As western Victoria approaches a new fire season, the blare of firetruck sirens still ring in the ears of many locals affected by January’s bushfires.
The devastation of the Otways fires, among others across the state, prompted a parliamentary inquiry into the causes and management of Victoria’s bushfires in late July - receiving 480 submissions and delivering 80 recommendations.
What they want: Recommendations from Colac Otway Shire Council’s submission were included in the inquiry’s final recommendations that were published last month.
These included improvements to VicEmergency messaging, calls for stronger resilience from telecommunications, stronger understanding of funding requirements for emergency relief centres and locally-led recovery funding.
The background: The Legislative Council’s Environment and Planning Committee report found the January fires burnt about 440,000 hectares statewide and destroyed 451 homes, 1,110 other structures such as sheds and claimed one life.
The Otways complex, made up of the Carlisle River and Kennedys Creek fires, burnt more than 11,000 hectares after dry lightning strikes on January 9.
Damage to the Barwon Water treatment plant in Gellibrand left residents without safe drinking water.
180 displaced residents gathered at the Colac Showgrounds - with its ability to hold pets and livestock such as horses - acting as an Emergency Relief Centre.
On the ground: Krystal May is the first lieutenant and community safety officer for the Carlisle River Fire Brigade. Her husband, Rob, is the brigade captain.
Their brigade had six crew members volunteering on a rotating roster.
“Our tanker was pretty much out there 24 hours a day for just over three weeks,” she told the Brolga. “It was exhausting, scary and you just sort of lost track of time, I think, because it was nonstop.”
What did the report find? The inquiry found mobile blackspots and power outages left crews isolated and unable to communicate to other firefighters.
Newly installed digital Country Fire Authority radios failed because they relied on vulnerable mobile networks, leaving volunteers to fall back on UHF radio, satellite internet, or nothing.
Communities and volunteers said the local knowledge of volunteers was under-used in planning and command for strike teams and crews who travelled from further away to fight fires.
Low volunteer numbers also impacted crews’ capacity to respond, with CFA volunteer numbers declining 26 percent over the past decade.
Real-life impact of the findings: Local knowledge, a large throughline of the inquiry, was a vital component of protecting the Carlisle River community.
“The local knowledge that Rob has, especially, he'd just go, ‘it's at this person's house’, so that really was a shortcut for us to know where [we were] going.”
Another major finding in mobile reception blackspots also created significant challenges for firefighters and evacuating residents in the Otways.
“Where we live, you drive two kilometres either side of our house, and then there's no coverage whatsoever,” May explained. “So a lot of times we were just in a complete black spot with no communication whatsoever in the middle of a fire.”
“There were a few times we needed help to fight the fire, being the only appliance there, but because we couldn't communicate to get people to help us, it'd get further away. And vice versa, people needed us to come and back them up, but they couldn't get onto us to get the backup.”
Emotional toll: The seven-year volunteer has called Carlisle River home for a decade. In a small township, the most difficult part of dealing with January’s fires for May was the direct threat to her own home, plus the homes of neighbours and friends.
“It was a really, really hard thing having it in our own area, you know the people whose properties were under threat, and it wasn't just one at a time, there were multiple properties under threat at any given time,” May said.
“You're on the truck trying to fight the fire, and then you're trying to look after the community, [thinking], what can I do to help them?”
Colac Otway Shire weighs in: Of the 480 submissions, Colac Otway Shire Council provided 16 recommendations on what needed to change before next fire season, including:
Upgrades to the Incident Control Centre in Colac, as well as the Colac Municipal Aerodrome and Emergency Relief Centre at the Colac Showgrounds;
Simplifying VicEmergency messages to ensure all affected residents receive them and information and instructions are clear;
Strengthening infrastructure and recovery through rolling out more backup generators, deploying more crews to repair damaged powerlines faster;
And funding the council to work with tourism bodies to rebuild visitor numbers.
Now what? The Bureau of Meteorology’s spring outlook, released this week, predicts below average spring rainfall across the state, above average temperatures, and an increased risk of fire along multiple parts of western Victoria including the Surf Coast, far south-west, and areas west of Geelong.
Ahead of the approaching fire season, May said fuel reduction and clearing tracks to allow tankers through would be key in preparing the region.
She also encouraged residents to clear any fuel from their properties such as dry leaves or grass, and to attend upcoming CFA Get Fire Ready events in October, where brigades help locals create fire plans and assess property accessibility and water supply.