WHAT do you have if you put all of the region’s key emergency services together in one room? Answer: A disaster.
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Fortunately, managing that disaster rather than causing it is why they are there, and on Wednesday August 13 the Gloucester Great Lakes branch of the NSW Rural Fire Service ran a practice day to test communications and systems in place between themselves and all relevant public services in the event of a real fire disaster.
It was a day which took fire plans to a whole new level.
Coordinating the hypothetical events was the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) led by Superintendent Jim Blackmore.
Humming with purpose, the RFS’ new Emergency Operations Centre in Tuncurry was eager to prove its mettle in the business of keeping life and property across 5700 square kilometres safe.
The large room inside was partitioned into two, keeping noise to a reasonable level.
On one side of the partition were the firefighters, coordinating five fires over the district with the help of their new interactive whiteboards and state of the art communications room.
Crews with National Parks and Wildlife and NSW Fire and Rescue also played a key role as the fire fighting conditions outside changed radically over the course of the day.
On the other side of the partition, in what was called the Evacuation Control Centre, were all the public services which would play a role in the event of a evacuation, such as NSW Police, the SES, NSW Health, NSW Fisheries, NSW Marine Rescue, Department of Community Services, and more.
Driving the hypothetical events of the day from ‘the activation’ room was RFS Mid Coast Superintendent Kam Baker and his team, forming the link between firefighters on the ground and those in the control centre.
“The biggest thing to get right in an activation cell is keeping things real. You have to be mindful of real time, in everything you do. It’s easy otherwise to get carried away,” Supt Baker said, as he considered the pre-planned fire events of the day.
With more than 40 firefighting brigades across the Gloucester Great Lakes Region, the day was designed to ensure that the communications centre could handle what was required across all sections of society.
“The purpose of the exercise is to see if facilities are working, what might need adjustment, if there are any shortfalls or what worked well,” Supt Blackmore said.
As light rain drizzled down outside, participants inside were told that the hypothetical temperature of the day was 31, humidity was 15 per cent, the BKDI (Byram-Keetch Drought Index) was 145, and pasture was 90 per cent cured.
Southerly winds were expected up the coast at 1pm, with wind gusts of 45 to 55 km per hour.
The wind began to pick up mid morning, but whilst firefighters were able to confirm they had at least two of the hypothetical five fires under control, one fire had begun to move quickly.
At this point the audible hum in both rooms became louder.
Firefighting authorities gathered to discuss threats, strategies, resources, and timeframes, resulting in Supt Blackmore heading into the conference room to discuss hypothetical road closures with NSW Police’s Local Emergency Operations Management Controller (LEOMC) Inspector John Sullivan.
In a shed bursting with acronyms, the day’s LEOMC then entered the ECC (Evacuation Control Centre) on the other side of the partition, confirming the road closures to the parties gathered.
Departments launched into their fields of expertise, covering all aspects of what road closures and possible evacuations would mean for civilians concerned.
In this second life scenario, Marine Rescue and NSW Fisheries readied their boats, SES briefed road crews with loudspeakers on hand, buses were organised, evacuation centres readied and demographics scrutinised in readiness for appropriate medical support.
Kevin Sinclair has been volunteering with the local SES for 11 years, but this was his first time filling an organisational role.
“It’s really about how to get people moving, quickly,” he said.
Then it was Ross Moylan’s turn, from Hunter New England Health’s Disaster Management Unit, who was on hand to pre-empt any health problems caused by the evacuations.
“My role is to act as the liaison between health and other agencies to circumvent evacuees clogging existing medical services by deploying services to areas in advance. I might identify people at risk such as those reliant on home dialysis," he said.
"If it’s an older population I need to consider respiratory health consequences, medication needs, trauma at leaving homes, and the implications of these on health resources at the evacuation centres."
Documenting the main decision-making processes of the day was Sue Gee from NSW National Parks and Wildlife, shadowing in writing Supt Blackmore as he worked with departments with a record of events, should any issues arise further down the track.
“They seem to be on top of everything,” she concluded.
Captain Richard Pratten, a volunteer with the RFS for 37 years and today manning the computer software in the communications room, wasn’t so sure.
“We’re trialling a new software package, and it’s got a few bugs,” he said.
However finding those bugs was one of the purposes of the day, and could easily be addressed.
Close to the end of the exercise, by now up to 45 firefighting units had been hypothetically deployed out into the field and roughly 300 hectares had been supposedly burnt out. Supt Blackmore was nonetheless satisfied.
“Our information flow between cells worked,” he said.
In other words, the new building works. Approaching a protracted ongoing fire season, it was a comfort to hear.