members who served from 1956 until 2000 and there are approximately 300 of these that we do not have any information on as to if they are deceased or alive. We know that there has been 176 deaths from the 700 known and that 55 of these have occurred since 2011 when we received the Hansard report. We estimate that of the 55 deaths 44 of these were under age 75.

Our call for an investigation by DVA has led to at least 10 comprehensive studies with the latest revealing the following;

There were 163 chemicals located and investigated from Point Cook which revealed the following health conditions that each of our members face from each chemical.

Probable/Possible Cancers 72 = 44% Skin Absorption 96 = 59%

Eye Absorption84 = 51%

URT (Upper Respiratory Tract)81 = 50% CSN. (Central Nervous System)75 = 46% Inhalation62 = 38% Ingestion44 = 27%

Reference: Dr David Douglas study of Chemicals found at Point Cook FireTrining Ground.

These are the figures for each chemical and in every fire pit it could be expected that there were multiple on these involved at any one time and it would therefore be impossible to diagnose what would be the results of these combinations. The fact that all of these chemicals can remain active in the ground is proven as we have positive proof that they last for over 50 years and the fact that some of these can remain in the body for over 40 years before the onset of cancer and other medical conditions have been established.

It has been established that we burnt 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T which are the chemical that produce Agent Orange even though the Department of Defence have attempted to deny this on three occasions. There is no doubt that the Department wanted this covered up at all costs however the fact that these chemicals were found and identified is sufficient proof.

A medical survey carried out on 128 Firefighters in 2018 revealed the following.

Cancers 49

Respiratory 15 Neurological 7

Eyesight 22

Hearing 63

Medical 243 Skeletal 168

Reference: P Mildren survey 128 Firefighters

There is no doubt that all of our members are sitting on a time bomb as there is also no doubt that at some stage this contamination will manifest in some form. In view of this I have now called on DVA to immediately issue the Gold Card to all of the members of the Defence Fire service including those members other than Firefighters, (eg Mechanical fitters etc.) who were on strength at the Fire School plus the Army and Navy members who trained at the RAAF training school during the 1957 to 2000 period.

If the Gold Card is refused then I will be asking for lump sum payouts as was given for the Reseal/Deseal claims which were granted for one chemical’s reaction. We have indisputable proof that our members have and are continuing to suffer from the combined effect of 163 chemicals.

Granted we only have positive evidence for the Point Cook training ground however it is my estimation that all of the Base Fire Training pits at every Base will contain at least 85% of the seme chemicals that were found at Point Cook.

Failure to obtain either of the solutions as mentioned I will be calling on our members to join in a class action. We certainly have enough evidence to make this a viable solution.

Pat Mildren