“I just shake my head”: Veteran firefighter dismisses claims about new power lines increasing risk

More than 6,500 kilometres of transmission lines cut across Victoria’s landscape.

But as the renewable energy network expands, opponents of the rollout claim new transmission lines are a fire hazard, limiting firefighters’ ability to effectively defend properties or use aircraft.

Veteran firefighter Greg Mullins dismissed these claims, saying taking extra precautions around higher-risk infrastructure during fires was part and parcel of the job.

“There’s so many things that firefighters deal with routinely. To suggest that there’s this sudden new hazard, I just shake my head.”

Mullins began fighting fires in 1971, later serving as Fire and Rescue New South Wales Commissioner for 14 years and, more recently, as a volunteer at the Longwood fires in northern Victoria in January.

“There’s been transmission lines across Australia, America, Canada and Southern Europe for over a century, and it’s never been a problem, it’s nothing new,” he told the Brolga.

What actually happens when there’s a fire? During a bushfire, an Incident Controller assesses whether it’s safe for crews to operate near transmission lines. 

• Firefighters keep at least 25 metres clear of high-voltage lines - or stay outside the easement - and maintain smaller safety buffers around distribution lines. Crews can still remove fuel with heavy machinery, back-burn or attack fires from alternative positions.

“With power infrastructure, there's requirements to have access roads and clearing beneath the power lines, so they can actually be helpful as control lines,” Mullins said.

“Pilots aren't stupid, they're not going to blindly fly into power lines, they know where they are, they've got the GPS coordinates. There's exclusion zones they know about.

“It would be very strange to have a fire directly under power lines, where you absolutely must drop a load from an aircraft directly where the power lines are.”

De-energising lines: Power is rarely switched off during bushfires. 

• The CFA says Incident Controllers can request lines be de-energised if required, though such requests are uncommon.

• Mullins said he had only encountered one instance in his career, during extreme conditions in the Blue Mountains in October 2013. 

Other protocols: Transmission lines are one of many types of infrastructure that require a tailored firefighting plan.

“Gas mining infrastructure, for example, where you have liquid propane gas installations, like tanks, they can be quite dangerous, so you've got to keep back a certain distance,” Mullins said.

“Fueling infrastructure, particularly petrol, petrol tankers have to be earthed when they're discharging, or there can be sparks. You don't hear about people being injured, because this is so entrenched in the way we do business.” 

What’s the real issue? Mullins argued extreme weather that ignited fire should be the main concern.

“I've lived through more than 50 years of changing fire weather. We need to roll out renewables as quickly as possible worldwide to try and stabilise temperatures, because that is what’s making firefighters’ jobs harder,” Mullins said. 

• He said pyroconvective storms, or fire generated thunderstorms, which are a dangerous fire behaviour that occurred during extreme bushfires, were becoming more common.

“In Victoria, major fires up until Ash Wednesday were about 40 years apart,” he said. “Now they're 20-odd years apart, because those weather conditions are worsening and becoming more frequent, and that's the big problem, not a few power lines around the place.”