THE SPIRIT OF

river, trees tangled in vines, gullies of rainforest teeming with birds and wildlife. It attracted people like Laena Stephenson, a marriage celebrant, who came to bring up her children in nature. “ When we came here , w e were all young,” she says of the group of families who settled in the district 3 3 years ago. “We started our families together, had babies together. We helped each other build our houses.” A ll that is left of Laena’s house are the remnants of walls, the twist of metal that was the television, broken crockery and a melted Rayburn wood stove in what was once the kitchen. It was a pretty mudbrick house, covered in climbing vines. She and her former husband had built it. “ I massaged every brick in that house, I hammered in every bit of that earth floor,” she remembers solemnly. “I dug rocks out of the ground with a crowbar. I couldn’t walk into that house without loving it.” S he keeps remembering things that are gone: “Oh, my grandfather’s banjo mandolin, oh this, oh that.” One of her four daughters, Kaya Jongen, owned the house next door. That’s gone too , and Kaya is now living in a tent. “ There were many beautiful owner-built homes in Nymboida ,” Laena says sadly, “homes made of mudbrick, rock and timber –really beautiful bespoke houses.” N ow, for miles and miles, there are just burned , black , skeletal trees, sticks and scorched earth –an empty, desolate landscape. Twisted metal where 101 houses used to be. The fires roared through 51 per cent of the Clarence Valley, taking three million hectares. It’s deathly quiet now. There is no birdsong, no animals anywhere. L aena can be philosophical about her house . “It’s only a house. It was a beautiful house but in the end, it is material things.” But she weeps openly for the defenceless animals that were lost. “When I really break and feel it intensely, it is always to do with looking at nature, the wildlife, the flora and fauna who had no part in creating this situation and couldn’t get away from it, everything just screaming. One of the beautiful things about Nymboida NYMBOIDA, NSW POPULATION 298 HOMES DESTORYED 85

was that we had incredible variety –a number of threatened species, wallabies, wallaroos, brush -tailed rock -wallabies. Now people talk about seeing one animal –a possum or a pair of Eastern Greys . Just seeing a firefly can make a us happy. A team of wildlife people went around to the dams and watering holes taking food. And if it was eaten , they were so happy. But most of the time it wasn’t. I had leaf-tailed geckos in my house before the fire. Now I don’t know if I will ever see one again.” L aena was lucky. Her current husband, Dave, had insured their house. He also built the shed that they now live in with donated furniture. And he helped defend the community-owned Camping and Canoeing Centre, which became the hub for recovery operations when the district’s shell-shocked people were left largely with just what they were standing up in. A fter the fire, they had no phone or internet for five weeks and no power for 10 days. A month before the Nymboida fire, further north along the valley, the community of Ewingar had sheltered in the local hall from a “monster” of a fire that had surrounded the building leaving them unable to escape. The fires came three times to Ewingar. Each time they had to evacuate. “There were times when we thought the fire was contained but then a month later, something would flare up. Without rain, it just doesn’t go out,” says Nadine Myers , 42. “ Everyone has been touched by the fires,” she says. “An elderly couple died [Gwenda Hyde, 68 and Robert Lindsey, 77]. A lot of people around here knew Gwenda. That was horrible. We were surprised more people weren’t killed with the intensity of the fire.” Yet, in the midst of it all, Ewingar rallied. “We had periods where the fires were going crazy and we were feeding people, at the hall, who had lost their homes or had been evacuated ,” says Nadine . “ We fed the RFS volunteers too. All these people came forward with big pots of food and bread and everything we needed. The Red Cross donated food and

BLACK SUMMER The AUSTRALIAN BUSHFIRE CRISIS

water. Our Two Hands, a local charity that works with people who are homeless, helped out. So did the Casino Golf Club. Shed of Hope has been building little sheds for people who have lost everything . People were amazing.” T hen, one evening, after a long day volunteering with the RFS , Nadine and her partner, Boris Sweeney, hatched a plan to hold a benefit concert. They made some inquiries and before they knew it, 20 bands had volunteered. Rock singer Tex Perkins was the linchpin, says Nadine. S ix weeks later, a weekend-long music festival was held at one of the few buildings still standing, the h all. “ It was just beautiful,” says Nadine, and it not only raised funds, it was healing. “A lot of our good friends and neighbours had been depressed for a long time. They’d been depressed about the drought already, and then the fire came and they lost a lot. But everyone’s cares were wiped away for that weekend. There were smiles just everywhere.” L ikewise , the Nymboida community has galvanised. “Officials started coming out, donations started coming in, my husband got a generator going for power,” Laena says. “We fed people at the canoe centre twice a day for a month and had emergency accommodation there . Mary, a registered nurse, came in every day. Savanah and Heath Walker (above) are among the volunteers (far left) helping out. Laena (left) and Bob Gorringe (below) now have to look forward and rebuild.

Other people who have experience with trauma came in to help .” C hef Scott Gonzales cooked 700 meals in four weeks. People who didn’t have insurance were taken in by people who still had houses. “ But w hat people need more than anything is to tell their stories,” says Laena. W hen John Lillico from BlazeAid arrived, the valley was “just black everywhere. There was nothing here, absolutely nothing. It was like a moonscape, and the people were pretty downcast.” B lazeAid’s mission is to rebuild farms and fences , but volunteers often spend almost as much time listening to locals’ stories. “There is so much emotion in these people,” says volunteer Danny Handcock . “We would sit down for a smoko up in Tenterfield and get up three hours later. All we did was listen.” “ You can tell when they’re stressed because they have no idea what to do,” says John. “That’s when we say, ‘Let’s have a cup of tea and by the way, why don’t we lock up that boundary over there?’ Once they see something happening, they’re into it.” ➝

BLACK SUMMER The AUSTRALIAN BUSHFIRE CRISIS

Rebuild our towns

K halsa Aid, a Sikh charity, also arrived in the district with a truckload of fodder for farm animals, and that lifted spirits. F or Bob, like so many, helping others has been healing. “Initially you go into shock. Then you realise the entire community is completely screwed. And what you can do is try to help the people around you. Even those who have survived the fire and have still got houses have no communications, electricity or running water. We put out a call to anybody with a chainsaw, generator or a water pump. We took them out to people so they could get on with their lives.” W hen The Weekly arrives, Bob is fixing old tools for the new tool library. “When you start building a house, the first thing you have to do is drop $10,000 at Bunnings. This will save people thousands of dollars that they haven’t got.” After a car accident and a heart attack, Bob had been unable to work, so couldn’t insure his home , b ut h e is determined to rebuild. “I’m an old man , but I’m going to give it a go.” For now, he is living at the c anoe ing c entre in a donated caravan. Narelle is staying with friend s . Tommy Welham has been working on the recovery efforts and says the focus has shifted now “from first aid, food, water and emergency shelter to looking at how we can help people rebuild. We are working on a support program where architects, builders, engineers can come in and help design houses, and get them through council. It’s a low socio-economic area where a lot of people don’t have savings. So we are looking into low-cost, fi re-rated designs using green materials.” T he fires, says Laena, have strengthened in her a “deep -seated knowledge of what is important, and it isn’t a house. As we accounted for everybody, it took days. ‘Has anyone seen the hermit who lived up here? Oh yes, I have.’ Every time we accounted for another person, I thought, nobody has died and we won ’t have to go to that next level of grief. I love this community.” L aena believes that recovery comes “by working together, trying to be nice to each other … and communicating about what we can do, as a community, to remain living in this beautiful place. “ We need to make sure we’re ready next time and don’t lose lives –building into hills and cliffs, conserving water, stopping run -off, dealing with drought. I will plant trees, I will plant food. I will try to look after the environment with good land management techniques and more sustainable, environmentally friendly dams, so we can protect our houses. “ I see the recovery as being hypervigilant about how we deal with this very fragile landscape and how we help nature to heal. I don’t think Australia will ever be the same again. But we have to try to help it recover.” A nd hope lies in the fuzz of green on the ground, and frills of leaves on the trunks of burned trees. The valley is slowly greening but it will be years before it flourishes. AWW • The people of Nymboida welcome volunteer architects, builders and engineers, and donations of building supplies. Please email: rebuildnymboida @outlook.com. • Nymb oida Camping & Canoeing, with its riverside camp ground and cabins, sustained damage and has not yet reopened, but when it does, the community would welcome visitors: nymboidacanoecentre.com. • To donate to the Nymboida Community Bushfire Fund, visit: ie.gofundme.com/f/nymboidacommunity-bush-fire-fund. • E wingar’s music festival raised just a fraction of the funds that will be needed to rebuild the community. To make a donation, visit: chuffed. org/project/ewingar-rising • BlazeAid has camps of volunteers at work in Victoria. NSW and South Australia. For more, visit: blazeaid.com.au Laena’s grandson Ochre Thomas sits on blackened tree stumps. Left: Tommy Welham, with daughter Maisy, is helping to drive the rebuilding process. Laena says Australia must learn from this and help nature heal.

A message to Westpac customers aff ected by the bushfi res.

Our Bushfi re Recovery Support Package is here to help our customers and communities recover and rebuild from the bushfi re crisis. These measures supplement our existing Disaster Relief Package.

Personal Banking customers

• Mortgage repayments paid for one year for customers who have lost their principal place of residence due to the bushfi res (up to $1,200 per month). • Interest-free home loans for customers to cover the gap between insurance payouts and rebuilding costs, subject to our credit criteria ($250 million allocation). • Up to $2,000 in emergency cash grants for customers whose properties have been destroyed or damaged by the bushfi res.

Business customers

• A grant of up to $15,000 to assist small businesses with the cost of refurbishing premises that have been destroyed during the bushfi res. • 2.83% p.a. three-year variable rate, low-interest rebuilding loans for business customers, up to $1 million individual loans ($1 billion allocation). • Up to $2,000 in emergency cash grants for customers whose business premises have been destroyed or damaged by the bushfi res. • No foreclosures for three years on any farming businesses in the affected areas. • Fast track credit approvals to provide short-term assistance.

Community

• $3 million to provide emergency cash grants to customers in affected towns and regions. • $500,000 donation to Financial Counselling Australia to provide fi nancial counselling services to people in affected towns and regions to help them through the recovery and rebuild. • Volunteer fi re fi ghters nationally can access the Disaster Relief Package. • Appointing new role CEO, Bushfi re Recovery to lead response. This includes mobile customer support teams deployed to affected towns and regions for localised decision-making. • This is in addition to more than $1 million already contributed to community groups such as The Salvation Army Emergency & Disaster Appeal, state-based volunteer services, and state bushfi re appeals.

To fi nd out if you are eligible for the Bushfi re Recovery Support Package call 1800 067 497 or visit any Westpac Branch.

Thank you, fireys This summer brought fires like Australia has never seen before, and also revealed the formidable spirit of strong and selfless people.

“Come home safe” Tiny Spencer Haines was born nine days overdue on Christmas Eve. Perhaps he’d been waiting for his brave d ad , Beau Haines , to get home from battling the catastrophic fires in NSW. “He must have known that Dad wasn’t home,” says his mother, Cassie Randal. The first-time mother was nearing her due date when Beau was asked to leave their home in Kiewa, Victoria, to fight fires on the NSW coast. “I had two hours’ notice. They only had two people who could go,” Beau says. He told Cassie he’d stay if she wanted him to, but Cassie understood this was his duty. “It was a hard decision but the brigade’s like a whole other family to us,” Cassie says. “I admit I had a little crying fit when he told me he had to leave, but being with a firefighter, these things pop up. We were both scared he was going to miss the birth but Spencer decided to hold on for nine more days before he made his entrance.” And while he was on the frontline of the blaze, Beau’s young family was never far from his mind. After Beau returned safely, local photographers Kurt and Charlyne Hickling, who have both been volunteer firefighters for 17 years, did a photo shoot at the CFA shed and images of the firey father went viral (above) . “I’m very proud of what Beau doe s ,” says Cassie. “Come home safe is all I ask.” For months we have watched the selfless dedication and bravery of our firefighters. To them, the children of Australia say thanks.

20 The Australian Women’s Weekly | FEBRUARY 2020 HICKLING PHOTOGRAPHY. AAP. GETTY IMAGES. FAIRFAX. ERIN LEHMAN.

Messages ofhope

The children of Australia have said thank you to the volunteers protecting their homes and communities. RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons says the cards, notes, drawings and poems filled with “such heartfelt, innocent and beautiful messages truly lift spirits and keep the team going in these difficult times.”

BLACK SUMMER The AUSTRALIAN BUSHFIRE CRISIS

Fallen heroes

As he addressed the daugh ter of one of the volunteer firefighters who lost their lives, RFS Co mmissioner Shane Fitzsimmons’ voice cracked: “Baby Charlotte, you need to know that your dad was a selfless man, he was a specia l man and he only left us because he is a hero.” Fitzsimmons was speaking at the funera l of Andrew O’Dwyer, 36 (third from top). He and fellow firefighter, Geoffrey Keaton, 32, (bottom) lost their lives before Christmas when a falling tree hit their RFS truck on the Green Wattle Creek fireground near Buxton , south-west of Sydney. Both men were posthumously presented with the highest accolade, the Commissioner’s Commendation for Extraordinary Service and Bravery. Volunteer firefighter Samuel McPaul died on duty on December 30 at the Green Valley fireground near Albury, leaving behind a pregnant partner. And as we go to press, Victoria mourns veteran firefighter Bill Slade, who died on January 11 while working to contain a blaze near Omeo in the Victorian alps .

The long road to recovery

As the fires subside, the real work begins. Genevieve Gannon looks at the efforts to help our land recover.

Some of Australia’s richest wilderness has been ravaged by bushfires so fierce conservationists now fear it may never fully recover.

Western Australia’s Stirling Range is home to more than 1500 species of plan ts, at least 87 of which are not found anywhere else in the world, but out-ofcontrol bushfires that burned more than 40,000 hectares in December could alter the delicate ecosystem. Nearly half the park was burned before 200 fire crews brought the flames under control, but now conservationists fear the blaze may have caused irreparable damage. The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions is conducting an aerial survey of the area to assess the damage, but they say they’ll have to wait until the regrowth begins in spring to know how well the bushland will recover. The haven is one of only 34 sites in the world that is exceptionally rich in species. Flora lost in fires

STIRLING RANGE, WA

PORT MACQUARIE, NSW

BLACK SUMMER The AUSTRALIAN BUSHFIRE CRISIS

Wildlife wipe-out

As fire closed in on his home and his wife Jen rushed between their son and their premature twins in Port Macquarie hospital, Ryan Tate and his faithful detection dog Taylor went to work rescuing wildlife. Fire had devastated the local koala habitat and Ryan (with Jen’s full support) felt compelled to help. “We both genuinely felt a moral responsibility to get out there,” he says.

Ryan and his specially trained Springer Spaniel Taylor (ab ove, left) worked for up to 12 hours a day in heavy gear and harsh conditions, spotting koalas that had been injured, Our canine conservationist

displaced or left without adequate food as a result of the bush fires. “A dog can cover in an hour what would take 10 people half a day,” Ryan says. Taylor is trained to sniff out koalas or, in bushfire conditions where it’s smoky and windy, their sca ts. “She’s probably one of the most broadly trained conservation detection dogs in the country.” The Tates’ twins, Evie and Wren (above, right), had been born seven weeks premature, and at times fire cut both Ryan and Jen off from their newborn girls. “There are three ways to the hospital but many times all three of them were on fire,” Ryan says.

The area where Ryan and Jen live came under threat from an ember attack but fortunately the flames never reached their house. Ryan says the kindness of people has made what would otherwise have been a tortuous time more tolerable.

Dr Chris Brown has urged us not to forget “the other quiet Australians” devastated in the fires, who are “too small, too hidden or simply not pretty enough to have a PR presence”. Posting ph otos of the Brush-tailed rock-wallaby, Long-footed potoroo, and Kangaroo Island dunnart, he sought to “shine a light on them before we lose them forever”. With over a billion animals estimated to be lost nationwide, he said it was the right time to put faces to these horrific numbers and truly understand what we are about to lose forever.

BLACK SUMMER The AUSTRALIAN BUSHFIRE CRISIS

MALLACOOTA, VIC

Angela Rintoul’s stomach was “jumping” as she held her 17-month-old son (above) and waited for the deadly firefront to approach Mallacoota. The sky was blood red. The air was filled with the noise of exploding gas bottles and high-pressure water hitting the outside of the building as firefighters prepared for the advancing inferno. Volunteers moved through the evacuation centre, removing hazards and covering windows. “It’s a feeling of terror in your stomach,” Angela recalls, safe now in Melbourne after being evacuated by the N avy. Authorities warned people in East Gippsland to evacuate on the afternoon of December 29 , when an area half the size of Belgium came under threat from out of control bushfires. Angela was in her parents’ shack with her partner and baby, deciding whether to take a gamble on the road to Canberra. A decision to flee would have meant driving through thick forest, which “felt a bit risky because there were also fires in Bega” . But before they had a chance to make a decision, a blaze flared up at nearby Wingham River. Within minutes it became too dangerous to leave. It was frightening, Angela says. The family had been coming to Mallacoota for 18 years and had never seen it this dry. “You could hear dry leaves being blown along the street, making this eerie sound, before the fire was anywhere near us.” The next day the air became smokier, and at 4.45pm a text message instructed them to seek shelter. They grabbed their bags and headed for the lake, which was already crowded with people. A towering pyrocumulonimbus cloud loomed over the scene. The fire was behaving erratically, creating its own weather and “ it was throwing out fire in all directions,” Angela says. As families huddled by the water’s edge, police encouraged those with children to go to the community centre. Throughout the night the building filled up, while outside the air was alight with embers. Escape from Mallacoota

24 The Australian Women’s Weekly | FEBRUARY 2020 FAIRFAX. AAP. HUMAN APPEAL INTERNATIONAL. ANN GORDON. NEWSPIX. KIM MCSWEENEY. SUNNATARAM FOREST MONASTERY. EMILIA TERZON © 2020 ABC. The fire hit early on Tuesday morning. Sirens wailed as Mallacoota began to burn. The community centre was spared but much of the town was razed. What wasn’t destroyed was the residents’ spirit. The local baker stayed up cooking for travellers and locals who had been trapped in the centre or at the water’s edge , while a cafe owner delivered coffee to shell-shocked and sleepdeprived survivors. Angela’s family’s house was spared, but they lost their shed. Finally, o n Friday they were evacuated on the HMAS Choules. “It was a horrific experience,” says Angela. As the ship steamed away, she felt “an immense sadness for the people who are still there trying to start the process of recovery and rebuilding.”

JOHNSONVILLE, VIC

Women from the Australian Islamic Centre brought five truckloads of supplies to country Victoria and cooked breakfast for 150 firefighters.

QUEENS PARK, NSW

Crafters young and old have helped injured wildlife. Here, Monty Armstrong runs up a bat wrap for the Rescue Craft Collective. LAKE CONJOLA, NSW

There were daring rescues and boat convoys. Two locals in a tinny rescued a family of 14 and two dogs from 50-foot high flames.

Helping hand

It’s an aphorism often repeated: when disaster strikes, look to the helpers. Watching in shock as swathes of our farmland, towns and forests were incinerated, we’ve taken comfort from all that ordinary Australians do to help.

OMEO, VIC

An ‘army of angels’ convoy of 150 trucks delivered donated supplies in Victoria. Damien Britt (left) delivers hay to farmer Russell Foster.

Shelter from the firestorm When Erin Riley took to Twitter to offer a paddock to people whose properties had been ravaged by fire, she had no idea she would spark a major rehousing project. Soon she was inundated with people offering and seeking emergency accommodation and findabed.info was born. In just one

BUNDANOON, NSW

As thanks for defending the Sunnataram Forest Monastery, the faithful offered massages, blessings and Thai food to firefighters.

week more than 6500 people registered to provide shelter to people evacuating from the path of the fires. The first person placed was a 76-year-old man who had been sleeping in his car. “A couple not far from there put him up. They made him dinner; he even borrowed the guy’s clothes,” Erin says. Since then, people have offered everything from spare bedrooms to whole houses to families and individuals in need.

BLACK SUMMER The AUSTRALIAN BUSHFIRE CRISIS

PENROSE, NSW ADAM MCLEAN/AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY MEDIA. REBECCA FARLEY PHOTOGRAPHY. Pat’s pregnant alpacas When the RFS built a firebreak behind Patricia Bova’s Penrose alpaca farm she knew she had to evacuate, and there was no way she was going without her “girls”. But it wasn’t as simple as that, what with her girls being a flock of alpacas, 12 of which were pregnant. “It’s very hard to find a spot for 60-odd animals,” Patricia (left) says. Luckily, plenty of people were keen to help. The Moss Vale Showgrounds opened and friends helped her move the flock in a horse float. As smoke blanketed the road, police provided an escort. And once the girls were ensconced at the showground, locals arrived with supplies. The alpacas settled in happily, with one giving birth a week later. The baby doesn’t have a name yet but Patricia says she’ll likely choose “something fiery”.

Love conquers

When Stephanie and Chris Forde (below, right) became engaged , there was no question where they would hold the wedding –at Stephanie’s parents’ property in Tambo Upper, in East Gippsland, Victoria. And as the couple live in the UK and Chris’ family had never been to Australia, what better time than summer? The date was set for January 4, 2020. Then everything changed. Travelling to Tambo Upper to celebrate New Year’s Eve, Stephanie and Chris were stopped by blockades. Stephanie’s parents had already evacuate d their animals and were preparing to leave themselves. “Then on New Year’s Day we saw the dire weather warning for our wedding day,” recalls Stephanie. “It was 40 degrees and high winds. There was no way it would be safe for our guests, and if we all got stuck, it would be catastrophic.” That’s when the kindness of the community took over. First, Jonathan and Judy Wood offered up their waterfront property in nearby Paynesville. When the flower farm they were using burnt down, House of Blooms at Dahlsens in Bairnsdale offered a free bouquet and buttonhole. The day before the nuptials their wedding planner, Adele Charlwood , and partner Lucas built a bar from scratch after the one they’d ordered couldn’t get through roadblocks. And that was despite Adele’s own property being on an ember warning. Their caterer called in a panic. “She said, ‘I have to stay and defend my property. I’ve made all your food but you’re going to have to get it and warm it up yourselves,’” says Stephanie. L ocals and friends stepped in to help. Finally, the local Rotary Club set up a marquee and tables. “And the wedding was the best day of our lives,” Stephanie says. “It wasn’t just our 20 guests at that wedding; it felt like the whole community was involved. And Chris’ family have been blown away by the Australian spirit –how people who may not know each other just band together to overcome a terrible situation.”

26 The Australian Women’s Weekly | FEBRUARY 2020 TAMBO UPPER, VIC

GET ON BOARD

rebuild ourtowns

•AUSSIES LENDING A HAND•

The practical things you can do to help rebuild Australia, one town at a time

There’s not a single Australian who hasn’t had their hearts broken by the horrifi c bushfi res that have swept through our country. The road to rebuild will be lon g but as a nation we will: brick by brick, fence by fence. Bauer Media launched this campaign to help our neighbours in their time of need.

Each week we will shine a spotlight on a town telling our generous readers how they can help, from the best fundraisers to donate to that specifi cally benefi t the locals, to products they can buy from that town or region that support small businesses there. We’ll highlight the farmers who need fencing supplies, the schools which are short of books and pencils, the yoga school that needs mats or how to plan a getaway to the region when the time is right to bolster their local tourism industry.

The Rebuild Our Towns campaign is centred on the fact that practical help doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Our love and thoughts go out to every person, but actions speak louder than words, so join us to make a diff erence and help our heartland heal.

Go to rebuildourtowns.com.au and watch as we move from one town to another over the coming months

Fireproofing

Professor David Bowman is a pyrogeographer, one of the world’s leading fire experts. He has studied wildfire for more than 40 years but this fire season in Australia has made the hair on the back of his neck bristle. It has frightened him. “This is a nation-defining, historical event,” he says, with some urgency, from his post at T he University of Tasmania. “I said that in November. I knew it, even then, because the sorts of things that were happening in northern NSW were so extraordinary, so extreme. Extrapolating that, it was easy to see it moving down as a wave –it was inevitable. “There has been terrible loss of wildlife, biodiversity, farmland and homes, but we have also been lucky. Both good fortune and the skill of the firefighters have ensured the loss of [human] life hasn’t been greater.” However, David stresses that we can’t count on our luck holding unless we, as a nation, do some serious fire prevention and preparation. “Something bigger than Black Saturday is in the cards,” he believes. “Maybe we will avoid it this year but I know the risk is sitting there.” Dr Joelle Gergis, an award-winning climate scientist and author, believes this fire season has been not only nation-defining , but a signpost to our global future. “As the planet continues to warm,” she says, “people all over the world are looking at Australia and looking at the summer that is unfolding, and we are now the poster child for climate change. We’re illustrating what it looks like when the planet warms.” Australia is the most vulnerable nation in the developed world to climate change. Average Australian temperatures had risen by roughly 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels in the lead-up to this fire season (with the continent warming more rapidly than the global average of 1.1°C). The best scientific modelling suggests that, beyond a rise of 2°C, the impacts on our climate and ecosystems could be irreversible. Yet Joelle believes it may still be possible to put the brakes on climate change. “When we have more greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, there is an If this year’s fire season is a harbinger of things to come, there needs to be some urgent planning. Samantha Trenoweth meets fire experts devising smart solutions to our catastrophic problem.

increase in global temperatures,” she explains. “That’s why climate scientists, not just here but all over the world, are calling for a reduction in emissions. The first thing we need to do is emissions reduction, and the second thing is adaptation.” Naomi Brown is the former CEO of the Australasian Fire & Emergency Service Authorities Council, a board member of the National Aerial Firefighting Centre and one of the emergency leaders who last year requested a meeting with the Prime Minister to warn of the risk of a catastrophic fire season. She too believes we must be better prepared. “All the fire chiefs could see this was ready to happen,” she tells The Weekly from her home in Perth. “Even so, we were shocked. The word unprecedented gets bandied about a lot but these fires really were unprecedented. Their size and ferocity and intensity were staggering. Now there needs to be some very hard thinking done about the future. “In the short to medium term, we need to invest in more research into how we can best deal with these fires. We need to look at the sustainability of volunteerism –can we expect volunteers to risk their lives day after day all spring and summer long? We need to invest in more aerial equipment. We need to investigate the way hazard reduction burns are done and look into other methods of fire mitigation.”