FIVE Country Fire Service brigades on Eyre Peninsula have declared they will not fight fires on government land in the wake of a further rise to their Emergency Services Levy this financial year.
White Flat, Wanilla, Yallunda Flat, and Kapinnie followed in the steps of Greenpatch which was the first brigade to take a stand last year after the government removed $90 million of concessions on ESL bills.
Greenpatch brigade captain Mark Modra said after they had complained against possible hikes last year, volunteers had expected the government to keep the levy at the same rate but were disappointed it had been raised again.
He said a lot of significant fires on EP were on government land and the government should be getting very worried about who would be left to fight them.
"It is putting areas at risk," he said.
"The government says it will bring people in but you cannot just chuck people on trucks and expect them to run fires.
"Sending a strike team from Adelaide is another idea they have come up with but the first half an hour of a fire is critical. It will take hours for a team to get on the fireground."
He said there was a feeling the regions were missing out again and that the new fire fighting grants program could encourage farmers to leave CFS.
"They can do up their units and leave," he said.
"I'd rather $1000 off my ESL bill and they can keep the grant system."
White Flat captain Kingsley McDonald said the issue was defragmenting the brigade.
"We have a mix of members who are large and small landholders," he said.
"I am a large landholder and myself and my two sons volunteer with CFS so sometimes there are three of us on the truck which shuts down our business and then we have to pay $2000 in ESL.
"I would like to see a concession on the levy for volunteers."
Yallunda Flat captain Tyson Mickan said the brigade felt the ESL was a land tax.
"Landholders are being used as cash cows and we pay more per head," he said.
"A lot of the time we are called to monitor fires overnight in the middle of harvest and so we are driving a truck all day and then the fire truck at night - maybe someone else should be doing it.
"All volunteers agree we need the ESL but we are against the way it is raised and funded."
Member for Flinders Peter Treloar said "any government worth their salt should be concerned about such a dramatic response to a government decision".
"This government is alienating regional communities - here is yet more proof," he said.
"The Flinders Electorate has a significant amount of government controlled land which would be affected.
"Not only do you have national parks, there is a large amount of land near Port Lincoln under the control of SA Water."
Mr Treloar said the government was responsible for 20 per cent of the land area of the state.
"The effects will be felt state-wide as these units won't be available to other areas of the state either if the fire in question is on government-controlled land," he said.
