‘Outside help vital’ to support firefighters amid crisis
The intensity of the bushfire season has prompted the decision to bring in more than 5000 firefighters from interstate and overseas.
Government leaders and firefighting authorities are putting a brave face on their ability to cope with searing temperatures and bushfires on a potentially “monster” scale over the peak summer season, but admit needing considerable outside help.
NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said he was “extremely confident” his service was equipped with personnel and resources to fight fires over the next few months that risked spreading beyond three main areas of the state currently ablaze.
A catastrophic fire danger warning has been issued for parts of NSW, including greater Sydney and the Illawarra on Saturday, the second such warning this fire season.
A statewide total fire ban remains in place due to ongoing hot, dry and windy conditions. Catastrophic fire danger is forecast for Greater Sydney, Illawarra/Shoalhaven and the Southern Ranges today. A number of large fires are already burning in some of these areas. #nswrfs pic.twitter.com/CR2WIGvw9D
— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) December 20, 2019
Mr Fitzsimmons said, however, that the intensity of the bushfire season already under way had prompted the decision to bring in more than 5000 firefighters from interstate and overseas to bolster the thousands of volunteer and paid workers battling blazes.
“The reality is we’ve got a scale and magnitude of operation unfolding this season that has necessitated assistance and support well beyond local capabilities,” he said.
“Which is why we have seen personnel from different agencies right across different parts of the state that are not fire-affected moving in and spending time through rotations to support their local colleagues.”
The NSW Rural Fire Service is the largest volunteer service in the world, with more than 72,000 members, but it is relying on 5000 more from other states and hundreds of colleagues from New Zealand, the US and Canada who have been flown in under a reciprocal “partnering” arrangement.
“We continue to talk to our colleagues interstate and our international partners about bolstering the numbers,” Mr Fitzsimmons said.
The NSW government has a specially fitted Boeing 737 air tanker and 100 smaller aircraft to drop water and chemicals as part of its $541m budget to mitigate fires.
Mr Fitzsimmons said the NSW government and his agency were in constant contact with the Australian Defence Force to use Richmond air base in Sydney’s west as a hub for flights, and to provide extra military aircraft as needed.
The ADF would also continue providing assistance in the form of logistics, transport for fire crews, meals, accommodation and fire spread surveillance and night-time operations. “It’s an extraordinary commitment, there’s a lot of fatigued and tired people,” the rural fire chief said.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said her biggest concern remained the unpredictability of fires.
Already this season, three million hectares have been burnt and 800 properties lost, and there have been eight fatalities.
Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott said he was most concerned at “an early start to what is shaping up to be a monster bushfire season this summer”.
The government is not free of criticism about resourcing, with the Fire Brigade Employees Union alleging a “lack of leadership” because of budget cuts to fire services and regional communities.
Leighton Drury, the union’s NSW state secretary and a serving firefighter, called on the Berejiklian government to restore funding after “frontline” cuts in two regional areas.
Mick Holton, president of the Volunteer Firefighters Association, said more attention was needed to address high fuel loads and land management to prevent the spread of fire.
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