By Latika Bourke
NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons says Prime Minister Scott Morrison did not inform him he was deploying 3000 army reservists to help with the bushfire crisis and the timing of the announcement hampered the response effort on a catastrophic day.
Commissioner Fitzsimmons said it was "disappointing" to hear about the announcement via media reports amid a horror day for the state, adding it had tied up resources.
"All I can say is I wasn't aware of it, I found out about it via the media reports," Commissioner Fitzsimmons told Nine's Today show.
"We then spent a fair bit of time with the military liaison and the Commonwealth liaison that are embedded here in our centre trying to understand what the details were."
"It is fair to say it was disappointing and some surprise to hear about these things through public announcements. In the middle of what was one of our worst days this season with the second-highest number of concurrent emergency warning fires ever in the history of NSW."
In a media conference alongside NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian held a short time later, the Commissioner said not even the military liasion embedded with the RFS knew of the plan.
But he said his conversation with the Prime Minister's office was "amicable" and that they had "apologised in hindsight."
The explosive revelation will add further pressure on the Prime Minister, who is facing fierce criticism over his response to the emergency.
It is fair to say it was disappointing and some surprise to hear about these things through public announcements.
RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons
The Commissioner welcomed the boost in resources, saying the extra manpower "will be a valuable thing" and it was "also nice to hear some more funding injected into aircraft."
He praised the working relationships already in place with the ADF, and rejected any claims NSW authorities had not accepted offers of help.
"We have not ever been refused any assistance from the Commonwealth; quite the opposite ... I have never seen the integrations and operations work better."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he advised the Premiers of the decision immediately after it was taken.
"There was a breakdown in communications at the defence liaison level with the headquarters yesterday, that matter was addressed by the Minister for Defence yesterday," he said.
"There's been a subsequent conversation between myself, and the Premier and the minister in NSW and we addressed any of those issues that arose from that."
"We communicated the decision as soon as it had been made to all States and territories," he said.
Commissioner Fitzsimmons was in the same room with Premier Berejiklian when she accepted Mr Morrison's call. She said that came a "short time" before the Prime Minister's press conference.
Victorian Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said on Sunday morning he was only made aware of the announcement "informally".
"I picked up something informally, that we thought something was going to happen around reservists," he told Today.
"But I want to make the point that we've been so well supported by the ADF, hence the fact that we've seen two ships evacuate such significant numbers out of Mallacoota. And they're now well and truly embedded at our state... and it's a very close working relationship and we're very appreciative of their support."
Mr Morrison and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds announced the extra measures on Saturday, following weeks of criticism over the prime minister's slow response to the crisis.
After a meeting of the National Security Committee on Saturday morning, the government announced it would be calling up 3000 Army reservists for the first time in Australia's history.
HMAS Adelaide is being deployed to support the evacuations of people stranded by the fire, being conducted by the navy aboard HMAS Choules and MV Sycamore.
Extra military helicopters and warplanes are also being deployed and the government is leasing extra waterbombing planes.
"It will mean boots on the ground, planes in the sky and ships out at sea all supporting the bushfire fighting effort and recovery," Mr Morrison said.