DFES bushfire response improved after deadly Esperance blaze, inquest told

Department of Fire and Emergency Services has taken steps to improve its bushfire response in country areas since the deadly 2015 Esperance blaze, an inquest has been told.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services has already taken steps to ensure its response to bushfires in remote parts of WA is better than it was during the deadly 2015 Esperance fires, an inquest has been told.

DFES assistant commissioner Gary Gifford told the inquest significant improvements had been taken already, including as part of the recommendations made in the Ferguson Report into the devastating Yarloop fires in 2016.

Mr Gifford said this included the establishment of 70-person incident management teams that are based in Perth but on standby to deploy to regional areas in the case of an emergency such as a large bushfire.

He said DFES was also taking steps to improve its radio communication network by upgrading infrastructure in regional areas and dividing the Great Southern district into two smaller regions.

The coronial inquest into the deaths of Scaddan farmer Kym “Freddie” Curnow, and three backpackers in a November 2015 fire near Esperance, is examining whether authorities could have done more to control the fire before it intensified.

“This was an extraordinary event,” Mr Gifford said.

“In my time in the Department I certainly haven’t seen anything like that and I haven’t seen anything like it since.”

Criticisms highlighted earlier in the inquest included that volunteer firefighters were hampered by poor communications and a lack or delay in getting resources on the fire ground.

Cascade bushfire brigade captain Will Carmody told the inquest he felt “left hanging” by DFES when his pleas for water bombers were repeatedly knocked back.

Mr Carmody said he expected DFES would have taken over control of the fire earlier and have sent a team to assist volunteers, given the forecast catastrophic conditions on November 17.

The fire was sparked by lightning on unallocated crown land on November 15, 2015. It burnt for about two days before spreading to neighbouring farms fanned by 100km/h wind gusts.

The inquest was told that just one extra DFES officer was initially sent to Esperance to assist local area officer Gavin Warnes who was helping coordinate the firefighting effort with the Shire of Esperance.

Four more DFES officers were flown to Esperance from Perth late on November 17.

Mr Curnow, 45, and farmhands Thomas Leslie Butcher, 31, Anna Sushchova Winther, 29, and Julia Kohrs-Lichte, 19, from a nearby property to Mr Curnow’s, were killed when their vehicles became engulfed by flames on November 17 as they tried to escape the fire.

In a statement, DFES commissioner Darren Klemm said the inquest was an opportunity to reflect on whether the agency and the community could have been done anything differently.

“We cannot comment any further on the inquest until the findings are handed down, but I would like to reiterate that my thoughts are with the Curnow, Butcher, Winther and Kohrs-Lichte families and the Esperance community,” he said.

Coroner Sarah Linton will deliver her findings later this year.

Originally published as DFES bushfire response improved after deadly Esperance blaze, inquest told