4 minute read
Operation Genesis leads to safe exodus
Editorial: Jesse Wray-McCann
Photography: Tim Morgan, Jesse Wray-McCann and Australian Defence Force
While the world watched on in horror at the apocalyptic images of people in Mallacoota being forced to the beach by fire, emergency authorities started working on a rescue mission.
The fearsome fires descended on the East Gippsland town about 8am on 31 December, turning skies black, then red, cutting off the lone road out of town and driving people from their homes and holiday accommodation to the foreshore.
Seeing that thousands had been pushed to the very ends of their patch of the Earth, authorities knew a massive evacuation by sea and air was needed.
When the State Government enlisted the help of the military for the evacuation, the commander of Victoria Police’s Air Wing Inspector Craig Shepherd met with Emergency Management Victoria’s (EMV) Director of Operations Geoff Colsell in an East Melbourne conference room on 1 January to work out how they might manage the huge task.
Within just 24 hours, that same room had been transformed into a bustling control centre that was packed with people furiously working to coordinate what had become known as Operation Genesis, the mission to rescue people out of Mallacoota and more than 20 other isolated communities in Victoria’s east and north east.
The Operation Genesis control centre in East Melbourne coordinated rescue efforts across the state.
Insp Shepherd said the Operation Genesis nerve centre in East Melbourne involved the combined forces of Victoria Police, EMV, the Royal Australian Navy, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Australian Army, the State Emergency Service, the Red Cross and the Department of Health and Human Services.
“It went from being just myself and Geoff in a room together, to having 30 people working away just 24 hours later, with touchpoints into every one of our assets and leaders in the field across the state,” Insp Shepherd said.
“It was the first time in Australia’s history a multi-agency group had been formed for an operation like this.”
Inspector Randy Anderson, one of the commanders at Genesis headquarters, said he was impressed with how quickly and effectively the team worked together.
“Considering we had never worked together and didn’t have a set game plan when we started, it worked like a very well-synchronised machine,” Insp Anderson said.
By 3 January, Operation Genesis had mustered the might of Australia’s military, and the navy’s HMAS Choules and MV Sycamore had arrived in Mallacoota to sail people to safety.
In what would be the beginning of the largest ever maritime evacuation in Australia, about 1,200 people boarded the two ships and arrived safely in Hastings the next day.
People in Mallacoota make their way to the Royal Australian Navy's HMAS Choules to evacuate the isolated town.
On that same day, those in charge of Operation Genesis were planning further evacuations – as well as food and water and satellite phone drops into struggling communities – when the East Gippsland town of Omeo came under fire threat.
“We were working on our other tasks when we had to drop everything and redirect all our assets to Omeo for the evacuation there,” Insp Anderson said.
“That swung into action extremely fast and we were able to airlift people out of there.”
The Water Police, busy delivering vital supplies, were also called into evacuation action, not only in Victoria, but over the border in New South Wales.
The Water Police make sure Mallacoota is stocked with food and water shortly after fires swept through the area.
In the dark and trapped by fire on a wharf near Eden, a group of 10 local residents made calls for help about 2.30am on 5 January.
The Water Police, who had been helping out in southern New South Wales, raced to action and were confronted with extremely poor weather and visibility.
The smoke haze was so thick they had to use their thermal imaging cameras to dock their vessel and save the residents.
Water Police officers survey the scene at Eden in New South Wales, where they saved people at the wharf from fires in the middle of the night.
Later that day, the evacuation of Mallacoota rolled on, with more than 400 people airlifted to safety across 18 flights from Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters and a C-27J Spartan aeroplane.
Operation Genesis continued to help move residents, tourists and emergency personnel in and out of fire-affected towns, but it was often hampered by bad weather.
Police Air Wing helicopter pilot Tim Ferguson said the smoke haze made for the worst visibility conditions he’d encountered in 20 years of flying.
Australian Army Captain Shane Mitchell, based at Operation Genesis headquarters, said the conditions often left aircraft grounded.
The Victoria Police Air Wing was tireless in helping evacuate communities and deliver supplies.
“Our guys were launching in conditions that were very dangerous and they pushed hard to do the best they could to get to people who needed help,” Captain Mitchell said.
“So when we had aircraft sitting on the ground not doing much, it was very frustrating.
“When they would finally be able to get airborne, there’d be a low-key cheer around the room, because we knew there were people out there who needed us.
“The process of recovery will continue for months and years, and we hope we have been part of at least starting that process.”
