Black Saturday blueprint to repair shattered communities
Rebuilding our fire-ravaged communities is a massive task that will take many, many months.
On Saturday February 7, 2009, Australians were horrified to learn of the unfolding disaster as uncontrolled bushfires swept through Victoria. The main firestorm raged from early afternoon until the evening, burning more than a million acres, destroying whole towns, razing thousands of structures and killing 173 people. The catastrophe became known as Black Saturday.
At the time I was a senior army officer serving in Canberra. Overnight, I was ordered to take charge of the immediate national and state response to the tragedy in Victoria.
The assignment was full of challenges, heartbreak, and pride in the remarkable spirit displayed by so many people. I learned many lessons. The bushfire crisis currently gripping so much of Australia is different in dispersion, duration and deadliness, but some of the lessons from 2009 are likely to be relevant to those now charged with recovery and rebuilding.
The most pressing task we faced was to support the thousands of people displaced or made homeless, numbering more than 20,000 at the height of the crisis. Some evacuees found temporary accommodation in emergency shelters or with family and friends, but there were still many in urgent need of shelter. Motel rooms were booked by the score, caravan park cabins were filled, and elderly people were squeezed into care centres or hospitals. An army of social workers and medical personnel spread out to find, check and support the evacuees.
Maintaining contact with the survivors was difficult but essential. People were desperate for accurate information. When they could be arranged, group briefings proved to be highly beneficial in 2009. I and other responsible leaders spoke to scores of evacuees in many different settings, in hastily arranged town meetings or impromptu gatherings out on the fire grounds. The most important message I could deliver them was hope. A note to politicians: turn up, listen, cop the flak, offer real support, and do it without a media circus in tow.
Very early on we recognised that a more enduring accommodation solution was required. The concept was to provide supported accommodation near the worst-affected areas, allowing people to start clearing their damaged properties surrounded by fellow survivors.
We leased and quickly renovated a large “bush retreat” centre near the fire zone, increasing the available accommodation using transportable huts donated by Andrew Forrest.
We built two temporary towns close to other badly affected areas, using hastily designed and fabricated flatpack panels. Swarms of tradesmen assembled the houses while others laid plumbing, sewerage, and electrical connections. Central facilities for cold storage, cooking and eating were created using large marquees. Tired and tearful families soon arrived, accompanied by hundreds of pets saved from the flames; animal runs and veterinary services were added to our to-do list. These temporary havens, which remained occupied for two years in some cases, were a vital point of stability around which severely traumatised communities could start to mend their lives.
Another pressing need was to create a sense of normality for children affected by the fires. Armed with lists of children’s names and ages, we visited undamaged schools to work out how many additional students each could take in. We sent demountable huts, additional books, teaching aids and sports equipment to the foster schools. The calming effect of school routine was immediately evident but special care was required for children displaying signs of trauma. Kids are resilient but the experience badly scared many of them.
In the heat of summer, the grisly business of disposing of up to a million carcasses of livestock was as urgent as it was unpleasant. Some farmers completed this awful task on their own but in most cases mass burial was required. Animal remains were collected from blackened paddocks and burnt-out bushland while huge disposal pits were dug, filled and covered.
Rural areas affected by the fires had particular problems related to fencing and stock. Hundreds of structures such as hay sheds and storage facilities were lost but more telling was the destruction of fencing, of which thousands of kilometres was burned. Property owners who managed to save some of their herds or who would eventually begin restocking had no way to contain their animals. Fencing contractors were overwhelmed with work requests and the delay in repairing fences set back the recovery of some rural areas considerably. The current fire catastrophe has affected many rural communities so this dimension of the recovery process will need early attention.
Australians have always shown remarkable generosity in the wake of disasters but the outpouring of cash donations following Black Saturday was unprecedented. We are seeing similar big-heartedness now. Taxpayer funds are also being tapped and emergency grants are being made. The challenge here lies in the management of the hundreds of millions of dollars that will follow the initial payments, both gifted and government-bestowed. How is the money distributed? Who gets it? How much? When? Who decides? These are important questions that must be answered before the money flows. Regrettably, there are likely to be arguments and hard words about this issue.
In 2009 donations of furniture, clothing, toiletries, groceries, toys and all manner of household items overwhelmed us. The sheer quantity of donated goods became a major logistic challenge. Problems with sorting, storing and slow distribution were a source of frustration and anger from donors and intended recipients. We were saved by hundreds of volunteers and the generosity of business leaders in the logistics industry like Lindsay Fox, who donated trucks, warehouses and expertise.
Regrettably, a large percentage of the items donated in 2009 were unsuitable or unneeded and eventually had to be disposed of. The Australians donating goods to support the fire victims were trying to help but the fact is cash donations are more flexible, durable and much easier to manage. Some physical gifts are certainly required but the process of identifying needs is best managed at the local level, by people who know their communities. The advice here is to wait for a call for specific items, then give generously.
The Victorian fires caused extensive damage to roads, bridges, rail lines, power poles, telephone towers, road signs and the whole network of vital infrastructure. The repair of basic services, along with restoring communication networks and returning roads to a safe condition, was an urgent undertaking. The trained personnel needed to complete this were overworked and resources severely stretched. Some service providers and telecoms provided free or heavily discounted services in the disaster zones for an extended period, a display of corporate generosity that I hope is repeated now.
Before clearing of the damaged areas could commence in 2009, an essential task was to arrange for property owners to return safely to their burnt properties to assess the damage, look for grandad’s medals, find mum’s jewellery or bury the remains of a loved pet.
However, significant hazards were left behind after the fires. These included unstable walls and roofs, teetering trees, damaged gas bottles, jagged metal and glass, and toxins released by the fire. Older structures were usually contaminated by asbestos, garages and sheds contained poisons, while farm buildings often held bulk pesticides. After Black Saturday we arranged return visits by survivors to the devastated areas, with appropriate safety and support measures in place. However, survivors often won’t wait for “permission” to visit their property so warnings about the risks, appropriate clothing, and hazards to avoid should be broadcast widely and often. The task of clearing burnt properties was physically and emotionally draining for the people whose homes and businesses had been lost. In 2009 we contracted professionals to safely demolish and remove much of the debris of buildings but people often took matters into their own hands. We arranged scheduled truck runs to help communities and individuals to remove debris, as were new dumpsites and landfills. Nonetheless, a considerable amount of illegal dumping occurred and several people were injured trying to clear their properties, some seriously.
Many communities adjacent to the fire zones were coated in ash from the inferno. When rain fell a week or two after the fires, household water tanks were immediately polluted by ash washed from the roof. This necessitated an urgent program of supplying packaged water, plus pumping out then refilling thousands of contaminated water tanks, a substantial project in its own right.
Furthermore, vast areas of forest reserved as water catchment zones were burnt, raising the risk that contaminated run-off would flow into dams and reservoirs. As a precaution, billions of litres of water were pumped from affected dams into others outside the ash zone. Similar measures, locally and at municipal scale, may be required now.
Managers of the recovery process in 2020 will need to understand that clearing and rebuilding will occur piecemeal over an extended period. Some survivors will find it difficult, if not impossible, to start. Insurance assessments will delay some projects, as will a shortage of builders. Predatory behaviour by callous individuals and companies might exacerbate the distress of survivors. Advice and support for people trying to rebuild will be essential, in the form of advisory packs, updates, information centres, and ongoing consultation.
The insurance industry has a special responsibility in the wake of disasters to efficiently and fairly meet its obligations. The problem today, as it was in 2009, is that many damaged or destroyed properties will have been underinsured or not insured at all. After the Black Saturday fires, it was revealed that only half of all properties affected were fully insured (that is, well above market value) while a quarter of property owners had no insurance cover. Many people trying to rebuild discovered their insurance didn’t come close to covering the real cost of rebuilding. There will be frustration and anger over this issue in 2020, too.
The challenges will not diminish in the medium to long term, and we will need to be ready with ongoing support and understanding. It will take years to rebuild. Some towns and communities might never be the same. Businesses will struggle; some will fail.
At some point, perhaps repeatedly, people battling through the rebuilding process will hit an emotional or financial wall. Australians are generally a tough lot but constant strain, sadness and the enormity of the task will take its toll, as it did in 2009. There will be insurance wrangles, dodgy contractors, government funding will taper off, and costs will go up. It will be a relentless, hard grind.
Mental health issues will arise. Some survivors of the fires will need a break. This goes double for children, whose parents and relatives will have shed tears and sweat through months of effort. Following earlier disasters tour companies, resorts, football clubs, and a host of other organisations made special arrangements to provide much-needed respite. Holiday companies and others in the recreation business, here’s your chance to shine again.
Disasters like this one have very long residual effects. Many agencies and individuals are working hard to meet the immediate needs of communities hit by the fires. But that burden will continue through the rest of the bushfire season, into winter and beyond.
Furthermore, for many people the arduous process of rebuilding will only just be getting under way when the next fire season arrives later in the year. What are we going to do about that? What preparations can we make? What changes must be imposed? The likelihood of continuing drought and the effects of our changing climate suggest that the summer of 2020-21 will be no less savage than this one.
John Cantwell is a retired senior army officer. In 2009 (then) Major General Cantwell was assigned to lead the national and state response to the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria. He was the interim head and later chief of operations of the Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority.
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