Chapter 4 - Warnings - 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission

2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission—Interim Report
4 WARNINGS
2005 Catastrophic Disasters Report
4.31 In October 2005 the report, Catastrophic Disasters Emergency Management Capability Working Group —
Review of Australia’s Ability to Respond to and Recover from Catastrophic Disasters was prepared by the
Catastrophic Disasters Emergency Management Capability Working Group, chaired by Mr Tony Pearce,
then Director of Emergency Management and Security of the Office of the Emergency Services Commissioner
(OESC) in Victoria. 22
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The 2002 COAG report had recommended the creation of the Working Group that then prepared the
2005 report. It found that ‘whilst existing State/Territory and national emergency management arrangements
are robust … Australia is currently not as prepared as it should be to manage the consequences of a
catastrophic disaster impacting the country’. 23
The Working Group modelled four hypothetical scenarios to assist in identifying the likely impact of
catastrophic events: a cyclone impacting on Cairns, a major earthquake impacting the wheat-belt of
Western Australia and the City of Perth, a tsunami impacting on the mid New South Wales coast and
an influenza pandemic. 24 The report found that ‘there is an overwhelming national need for the development
of appropriate, effective and timely community information and warning systems’. It also emphasised
the desirability of a national approach, and the potentially counter-productive consequences of disparate
systems being developed in isolation. 25
It is disappointing that what was identified in October 2005 as an ‘overwhelming national need’ for a
national warning system, was not the subject of agreement by the states and territories until April 2009.
It is also a matter of concern that the 2005 Catastrophic Disasters report, which revealed significant
areas for improvement in Australia’s capacity to respond to natural disasters, was not made public until
summonsed and tendered in the Commission’s hearings. 26 One of the clear lessons from the fires of
7 February and from the substantial body of material on natural disaster and warning systems generally,
is that the community, governments and emergency services benefit from the free flow of information.
The decision not to release this important report for a number of years did nothing to increase community
preparedness to meet the challenges posed by natural disasters.
2006 Fire agencies’ internal review
4.35 In 2006, the CFA and the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) commissioned Mr John
Schauble to conduct a review of information processes during fire incidents, including the issue of provision
of warnings to the community during fires: Joint CFA/DSE Review of Effectiveness of Information Flow to
Communities and Media During Fire Incidents — Preliminary Findings. 27
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This review involved a series of debriefs and interviews with CFA and DSE personnel engaged in
the information management process. It focused on the work of the Information Units in Information
Management Teams in the fire services. The report noted:
… the bar has been raised’ in terms of both how rapidly information about developing events is released
to the general community and how specific that information should be. It is no longer sufficient to report
that a large fire is burning in a general location. There is now an expectation on the community’s part that
timely and useful information regarding predicted spread into specific locations, including particular streets,
will be made available in time for potential-affected citizens to make decisions. 28
WHAT MAKES A GOOD BUSHFIRE WARNING?
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The Commission received expert advice on what constitutes an effective warning in written submissions
and in oral evidence. 29 Other key documents on this topic include:
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2005 and 2009 Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC) position papers
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2008 Australian Government advice Emergency Warnings — Choosing your Words 31
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Material relating to the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP).
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