Not appy: warnings out of date due to inaccurate fire data

A critical piece of technology that allowed people to monitor bushfires displayed out-of-date information.

Delta Goodrem flies the flag at the Fire fight Australia concert. Picture: Richard Dobson

A critical piece of technology that allowed communities to monitor how the bushfires crisis was unfolding often displayed out-of-date information because of a shortage of dedicated planes that could feed back intelligence from fire grounds.

The NSW Rural Fire Service has confirmed it relies on a single contractor to provide line-scanning services for its Fires Near Me app, which is used by millions of people. Line scanning involves a plane at a high altitude photographing fires using thermal infrared camera equipment.

Intelligence gathered from these missions is fed into RFS computer systems, which then populate the Fires Near Me app, which was downloaded 1.3 million times in November.

A grateful front-row fan at the Fire Fight Australia concert. Picture: Richard Dobson

Brian McDonough, president of the NSW RFS Association, which represents 70,000 volunteer firefighters, said the RFS relied on a private contractor to survey the fires because it didn’t have enough planes. Contracted pilots were not always available, and were sometimes burdened with unrelated tasks and scheduling conflicts, he added.

“If we want them we have to ask them, and if their pilots are out of hours we have to wait for line scans,” Mr McDonough said. “Fires Near Me can do with some work to make it more accurate and suitable for people around some of the larger fires.”

According to its most recent annual report, the RFS owns three aircraft. To fight bushfires, especially during extreme weather conditions, it relies on hundreds of aircraft owned by private and commercial operators, the NSW Police Force, and other agencies.

An RFS spokesman said the service was in the process of ordering two Cessna Citation lead planes for its air fleet, which could be used in part for aerial reconnaissance as well.

Lead planes are used mainly to guide very large aircraft — such as tankers — by determining safe flight paths and locations for where they should drop retardant.

“While the primary role of these aircraft is to provide lead plane services … they will also have the capability of intelligence gathering,” an RFS spokesman said. “Dedicated line scanning aircraft remain contracted to a private company.”

RFS officials who spoke to The Australian said the service was unquestionably short on helicopters, which it needed to shuttle volunteers in and out of fire zones.

The advantage of Black Hawks for this purpose, said an RFS official, was they can carry more people. Helicopters used by the RFS can take about four or five people into a fire zone, while Black Hawks are said to be able to carry up to eight people.

The RFS was due to take possession of two Black Hawks from the military ahead of this fire season but the procurement was ­delayed until 2022.