Black Summer fires: Inquiry’s 76 recommendations released by NSW Emergency Services Minister

NSW Minister’s warning as he releases 76 findings into the fires, which killed 34 people and destroyed 3000 homes.

Fire and Rescue personal run to their truck as a bushfire burns next to a major road and homes at Bilpin on December 19, 2019. Picture: Getty

The NSW Emergency Services Minister David Elliott has declared the state ready for the next bushfire season but cautioned there are “unknowns” that no government can prepare for, as he released 76 recommendations handed down by an independent inquiry into the historic Black Summer fires.

The findings, first reported by The Australian earlier this month, recommend a rethinking of hazard reduction burning protocols along with land clearing laws. It also calls for significant financial investment in research, operational capacity and other areas of long-term planning related to climate change.

The fires, which started in October 2019 and continued until February, killed 34 people, destroyed more than 3000 homes and left 12 million hectares of land scorched across the country. NSW has already entered its bushfire fighting season for 2020.

NSW Emergency Services Minister David Elliott. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

Mr Elliott said the historic fires were caused in the first instance by long-term droughts across the state and a build-up of fuel loads on the ground. “That’s a matter of public record,” he said, adding that the independent inquiry made a suite of recommendations, none of which provide a swift remedy to the problem.

“These 76 recommendations are wide-ranging, but what they also show is that there is no silver bullet,” he said. “We are prepared for the next season. What we are not prepared for, of course, is the unknown.”

Mr Elliott added that the “vast majority” of the summer fires were caused by “unusually high level of lightning strikes”, which he described as occurrences that “no government can prepare for”, though he cautioned that the recommendations would “sharpen up our ability to prepare for the unknown”.

A firefighter observes the damage caused by bushfires during the summer disaster.

The inquiry — led by former NSW Police deputy commissioner Dave Owens and former NSW chief scientist Mary O’Kane — was given six months to report on causes of the fires, the preparation and planning, the community response, and other factors.

It was given to the NSW government on July 31, and Mr Elliott has been given six weeks to plot a timeline for the rollout of the recommendations, some of which would require negotiation with the federal government.

Evacuess walk down to the beach at Mallacoota to board vessels and be ferried out to HMAS Choules. Picture: ADF

The report identifies a range of short and longer term priorities for the government. In the short term, it says, immediate fixes should include checking and auditing of processes, improving accountability, safety equipment and systems for firefighters, such as truck cabin protection and masks.

It also calls for “improved back-burning protocols, training and information around heavy plant use; the right mix of aerial firefighting assets; and increased aerial night firefighting”.

“Over the longer term, some major changes are needed,” it continues. “We need to push available technologies harder, especially fire science, remote sensing, data science and artificial intelligence to equip us better to understand what happens during a bushfire and respond more quickly.”