COVID-19 to hamper bushfire fighting efforts

The NSW Rural Fire Service has warned the ability of fire fighters to tackle blazes next summer could be severely undermined by the COVID-19 pandemic.

New NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Rob Rogers. Picture: Tim Hunter

The NSW Rural Fire Service has said the ability of firefighters to tackle blazes next summer could be severely undermined by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements heard on Wednesday that firefighting created an “ideal environment” for the transmission of infectious diseases, with volunteers working in proximity to one another.

Rob Rogers, who will on Thursday be confirmed as the permanent Rural Fire Service commissioner after having acted in that role for several months, told the commission that working conditions at firefronts were favourable for infection because of the lack of access to soap or hand sanitiser, and a constant moving of ­volunteers across state lines.

“If we have got fires that are being managed, you could take out potentially hundreds of people in the need to isolate those people in case they are ­infectious,” Mr Rogers said.

The commission has been presented with a preparatory document ahead of the next fire season that warns that the firefighting effort could be severely undermined if infection rates continue to rise.

Senior counsel assisting the royal commission, Dominique Hogan-Doran, said the virus could even impact the ability of international and interstate crews to render assistance and deliver assets.