‘I woke up every morning and felt like death’: Tallulah Chellew, a peer-based harm reduction worker, who worked in customer care at the Pitch music festival.‘I woke up every morning and felt like death’: Tallulah Chellew, a peer-based harm reduction worker, who worked in customer care at the Pitch music festival.
“It is standard practice for all festivals to review their emergency and communications plans following the conclusion of any event — this process is now well underway. We will also be working closely with all relevant authorities on our emergency preparedness and response plans … especially given the unique conditions that were experienced by several festivals in the region over the long weekend, to ensure they are robust.
Untitled told the Guardian that patrons had access to ample shade, cooling misting fans, food and water, as well as permanent misting fans overhead on the main stage and mobile misting fans moved around the site, which were topped up regularly.
In response to questions about the effects of heat on drug use, Pitch organisers said they did not encourage or condone the use of illicit substances. Chellew said at one point a volunteer was left in charge of an entire hub – something meant to be the responsibility of staff – because they had to leave to deal with an overdose and the other staff member had just witnessed someone having a serious GHB overdose and wasn’t coping.
Untitled said the processes for responding to emergencies and requirements of staff were developed in consultation with the relevant authorities and clearly communicated. They said counselling was available to all staff and volunteers who needed it after the event.Chellew said there were long waits for the emergency response team. “On Saturday and Sunday, the emergency comms channel didn’t stop … there was constant patient transport.
Updates, including from the CFA, were displayed on large screens at the two entries to festival from the campgrounds, but staff said these were easy to miss if you were inside the venue or in a campsite. The supervisor said that when information finally filtered out that the festival had been cancelled, “it was just like a switch of everyone being normal and then just swarming the hubs getting enraged”.