Lessons Learned: New South Wales 2013 Fire Season

In terms of the level of risk, scale of fire activity and the impact on communities across Australia’s most populous state, 2013 will be remembered as one of the most challenging and significant periods of fire activity experienced in New South Wales (NSW) in recent years. The fires of 2013 were also one of the first major tests of significant reforms introduced following the devastating 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, in which 173 people lost their lives. This remains the worst bushfire disaster in Australia’s history.

Throughout 2013, a number of large and destructive bushfires burnt across the landscape, destroying homes, affecting critical infrastructure and changing communities forever. One of the significant challenges faced by the NSW Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) was warning the community of the increased risk. In addition to traditional warning methods including mass media and online communication, the NSW RFS sent more than 1 million telephone warning messages to affected communities. This happened using the Emergency Alert telephone warning system, which was introduced following the Victorian fires.

A closer look at the fires the NSW RFS faced in 2013 provides a number of valuable lessons for WUI firefighters worldwide.

January

In early January, following an extensive spell of hot and dry weather across NSW, the fire danger increased dramatically to the point that catastrophic ratings (see sidebar, pg. 62) were experienced for the first time in heavily populated and forested areas. These ratings covered large parts of the state, from the forested areas south of Sydney to near the Australian capital, Canberra, and across the predominately grassland areas to the west. This increased fire danger also came at one of the busiest times of the year for some areas-the summer holiday season.

On Jan. 8, 2013 there were more than 100 fires burning at any one time and a number of these fires developed quickly, spreading over great distances and impacting communities. At Yass, southwest of Sydney, grass fires spread nearly 20 miles in just a few hours, destroying significant farming infrastructure and killing livestock. In the Shoalhaven, a popular holiday destination to the south of Sydney, a bushfire threatened properties, closed major highways and isolated communities filled with vacationers.

A few days later, a fire in a national park in northern NSW broke containment lines and spread quickly under worsening conditions. This fire, in the Warrumbungle National Park near Coonabarabran, destroyed 53 homes and caused extensive damage to farming equipment and infrastructure, as well as the Siding Spring Observatory, one of Australia’s most important scientific establishments. The fire created a pyrocumulus smoke cloud that stretched nearly nine miles into the air.

Despite some of the worst conditions ever experienced in NSW and such widespread fire activity, no lives were lost during the January fire emergency and relatively few properties were destroyed. This was due to a combination of effective community warnings and response, reaction by volunteer brigades at firegrounds across the state and the early deployment of aircraft and firefighters in remote areas to knock down fires that could have developed into much larger ones.

While the January fires were challenging, the remainder of the year would prove a significant test of resources, capacity and capability.

October

Another warm, dry spell through the Australian spring, following one of the warmest winters on record, saw fire dangers increase across September and October. As the landscape dried out, firefighters were faced with hundreds of fires spanning the length and breadth of the state.

The most significant of these occurred in October, when fires in the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney destroyed more than 200 homes. Spreading quickly through forested areas, these fires impacted communities within minutes of igniting. Emergency warnings were sent to affected communities including Springwood and Winmalee, two communities ringed by bushland, advising people to seek immediate shelter because the fire had made roads unsafe in the area.

Another fire, which started as a result of Army ordnance training, spread nearly 19 miles in a few hours. Other fires burnt to the south and north of Sydney, closing major highways and a busy airport.

The Blue Mountains, one of the highest areas of risk in the state, would become the focus of attention in the following days due to the large amount of fire activity and the potential for further property losses.

“The Plug,” as it would become known, became central to the fight to protect the Blue Mountains. This strategy involved backburning off a steep and difficult section of bushland that was inaccessible to firefighters. This was a high-risk approach due to the potential for fire to breach containment lines, with a fire perimeter of more than 95 miles.

Remote Area Firefighting Teams were deployed for the task, assisted by helicopters. At times, they had to trek many miles through rugged bushland to consolidate containment lines where crews would backburn. This work continued around the clock in the lead up to Oct. 23, when conditions were expected to deteriorate further.

In light of the looming forecast, and due to the scale and extent of the fire activity, a decision was made by the NSW Premier to declare a State of Emergency. This step is somewhat rare for bushfire emergencies and was in recognition of the potential threat. The complexity of this situation led to the formation of an overarching Incident Management Team (IMT) for the complex of fires burning across the Blue Mountains. While separate IMTs would maintain local control of the incident, this overarching IMT would provide an increased level of coordination and resourcing.

At the same time, there was extensive community information provided to the threatened areas, recommending that people relocate from fire-affected areas if they had no reason to be there. Schools were closed and transport movements were restricted. There was extensive support from the media in broadcasting this information to the community, and strong use of social media to communicate directly with people in the affected areas.

Fortunately, mild conditions and even some light rain on the morning of Oct. 23 brought firefighters a few hours reprieve before temperatures rose later in the day. Many residents heeded the advice of the NSW RFS and relocated from the fire-affected areas during the hottest part of the day, before being told that they could return home later in the afternoon hours.

The major threat had been averted due to kinder weather conditions, coupled with the response from firefighters and aircraft. It was at least another month before the largest and most destructive of these fires was officially declared extinguished, signalling the end to one of the busiest and damaging bushfire operations the state of NSW has seen in more than a decade.

Improved Communications

Throughout the period of Oct. 13—26, 627 bush and grass fires burned more than 405,252 acres across NSW. Each day, more than 1,300 firefighters were deployed to firegrounds.

Improved communication with the public proved vital in minimizing losses. More than 400,000 Emergency Alert telephone warning messages were sent during the two-week period. The NSW RFS website-the centralized point for bushfire warnings and information in NSW-recorded 14.1 million pageviews. Personnel posted 1,020 separate fire updates on the site, with 340 of these at the highest level, emergency warning.

Early estimates show that around four in five people in the worst affected areas used social media as a source of information during the fires. This was reflected in the NSW RFS Facebook page more than doubling its audience within two weeks, reaching a potential 45.6 million people. At the same time, there were 24.2 million Twitter impressions delivered and 18,300 retweets of NSW RFS content.

Although the NSW RFS employed extensive use of technology, they also relied strongly on traditional and face-to-face communication. More than 30,000 residents attended community meetings in the Blue Mountains area, and there were almost 50,000 calls made to the NSW RFS bushfire information line.

This information effort was not without its challenges, most notably the monitoring and responding to issues of community misinformation, the causes of fires and the lengthy recovery process. The potential use of social media to identify new ignitions of fires was enhanced through sophisticated monitoring software, and this will continue to be an area of focus for the NSW RFS.

Meeting the Challenge

The 2013 bushfire season was a major test for new information and warning systems recently put in place in Australia-and firefighters and fire managers responded remarkably well. Importantly, the experience also demonstrated that our approach must grow and work in conjunction with new technologies, particularly social media and ever-evolving community expectations.

Although NSW experienced substantial property loss, our actions helped avert the potential for a large loss of life. Only two fire fatalities were recorded during the season, one a man who suffered an apparent heart attack while defending his home, the other the pilot of a water-dropping aircraft. This result is testament to NSW’s ongoing investment in information and warnings, resources and training, as well as our partnership with the community and the media.

Sidebar – NSW Fire Danger Rating

The New South Wales Fire Danger Rating (FDR) is an assessment of the potential fire behavior, the difficulty of suppressing a fire and the potential impact on the community should a bushfire occur on a given day.

The FDR is determined by the Fire Danger Index (FDI), a combination of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and drought. An FDI of 1 (low-moderate) means that fire will not burn, or will burn so slowly that it will be easily controlled, whereas an FDI in excess of 100 (catastrophic) means that fire will burn so fast and so hot that it is uncontrollable.