Black Summer – Independent Bushfire Group

Shortfall in planned burning

After wet weather in May the Rural Fire Service issued a media statement saying that “thousands of hectares of hazard reduction burns scheduled for autumn have been postponed”.

Revelations from the NSW Bushfires Coronial

The coroner’s report contains much useful information. Of particular interest is an ‘executive statement’ submitted to the coroner from the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), which is reproduced in full in the coroner’s report. The NPWS statement raises three concerns: Prioritisation of aircraft, particularly for rapid response to new ignitions, command and control of fires, investigation of fires.

IBG responds to NSW Bushfires Coronial

IBG concludes that while the recommendations are welcome, they are very limited in their scope. This and previous inquiries have only been able to scratch the surface of bushfire operations, and coronial inquiries are poorly suited to finding lessons from how fires are managed.

Findings of NSW Black Summer Bushfires Coronial handed down

On 27 March the NSW Coroner delivered a two-volume report from this lengthy inquiry into the worst fires NSW has ever seen. The inquiry extended over 78 sitting days from August 2021 to August 2023 and considered 780 witness statements.

Biodiversity impacts of Black Summer…and the future

Early in 2023 the CSIRO published an important new book: Australia’s Megafires – Biodiversity Impacts and Lessons from 2019-2020. With five author-editors and 190 scientific, management and expert contributors, this encyclopaedic work focuses on the impacts of the fires in south-east Australia.

Presenting to the NCC Bushfire Conference

IBG made a presentation to the 2023 NCC Bushfire on: Learning from past fire operations for future success.

Backburning at the NSW Bushfires Coronial

The final Stage 2 public hearings of the NSW Bushfires Coronial Inquiry took place from 15 to 26 May 2023. The topic, one of several systemic issues identified from the Stage 1 hearings, was Backburning Operations – planning and execution.

NSW Bushfires Coronial Inquiry

The NSW Bushfires Coronial Inquiry is currently conducting a series of inquests and inquiries relating to the 2019-20 NSW bushfire season. The process is explained in the Coroner’s Public Hearings Information Paper.

How effective is aerial firefighting?

In January 2023 the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (BNHCRC) released a tranche of reports related to the Black Summer fires (2019-2020). One of these was: Investigating the suitability of aviation tracking data for use in bushfire suppression effectiveness research.

Black Summer bushfire research

In January 2023 the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (BNHCRC) released a tranche of reports on research emerging from the Black Summer fires of 2019-2020.