 People, we understand that people are really concerned about the health. So for them to get out of the area, there's two things we're doing. There is a folk festival being held this Saturday at Balara. So we are running free bus services for them to go and we are providing vouchers for food and health. So that is one thing. The other thing is a bus service to the respite centre. There will be a free bus service for people to attend and they can book up, book and attend that. So we, in conjunction with the Department of Human Services, we are providing that. So that's what we're doing, or one of the things we're doing at the moment. And now we will have Paul Jane, oh sorry, John Hayes, Instinct Controller for a fire update. Thank you. Good on you. Thanks and good morning everyone. We've given out some maps today which you can take away with you. We're going to be doing daily measurement maps of our progress. The main issue we've got is, we've still got extensive fire on the northern batters and also on the southern batter out towards the Hazelwood Power Station. And in that we're concentrating on the northern batter to minimise the smoke and the ash especially for more. We're doing that a number of ways. We've got fire services and specialists from all across Australia pretty well. From CFA, MFB, the Aviation Fire Services, ACT Fire Services and also Tasmania. Because what we're using as a strategy is to use compressed air foam to suppress the ash and the smoke as best we can from the northern batters. And then after that we secure it with our large aerial appliances which can put water into the coal seam if you like. Our main issue is that a lot of this is weather driven. So we've got a Tuesday afternoon when we had strong northerlies and then the southwesterly change and had the grass fire run out towards Hazelwood Power Station. It takes our focus off the batters and also takes the batters with the wind actually extend. So it's a bit of a frustrating thing for us at the moment where we contain something and then a couple of days later the wind takes it to a direction we don't want to go and we come back to contain it again. We need good weather and we need good resources to put this out. We've been working closely with the mine and the mine have put a reticulated water system on the batters for us and we've got some spray systems working on the northern batter. You'll see hopefully in the next couple of days some of that red and orange on our maps go to green. And as we do that again smoke lessons and also the fire thread. The balancing act for us is we've got the safety of our firefighters with carbon monoxide in the mine itself. So we have two hour rotations with them and also we monitor their health in the mine. Yesterday we had numerous hours out of the mine because the weather conditions we just couldn't operate. So we get behind the eight ball because we can't actually fight the fire. Secondly we make sure we can minimise the smoke from all and into La Trovelle and that's been our main target if you like. And then we've also got some other issues in the mine itself. We're balancing water issues because we're putting a lot of water into the mine and we're not taking a lot of water out and so we actually have to move a lot of water out of the mine in the next few days to give us that balance effect. If you have more water in the mine actually the integrity of the mine and some of the infrastructure in the mine becomes fragile. So that's a balancing act we've got as well. And of course lastly it's about for us is the weather. We've got some strong easterly winds tomorrow which will take the smoke away from all but it will put pressure on the west end of our northern batter. So we're working hard on that today. And then next Tuesday and next Friday is going to be some high wind days. Tuesday is going to be like last Tuesday strong northerly with the south west change and then hot and windy on next Friday which again we know that it's coming and we put strategies in place to fix it. But the main thing is we're trying our hardest to put the fire out as fire services across the nation pretty well working closely with the mine. And I know it's frustrating but it's a big job and if you look at the maps how large it is and we're taking it one piece at a time until we finish. Thank you. Thank you. So I'm Rosemary Lester. I'm the Chief Health Officer. So I'm pleased to announce today that the Health Assessment Centre has been expanded in capacity so there's now additional capacity to see more people. The Health Assessment Centre has been patronised well and people have come in for basic health checks, health information and I think that that's gone very well in terms of the people that I saw there yesterday were happy with how things were going and I think that that has met a need for basic health information and very basic health checks without needing to tie up our other health services such as the GPs and the Community Health Centre. So that's very good news that that capacity has been expanded so that's available as of now. We do remain concerned about the level of smoke in the air. The levels have been very high and continue to be very high so that is still a significant concern to us. It's a concern for people's health and I reiterate the messages that we have been trying to put out that we do know this level can have immediate health effects for people. So particularly for those with chronic heart and lung conditions, the elderly, pregnant women, smokers and young children, they should stay out of the smoke as much as possible, certainly avoid physical activity out in the smoke. Make sure if you're taking medication that you take it exactly as your doctor has prescribed and if you're asthmatic, make sure you're following your personal asthma plan. Remember that this is a community response effort so do take time in the community to check on people who are in those groups that may need some assistance. And of course we are recommending that everyone take a break from the smoke if they can so that the community respite centre in Moe is available for that purpose. I mentioned before we remain very concerned about the high levels of smoke in the air in terms of health. We talked yesterday about the fact that I'm seeking further advice on health effects and if we do need to make a firmer recommendation about health, well we will do that. So I just wanted to reassure the community that the health of the people of Moorwell is my first priority at the moment and we're seeking the best possible advice that we can so that we can give you the best possible messages to protect your health. Thank you. Okay, now we'll have Paul Jones from Ambulance Victoria please. Hi, Paul Jones from Ambulance Victoria. I'm one of the group managers that works within this area for Ambulance Victoria. I just wanted to reassure everyone that our community response within this local area is still being well maintained, that we are also helping to operate the community health assessment centre at our regional office building. And as Rosemary alluded to we have expanded the facility down there overnight so we can certainly cope with the increasing demand down there so waiting times won't be as long. We're also providing support out at the mine site for the firefighters and providing some support in the respite centre. So thank you for that. Thank you. And lastly we have Latrobe Regional Hospital acting CEO Amanda Cameron please. Thank you, my name is Amanda Cameron. I'm the acting CEO of Latrobe Regional Hospital and I'm here to talk to you about the impact that this has had on the hospital to date, that's as of about an hour ago. The impact to our emergency department and to the hospital has been minimal. The presentations that we have received over the last week since the 9th of February when the fire started we've probably got only about five more presentations a day than we would have had over the February period in 2013. And the number of presentations that are related to cardiac and respiratory presentations are actually less than what we've had in the previous February in 2013. We believe that this is because the assessment centre is being well used and because people are presenting there and their anxiety is being allayed there and they're having their assessments there. We've only had five presentations from the assessment centre and they've all been discharged home. We've also seen a number of firefighters in the emergency department and they have also been monitored and then discharged home. Up to this date we've had no admissions into the hospital that are directly related to the fire. Okay, thank you now. Do we have any questions please? The health assessment clinic, so that's been expanded. Can we get some more detail on that? Have any extra staff? Excuse me, Paul. Have you got any information on that? Yes, I've been fortunate enough to be taking down that health assessment centre and at this point we've expanded to six full-time staff in that area plus a manager to help with patient flows but we've certainly got capacity to expand it further if required. Are they paramedics, registered nurses? It's a mixture of both. So we've been supported by the Department of Health, the local regional office, the local regional hospital, sorry, who has sent some registered nurses down to us, as has Latrobe Community Health Service and there's also three paramedics working in there. How many people have presented down there so far? It's in excess of 500 now. We've been in for health checks. This morning we had over 60 come in this morning alone and that's in comparison to yesterday when we had about 40. So certainly the expansion was noted. We've perhaps asked on Dr Lester, there hasn't been an increase in presentations to the EDL or should we see increases at GPs? Yes, some of the GPs are reporting increases in respiratory cases but nothing too significant and nothing that they can't handle. They're reporting that they're still able to meet demand for urgent appointments and it is very reassuring that we're hearing from the hospital that there's no increased demand from ambulance Victoria. So that is reassuring that this, you know, what the severe end of the spectrum might be where we're not seeing that at the moment. So what sort of sentence are people presenting with? Well, I believe they're presenting with the usual respiratory symptoms, shortness of breath, that sort of thing which you would expect. What are the typical wait times at the assessment clinic? I can't answer that. I don't know whether Paul could... Yeah, five to ten minutes. They're moving them through. Dr. Lester, you indicated that you are looking at evidence overseas and waiting to be sent from us. Can you tell us where you're with? Absolutely not. No, look at what I mean. Discussions with a range of people and we'll get some advice back that and we'll get back to the public as soon as we possibly can. Should we expect that in the next week? We'll have further discussions and I'll make any announcements, you know, when I can. And I mean, could that trigger some sort of evacuation or an escalation for the situation? We won't hesitate to escalate our message if we think that is necessary based on the best evidence and the best advice. One of the things here is that we are, as you'll appreciate, dealing with a relatively unique situation with smoke which is burning in a coal mine just adjacent, directly adjacent to the community. So that is a relatively unique situation. So it's not a straightforward situation but if we, if the advice we receive is that we do need to escalate the health message then we won't hesitate to do that. We're two and a half weeks into this fire burning. Should the public be taking extra precautions until you do get that advice back? The advice that I've given up till now is the appropriate advice. So the messages that I've given that everyone should be minimising their exposure to the smoke so minimising time outdoors and taking a break out of the smoking conditions for as much as they can. Why is it taken until two and a half weeks after the fire began for the health department to start seeking advice from elsewhere? We have a very good team of advisers internally. They've been working extremely hard to produce the sort of advice and the sort of backup that we have. As I mentioned, this is a situation that we didn't necessarily expect. Normally we have a fire and that's put out in this situation where this has gone on longer than we expected and we aren't able to... Commissioner Lapsley isn't able to give us the firm data to understandably as to when this will be put out. It was now time to seek further advice to see whether we do need to change our messages. Rose, we're on the CLA website today that says the air quality in all the south is very poor. There's no very poor category, so very poor is the worst. I'm wondering how long that will go on before something more serious like a evacuation has to occur. Well, as I said, we're seeking advice on that, so we'll make any firmer recommendation when we're able to do that. Is there, you say it's a unique situation, in terms of the evidence, is there evidence around people who have gone on to the smoke for a month or so long? There's plenty of evidence around about people's health. People's health are exposed to both short periods and long periods of bushfire smoke. So short periods of bushfire smoke, we have our standard messages that we give out, which is the messages that you've all heard. We do know that people exposed to high levels of air pollution for long periods of time. If you live in a very polluted city, we know that you will have health effects. What is very difficult is the situation where we have now an exposure which has gone on for a couple of weeks, and we don't know how much longer it will go on for. So that's what we're seeking further advice on. How much longer, you know, what is the evidence base in terms of what we're seeing for a two and a half week, two and a half week event. Can I just say last question, please? Last question, thanks. Is this an evidence reason? It's an unusual situation. There's plenty of evidence around about health effects from smoke, as I said, short-term and long-term, but this situation is a relatively unique event. Can I ask one more? There are a lot of doctors in the region that are saying that people should be concerned about the long-term effects. What would you be supposed to say to them and to people that are seeing the advice from them? Well, what I'd say to them is that we do know that there are long-term health effects from long-term exposure. What we're seeking advice on is now that we're getting out of just a week or two weeks. We're now into the third week. How should we consider that in terms of is this a short-term exposure? Are we getting into longer-term territory? We're clearly not in the territory where we're living in a very polluted city. So that is where a lot of the evidence comes from from people who are living permanently in very polluted cities. Okay, thank you very much for coming. As soon as there's any more information we will get back to you. Thank you.