Former fire and emergency chiefs will host emergency summit about unprecedented bushfires

Former fire chiefs will take matters into their own hands, saying the PM has failed to show leadership as bushfires devastate communities.

Former fire chiefs will host their own emergency summit after failing to meet with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and despairing over the lack of leadership as Australia burns.

Former NSW Fire and Rescue Commissioner Greg Mullins has rejected suggestions from the PM that a national approach to bushfires was already in place.

“We’re still very frustrated that the Prime Minister has refused to meet with us,” he told news.com.au.

Mr Mullins is one of the founders of Emergency Leaders for Climate Action Group, which has added about a dozen more former fire and emergency leaders to its original 23-member group, since unprecedented fires began raging across Australia this year.

They plan to hold a summit after the bushfire season, possibly in March, but Mr Mullins said they wanted to announce their decision now to give people some hope, as politicians were trying to bury the issue.

“People are becoming very angry and they want to have a say,” he said.

“They are being told that now is not the time to talk about climate change but I have dealt with hundreds of people who have suffered losses and I know they want to know why, it’s part of the healing process.”

Bushfires burn in the Blue Mountains. Picture: Hazelbrook Rural Fire Brigade

He said there were fires raging in NSW and Queensland, people had lost homes in South Australia and Western Australia, and there had also been fires in Victoria and Tasmania.

“If there are simultaneous fires in every state, there won’t be enough equipment to share so we are warning people now, if they want to have a say, to put their hands up,” he said.

Mr Mullins said the group had been trying since April to warn Mr Morrison about the current bushfire season, which has already seen six people killed and more than 720 homes destroyed, but had been unsuccessful.

“A range of measures could have been taken but they weren’t,” he said.

RELATED: Megafire caused by backburning destroys dozens of buildings

Fire damage to a home in Mount Wilson on December 16. Fire ripped through homes and properties around the Blue Mountains on Sunday night. Picture: Adam Yip

They did meet with Water Resources Minister David Littleproud and Energy Minister Angus Taylor a couple of weeks ago, and the PM announced an extra $11 million in funding on Thursday for Australia’s aerial firefighting capabilities after insisting for weeks that fire services had all the resources they needed.

But Mr Mullins said they still wanted to meet with Mr Morrison because “he’s the main decision maker”.

The Prime Minister has previously batted away questions about why he hasn’t met with the fire chiefs saying that the government already had advice from “existing fire chiefs doing the existing job”.

“These are things that were very well known to the government,” he told ABC on November 21.

At a press conference on December 10, Mr Morrison also rejected calls for a national response, saying there was already one in place.

“The highly coordinated nature of how our state and territory jurisdictions work together during these bushfires has been an inspiration,” he said.

“The chiefs work closely together. They have a direct line to me. They have a direct line to the premiers. And the premiers and I discuss these things regularly.”

RELATED: Records show the worst bushfires in NSW could be yet to come

Mr Mullins said while Mr Morrison may have “bumped into” fire chiefs while meeting with Australians impacted by the blazes, no meetings had taken place with the PM before the fire season as far as he knew.

“One reason we formed this group is because we knew from experience that it was very difficult to break into the Canberra bubble,” Mr Mullins said.

“There are multiple levels of state and federal bureaucracy and the decision makers are a long way from the front line.

“I know this because I used to be the head of the peak council for Australia and New Zealand emergency services for a number of years, and I certainly never met with any prime ministers.”

Greg Mullins (centre) is one of a number of former emergency services chiefs urging the federal and state governments to declare a climate emergency in the wake of the catastrophic bushfires which have roared across NSW and Queensland. Picture: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

Mr Mullins said current fire chiefs were doing an outstanding job but had their hands full with fighting the blazes and didn’t need to be distracted.

“The federal government is not regularly talking to fire chiefs, they did not talk to them before the current fire season,” he said.

Despite claims there was a planned approach, Mr Mullins insists there has been “no dialogue at all” and a stalled business case for more aircraft to fight the fires was just one example of this.

He said state and territory fire services had put forward a business case to the federal government almost two years ago, requesting more assistance to lease firefighting resources.

“The government just sat on it,” he said.

‘THERE’S JUST NO LEADERSHIP’

The summit aims to bring together stakeholders including farmers, indigenous land owners, fire services, military, the insurance industry, state and territory governments, and hopefully the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader.

Mr Mullins said the aim was to come up with a national, multifaceted plan to look at fuel management, firefighting capabilities including aircraft, building standards, how communities are planned, refuges, emergency warnings and how to use military assets in a less ad hoc manner.

They would look at issues such as how farmers manage land, their burning practices and how they can keep stock and equipment safe.

“There’s just so much to be done and there’s just no leadership coming from Canberra to even think about it,” Mr Mullins said.

A bushfire swept through Cobraball in Central Queensland in November.

“Australia has become a much more dangerous place because of climate change.

“There are things we can do to improve community resilience, response capabilities and how we recover from disasters, but the big ticket item is to take real action on climate change.”

While the Prime Minister has acknowledged that climate change “along with many other factors” was contributing to the devastating bushfire season, Mr Mullins said he wanted to know what the many other factors were.

“If you read the scientific papers, you realise they are all to do with climate change,” Mr Mullins said.

“We would like the opportunity to brief (the PM) and maybe educate him on what firefighters on the front line are seeing and what fire chiefs know about the impact of climate change.”

Mr Mullins said it had been fascinating to hear the language being used around the debate, with critics suggesting climate change didn’t cause bushfires.

“Of course climate change doesn’t cause bushfires. No one suggested it does,” he said.

But he said climate change did cause increased lightning in places like Tasmania, which never used to experience strikes.

Climate change also made fires more likely, made them burn at times of the year that they never did before and made them burn more intensely.

“It’s just nonsense the things they have said,” Mr Mullins said. “Blaming Greenies when they have not changed and they are not in power.

“Blaming arsonists, when these figures haven’t changed.

“They’ll trot out anything but the fundamental driver of this, which is climate change. It’s quite bizarre.”

Mr Mullins said Australia’s behaviour at the recent UN climate summit was also embarrassing.

“Everyone was watching Australia burn on their TV screens and our minister can’t even bring himself to mention that fact,” he said.

Delegates at the COP25 talks in Madrid also complained that Australia, along with Brazil, China, Saudi Arabia and the US, had led resistance to ramp up efforts to combat global warming.

“We were part of a coalition with the US and Brazil blocking emissions reduction that might ensure a safer future,” Mr Mullins said. “It’s worse than embarrassing.”

Continue the conversation @charischang2 | [e-mail]