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A FIREFIGHTER with decades of experience told an inquest yesterday he had never felt so unsafe as the day two colleagues died near Harrietville.
Darryl Jordon said crews working on the Pheasant Creek Track on February 13 last year were extremely worried about falling trees.
That had been exacerbated by an approaching storm they feared would make more of the deadly, old fire-damaged alpine ash trees fall.
The firefighters’ superiors gave them no warning of an approaching storm that Mr Jordon said he could see “starting to brew in the distance”.
That was despite a “howling wind” starting to whip across the track area, raising concerns that more of the trees would fall.
Several firefighters had already told of near misses with falling ash trees earlier in the battle to put out the Harrietville fire, which started on January 21.
Mr Jordon gave evidence yesterday at the Wodonga Coroner’s Court on the third day of an inquest into the deaths of firefighters Katie Peters, 19, and Steven Kadar, 34.
Miss Peters was driving a Toyota LandCruiser “slip on” utility with Mr Kadar in the passenger seat when a tree crashed onto its roof. at 3.37pm.
They were killed instantly.
Mr Jordon told coroner John Olle that he had been a firefighter for 27 years.
The Department of Primary Industries and Environment field staff officer said he took it upon himself to get his firefighting partner, Dave Jackson, to put out a warning on their fire-ground radio about the possibility of falling trees.
Mr Jordon said there simply hadn’t been sufficient warning about the storm from their superiors.
Counsel for the Kadar family and the Australian Workers Union John Kelly asked Mr Jordon how dangerous it had been on that afternoon of February 13.
“That’s the most uncomfortable I’ve been in a fire,” he said.
“I wasn’t hanging around. It was getting too dangerous.
“It’s dangerous enough when there isn’t those conditions.”
Mr Jordon said crews had been largely left to “fend for ourselves” and “look after our own safety”.
But DEPI field service officer and rappel crew supervisor Tony Grey said he had felt safe working that day on Pheasant Creek Track.
Mr Grey said he had spent many years in areas where the job required maintaining a close watch on possibly dangerous trees.
“I’d say it was something to be aware of, but I didn’t see any problems working around alpine ash,” he said.
Mr Grey said he always made safety an absolute priority and always asked crew members if they wanted to work on a particular fire ground.
“If guys are adamant they don’t want to go in there that’s fine,” he said.
The inquest continues today.