Above: Injured Greens candidate Huw Slater is back on the campaign trail.
By Kath Gannaway
GREENS candidate for the State seat of Seymour Huw Slater escaped from a house fire in Chum Creek last week with burns to his hands.
Mr Slater, who was living in the timber house owned by a family member in Arlunya Drive, was caught up in the fire, which, it is believed, was started by a generator.
Healesville CFA Captain Graeme Bates said the brigade received the fire call just after 11pm on Monday 6 September, and arrived to find the house totally involved.
Capt Bates said Mr Slater was in shock when they arrived and was being attended to by Healesville police officer Chris Grasby.
“I put one of our guys on to first-aid full-time for around 20 to 25 minutes until the ambulance arrived.
“If the locals (Healesville paramedics) are out of town, it means you have to wait for an ambulance to come from Yarra Junction or down the line,” he said.
Ambulance Victoria spokesman Paul Bentley confirmed the ambulance crew arrived within 30 minutes of the call, which was logged as ‘non urgent’.
“Given the distance and the information from the original call, the response was appropriate,” Mr Bentley said. The ambulance was despatched from Yarra Junction.
Mr Slater said he felt lucky to have got away with superficial burns, but added the fire was a shock and he was pleased to see the police, fire brigades and the ambulance.
“I went to school with Chris Grasby, so it was good to see a familiar face. He was very helpful, took control of the situation and the CFA managed to get the fire under control pretty quickly,” he said.
Mr Slater said he would be keeping on with the campaign.
“It’s just a matter of forging ahead. I missed a couple of meetings, but will be catching up and getting on with the job in the lead up to the election,” he said.
Capt Bates said the task of the Healesville and Badger Creek firefighters had been made more effective by having access to a water tank just across the house.
“It’s a fair climb up to Arlunya and we had, over the years, been pushing the shire to put in water tanks in areas like this.
“The alternative for us was we would have travelled back to Chum Creek for water and having that supply really paid off in terms of getting the fire under control.”
