By MELISSA MEEHAN
Olinda firefighters say they rely on pool’s water…
CFA headquarters and local brigades are at loggerheads over the importance of keeping the Olinda Pool open as a fire fighting tool.
Last week Olinda CFA captain Steve Donner confirmed that despite the CFA headquarters telling the Yarra Ranges Council the pool had no importance should a bushfire go through Olinda, he believed the pool was the safest source of stagnant water available to his fire fighting crews.
“The pool was built as a water option for fire fighting crews all those years ago,” Mr Donner said.
“And even now, it’s the safest place for us to get stagnant water if there were a fire, otherwise we’d have to go down into bushland – which is a high fire prone area – it’s not a safe option for us.”
In last week’s extreme heat, Olinda residents came together to show their opposition to the pool closure and explain what it meant to them as a town.
The pool was closed permanently without warning late last year after the council found irreparable cracks.
When asked what the pool meant to them, some broke down in tears – while others slammed the council for its lack of consultation and communication on the issue.
Leader of the push to save the pool John Faull said that the pool was an important piece of fire fighting infrastructure for the town and a place where people could meet and enjoy the summer weather.
“It is an important part of our community,” Mr Faull said.
“The community built it back then, and we are fighting to save it now.”
Long time councillor Len Cox said he thought it was a reasonable decision to close the pool following the obvious cracks at the bottom of the pool, but said it had taken too long to get back to the problem.
“We as councillors and the public are still waiting,” Cr Cox said.
“It’s taking too long, I would have preferred a response before the end of December.”
He said that the pool was old, and that he wasn’t sure it had much of a future.
“The community is up in arms, but it doesn’t get a lot of use – it’s the most poorly used pool in the shire,” he said.
“We’ll have to see what the report says, there’s been many conflicting reports of the cost to fix it – we’ll have to wait and see.”
Mr Faull agreed that the community was disappointed that despite a council study into the feasibility for the pool to be fixed and reopened had still not been completed and provided to residents, despite starting the study in November.
“I believe that there will be discussions on the pool at the next council meeting,” Mr Faull said.
“So we’re going to get together and discuss our next plan of action.”
Mr Faull said he would hold another community meeting on Thursday 23 January at the Olinda Fire Station from 7.30pm. All are welcome.
