Category Archives: Emergency services

Twelve soldiers remain in Lismore hospital after army trucks rolled in northern NSW

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Two personnel in serious condition after accident near city lashed by torrential rain brought by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred

Twelve soldiers remain in hospital – two in a serious condition – after two army trucks carrying troops rolled on a country road near Lismore on Saturday evening as ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred lashed the northern New South Wales coast and southern Queensland.

Thirty-two defence personnel were involved in the crash – members of the 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment, part of the 7th Brigade based at Gallipoli Barracks in northern Brisbane – just after 5pm on Tregeagle Road, 9km south-west of Lismore.

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Trump administration cancels classes at National Fire Academy amid funding freeze

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Free training classes for firefighters and other first responders are provided through Fema at the Maryland site

The country’s pre-eminent federal fire training academy canceled classes, effective immediately, on Saturday amid the ongoing flurry of funding freezes and staffing cuts by Donald Trump’s administration.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that National Fire Academy (NFA) courses had been canceled amid a “process of evaluating agency programs and spending to ensure alignment with Administration priorities”, according to a notice sent to instructors, students and fire departments. Instructors were told to cancel all future travel until further notice.

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Tropical Cyclone Alfred live updates: wind and rain intensify as category 2 storm nears south-east Queensland and northern NSW

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BoM path track map predicts TC Alfred will cross coast on Saturday near Brisbane, the first storm of its size to do so in decades. Follow the latest updates today

Welfare recipients told to perform mutual obligations as cyclone bears down

We have a news story this morning about the impact the cyclone is already having on life in Queensland.

Fallen trees and giant stands of bamboo blocked the single road to our farm until the army and council brought heavy machinery to clear a path some time after.

We were without running water or power for days, maybe weeks, the packing shed a makeshift kitchen where we ate meals cooked off a gas barbecue and drank instant coffee made with rainwater and UHT milk to the hum of a generator.

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Cyclone Alfred live updates: BoM tracking map forecast shows category 2 storm hitting Brisbane and south-east Qld; landfall in Queensland and NSW delayed as storm slows – latest news

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BoM path track map predicts TC Alfred will cross coast on Friday near Brisbane, the first storm of its size to do so in decades. Follow the latest updates today

Speaking of preparations, adjunct senior lecturer at the Centre for Disaster Studies at James Cook University Yetta Gurtner gives advice here:

Chalmers confident insurance companies ‘know their responsibilities’

I’m confident they know their responsibilities and obligations to people.

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NHS facing ‘crisis of public trust’ as most people fear being failed by A&E services

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Public concern about NHS is worrying and frightening, says leading emergency doctor after poll revealed

Three in four people in the UK fear getting stuck on a trolley in a hospital corridor or an ambulance not arriving after dialling 999, prompting claims that the NHS is facing “a crisis of public trust”.

Huge numbers also worry about their local A&E not having enough beds (77%) and not being able to get care at their GP surgery (70%), research also found.

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Ambulance crews stuck at A&E miss thousands of 999 calls a day in England

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Exclusive: paramedics unable to respond to 100,000 calls a month as they wait to hand over patients

Paramedics in England are unable to respond to 100,000 urgent 999 calls every month because they are stuck outside hospitals waiting to hand over patients, endangering thousands of lives, the Guardian can reveal.

As the crisis engulfing the NHS intensified this weekend, figures showed ambulance crews are tied up at A&E for so long that on more than 3,500 occasions each day they are unable to respond to a 999 plea for help.

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Anthony Albanese announces $7.2bn in funding for Queensland’s Bruce Highway in first major election promise

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Federal government to fund 80% of upgrades with state paying for 20%, despite previously vowing to split infrastructure projects 50-50

In the first major promise of the election year, Anthony Albanese has announced $7.2bn in funding for Queensland’s Bruce Highway.

The federal government will fund 80% of the upgrades, with the state funding 20%.

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Welsh ambulance service declares ‘critical incident’ after demand soars

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Patients waiting many hours for ambulances to arrive, while those phoning 999 struggle to get through

A “critical incident” was declared by the Welsh ambulance service on Monday evening due to significantly increased demand and extensive handover delays.

The ambulance service, which covers 3 million-plus people across Wales, said more than 340 calls were waiting to be answered at the time the critical incident was declared.

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Tributes paid to mother who died in house fire where four children survived

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Emergency crews were unable to save Kate Mulcahy while her children escaped from a fire at her home in Manchester

Tributes have been paid to a 37-year-old woman who died in a house fire in Greater Manchester where her four children survived.

Kate Mulcahy was found dead inside her home in Middleton after a fire broke out early on Sunday morning. It is understood she had two sons – one-year-old twins – and two daughters, and that a number of the children were in the house and managed to escape the blaze.

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Emergency services in Massachusetts restored after statewide 911 outage

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Number of people affected unclear after disruption made it impossible to reach emergency services through number

The 911 system across Massachusetts was restored Tuesday after going down for several hours, which made it impossible for anyone to reach emergency services through the call number.

The Massachusetts state police announced around 3.45pm that the system had been restored and that people could resume calling emergency services. They didn’t provide any details about the cause of the outage.

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NSW man ordered to stop posing as a paramedic and providing health services without qualifications

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Andreas Pantziaros given prohibition order from NSW Health Care Complaints Commission after purporting to be a paramedic

A man who wore a uniform, drove a vehicle closely resembling an ambulance and charged for emergency health services he was not qualified to perform has been deemed a risk to public health and safety.

The NSW Health Care Complaints Commission has handed down a permanent prohibition order against Andreas Pantziaros for offering health services via his company Medic Corp Ambulance.

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‘A lot of asbestos in the streets’: WA declares ‘hazmat emergency’ after tornado hits Bunbury

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More than 100 homes damaged when tornado ripped off roofs, collapsed walls and sucked up debris in state’s south-west

Asbestos scattered over residential streets has prompted a “hazmat emergency” response in Western Australia’s south-west, with specialist crews urgently working to contain any possible exposure aftter a devastating tornado.

More than 100 homes were damaged when the tornado ripped off roofs, collapsed walls and sucked up debris into the sky at Bunbury on Friday afternoon.

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NSW weather: Warragamba dam spills over as heavy rainfall warning issued for south coast

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SES issues minor flood warnings for the Hawkesbury River at North Richmond and the Colo River

Sydney’s Warragamba dam began spilling over for the second time in a month on Sunday after heavy downpours across New South Wales.

WaterNSW has confirmed the dam began spilling at 7.30am after widespread rain across the city’s catchments.

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Lancashire town locked down ‘after grenade donated to heritage centre’

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Emergency services corden off large area of Darwen while army bomb disposal unit removes and destroys grenade

A town centre in Lancashire was placed in lockdown on Saturday, with British army bomb disposal experts forced to remove and destroy a grenade.

It is understood that a member of the public had donated items to a heritage centre in Darwen which included the grenade.

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Chester Market evacuated after chilli fumes affect customers

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Vapour created by a stall-holder ‘cooking a large amount of chillies’ entered ventilation system

A market in Chester was evacuated on Saturday because of fumes caused by a stall-holder “cooking a large amount of chillies”.

Chester fire and rescue service said vapour from the cooking of a large quantity of chilli oil had entered the market’s ventilation system.

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Nine dead in Australia’s Christmas storms, as Gold Coast mayor warns city ‘not out of the woods’

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Nine-year-old girl and three men confirmed dead after boat capsized in south-east Queensland among death toll

The death toll from Australia’s Christmas storms has risen to nine, as the Gold Coast mayor warns his city is “not out of the woods”.

The people confirmed dead include a nine-year-old girl whose body was found after she was feared lost in stormwater drains in Brisbane.

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Wild Christmas weather: woman killed, more than 100,000 homes without power after Queensland storms

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Boxing Day weather also predicted to be volatile across NSW, Victoria and Queensland, with more thunderstorms and rain forecast

A woman has died and more than 100,000 homes been left without power as a result of severe thunderstorms in south-east Queensland on Christmas night, with warnings of more bad weather to come on Boxing Day across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.

Intense storms affected all three eastern states on Monday, with more than 1,200 calls for help to state emergency services and Sydney airport recording its wettest Christmas Day on record.

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Cairns airport closed as Queensland premier declares ‘serious weather emergency’ amid record flood fears

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Floods exceeding 1977 levels expected, Steven Miles says, as heavy rain leaves 10,500 homes without power

Cairns airport has been closed in anticipation of record flooding in the far north Queensland city as the state premier, Steven Miles, declared a “serious weather emergency” in the wake of ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper.

On Sunday afternoon Miles said flood levels in Cairns were expected to exceed the previous record of 1977 and there were “significant concerns” for many communities in the far north.

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Marles will ‘make right decision in Australia’s interest’ over deploying navy vessels to Red Sea, Farrell says – as it happened

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Up to 49 tonnes of illicit drugs prevented from reaching Australia

Australian federal police and international law enforcement partners have prevented up to 49 tonnes of illicit drugs from reaching Australia throughout the past financial year.

The AFP cannot overstate the amount of harm that 29 tonnes of methamphetamine could have caused to the community if it had not been intercepted by law enforcement.

On average, close to 12,000 Australians are hospitalised from methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin use every 12 months.

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Sunak’s waiting list pledge ‘downgraded’ as NHS is told to control costs

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With waiting times on the rise and a challenging winter ahead, analysts claim the ‘financial bottom line’ is being prioritised

Rishi Sunak’s pledge to slash NHS waiting lists has effectively been downgraded, the Observer has been told, amid an increase in the number of patients in England waiting longer than 18 months for treatment.

Hospital leaders are warning that morale is low, staff absences are high, and funds for new equipment and repairs are having to be raided ahead of winter. They have now been told to prioritise controlling costs in favour of some of the extra work being done towards the prime minister’s pledge to bring down waits.

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