The controversial Fiskville firefighter training facility in regional Victoria has been closed indefinitely, after a banned chemical was found in four dams used to store water for training exercises.
Water storage tanks at the Country Fire Authority facility were found to contain perfluorooctane sulfonate, a manmade pollutant that was in firefighting foams used until 2007 but which began to be phased out because of concerns about health effects and the inability of the substance to break down in the environment.
The closure of the Fiskville site follows the release of a comprehensive study earlier this year which found firefighters who worked there between 1971 and 1999 had a higher incidence of skin, testicular and brain cancers because of exposure to chemicals and recycled firewater.
The facility is also the subject of a landmark parliamentary inquiry examining pollution, contamination and unsafe activities at the site from 1970 to 1990.
Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, said on Tuesday that WorkSafe chief executive Denise Cosgrove and chairman David Krasnostein had resigned at the government’s request.
Andrews said the government had lost confidence in the safety watchdog because it had given “clear advice” that the water was safe last year.
After the discovery of the toxin in the water, the government had demanded an explanation, Andrews said.
“They can not explain how they got this wrong,” he said. “In fact, they can not guarantee us that they even tested the water in the first place. I will not be lied to, and I will not accept incompetence.”
The CFA chief executive, Michael Wootten, said further testing of all water, including drinking water, would be conducted at Fiskville over coming days.
“Since 2012, mains water has been used on the practical area for drills, which has been stored in two large tanks,” he said. “Recent tests of the tanks show the presence of these residues.”
Remediation of the dam water and sediment would take place “in the near future,” he said.
The Victorian emergency services minister, Jane Garrett, said the investigations would be exhaustive, and that the government would be seeking advice from chemical and medical experts.
“This is a very serious and distressing matter for all those people connected to Fiskville,” Garrett said. “We will offer every assistance to those who have been exposed to this water. The investigation will be definitive and give us the answers that so many people deserve.”
The site may never be reopened, United Firefighters Union Victorian secretary Peter Marshall told the ABC on Tuesday morning.
“There’s a dark, dark, cloud hanging over the long-term viability, or even the short-term viability, of Fiskville,” he said. “Whatever happens, it is our job to make sure that the employment of those people affected is secure. We will engage with the state government over that, and also ensure that their health is monitored.”
Along with a training facility at Craigieburn, Fiskville was a main training site for firefighters. Craigieburn and smaller facilities across the state would have to absorb staff and trainees while the Fiskville facility was investigated, Marshall said.
The union believes the testing should have been carried out earlier, he said, and concerns about the safety of the site have been raised many times.
“The quest is to make those accountable who have knowledge and have not divulged that knowledge to personnel in the past,” he said. “They should be worried because there is a parliamentary inquiry and the truth will come out. There’s been information covered up, and testing results that weren’t given to staff.”
