Peter Kirchner and his fire crew are heading into yet another bushfire season without a clear place to get water.
The resource has always been particularly precious in Munglinup, a tiny farming community near Western Australia's south coast.
The town's drinking supply is trucked 100 kilometres from Esperance several times a week.
But two publicly owned dams holding thousands of litres sit just around the corner from the Munglinup Bush Fire Brigade president's house.
One was the town's drinking supply until authorities decided it no longer met required standards three years ago.
The other, Mr Kirchner says, was built specifically for firefighters.
But a series of inexplicable government decisions have rendered them virtually unusable to firefighters.
Mr Kirchner thinks the community deserves an explanation.
"I just can't believe this is taking this long," he said.
The local farmer was on the fireground in 2015 when four people died in bushfires near Esperance.
After the tragedy, he spent more than $50,000 of his own money upgrading an airstrip on his property so water bombers could land and refill.
He wishes state and local governments were similarly motivated to protect the dry, isolated farming region from fire.
Ravensthorpe Shire chief executive Matthew Bird said the council was working to resolve Munglinup's water issues.
But he did not answer specific questions put to him by the ABC about the matter.
Water Corp question how dam was built
Mr Kirchner frowns at the milky-green water below.
This is the dam, he says, built more than 15 years ago after he successfully applied for a government grant to improve water resources in the region for firefighting.
The ABC has been unable to confirm details about this grant with federal, state or local government.
According to Mr Kirchner, the $120,000 grant was allocated to the Shire of Ravensthorpe, which he said then built the dam on Water Corporation land.
But he said firefighters were then told they could not use it as the town's drinking water was stored in the adjacent dam.
A Water Corporation spokesperson said access to the dam was previously restricted to protect water quality and safeguard the public drinking water supply.
But when asked why, given those restrictions, it ever granted permission to build the dam in the first place, it said it was not sure that it had.
"Water Corporation is reviewing how a second dam was able to be constructed within a protected catchment area, and whether permission for such an activity was ever granted," the spokesperson said.
Water Corporation was also unable to say what year the dam on their land was built.
The spokesperson also said they believed firefighters had accessed the dam during emergencies prior to 2020, although they said there was no formal agreement for this to occur.
Shire of Ravensthorpe chief executive Matthew Bird did not answer questions about the grant or the dam.
Tanks, pump needed
But last month, Mr Kirchner said he was told the ban on firefighters accessing the dam had finally lifted.
The town's drinking-water dam no longer meets required standards.
Since 2020, four trucks a week have travelled from Esperance with 50,000 litres of water to keep residents hydrated — thus removing the concern that firefighters would pollute the catchment.
But although access to the firefighting dam has now been granted, it cannot be used efficiently because there are no tanks or pumping infrastructure.
Mr Kirchner said the only way to get the water would be to use hoses to pump it up and onto fire trucks, which the dam's high banks would make difficult.
"You would need a lot of hose," he said.
"It's just too far to reach."
He also believes hoses could be easily removed by thieves.
The Department of Water said water tanks could not go on the site because of "technical water management issues".
The Esperance Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation said the area was a registered Cultural Heritage site and ministerial approval would be required to put tanks on it.
Site suggestion
Peter Bednall, chief executive of Esperance Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (ETNTAC), said the Department of Water contacted his organisation earlier this year and said it wanted to install water tanks near the Munglinup dam for firefighting.
He said the proposed site was within the Munglinup river reserve, a well-known Aboriginal Cultural Heritage site, which meant that under WA law, ministerial consent was needed before the tanks could be built.
He said Tjaltjraak did not have the power to waive the department's compliance with the law.
But he noted securing ministerial approval could be a lengthy process.
In light of that and in recognition of the strong public interest in firefighters having access to water, he said Tjaltjraak suggested another site, only a few metres away from the proposed location but outside the registered site.
"ETNTAC suggested that an alternative tank location be sought, and monitors be employed during excavation activities to ensure that unearthed subsurface cultural material could be dealt with quickly, without posing a barrier to installation," Mr Bednall said.
"Doing so would mean that ministerial consent to impact the site would not be required."
But when contacted by the ABC, DWER said it had not been able to find a suitable site for the tanks just yet.
Shire of Ravensthorpe CEO Matthew Bird said it was working towards a solution.
"The Shire of Ravensthorpe will continue working with both Water Corporation and DWER on a longer-term solution that may include connecting a pipeline and tanks to the community dam," he said.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services declined to comment.
Permanent solution needed
There has been very little runoff around Munglinup this year and many dams are low.
Mr Kirchner said that would make things even harder on his crew members, who were forced to scramble before fighting every blaze, logging onto a WhatsApp group to brainstorm which farmer's private dam could supply their water.
The process leaves them on the backfoot – wasting precious time before getting to a fire, slowing them down as they access paddocks they are unfamiliar with and increasing their mental load.
He said boggy soils often meant the chosen dam could not be accessed with the water-carting semi-trailers, so they had to find one further away.
Not only was the process slow, it was expensive.
"Carting water with trucks is not a long-term solution," he said.
"Rates should be spent somewhere else."
He said another option was the Munglinup town drinking supply standpipe, but said on the weekend it was hard to rouse a shire worker to refill the tank.
Mr Kirchner said the new access to the firefighting dam might grant some reprieve, despite the lack of tanks and pumps, if they set up hoses to draw the water in an emergency.
But again, it would not solve the issue.
"There really is no better time to find a permanent solution that now," he said.