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As fire seasons overlap in Australia and California, sharing firefighting resources will only get harder

You're right. I heard it said 90% of the firefighters are volunteers.

7.30 By Zoe Daniel and Amy Donaldson

Updated 6 Nov 2019, 6:44pm


Photo: Former NSW fire chief Greg Mullins assesses damage from the Kincade Fire in
northern California. (ABC News: John Mees)

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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-04/the-bushfires-of-the-future-are-here-black-swan/11559930

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Greg Mullins is frightened, and that goes against the grain.

Key points:

* California's fire season is starting to overlap with Australia's, which will make it harder to share firefighting resources

* Former fire chief Greg Mullins is calling for more resources in Australia

* A group of former senior emergency chiefs are trying to meet with Scott Morrison to discuss the issue

"My whole career as a fire chief was trying to calm people down," he said.

"When you have people like me who have been around for half a century doing this work getting frightened — and I'm frightened — it's time for everyone else to be, particularly politicians in Canberra."

The firefighting veteran and former head of Fire and Rescue NSW is in northern California, assessing the damage caused by the Kincade Fire which has swept through the state's famed wine country north of San Francisco.

It is the third year in a row the area has been devastated by fire.

Mr Mullins is a member of the Climate Council and Emergency Leaders for Climate Action.

"The most fire-prone parts of the planet are burning more and more," Mr Mullins said.

"Here in California, 18,000 homes last year, 9,000 the year before. Previously 3,000 was the biggest they'd think of. They're just shaking their heads saying, 'What the hell is round the corner?'"

'It's going to be harder to fight these fires'


Photo: A firefighter passes a burning home in Healdsburg, California in October.
(AP: Noah Berger)

Speaking with Mr Mullins as firefighters tackle what remains of the blaze, local fire brigade captain Scott Rohrs explained that, as in Australia, California's fire season is getting longer, stretching resources. Fire size, speed and intensity have also increased.

What to do if bushfire threatens

ABC Emergency has sourced advice from official
agencies on how to plan for a bushfire,
including preparing a survival kit.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/emergency/plan-for-an-emergency/bushfire/

"When I started with this business, our seasons, especially in this region, would maybe run four good months. Now we start in April and we go almost to Christmas," he said.

Even with arguably the best-equipped firefighting services in the world, California is struggling to keep up and has plans to add Air Force assets, like Black Hawk helicopters, to its fleet.
Follow this story to get email or text alerts from ABC News when there is a future article following this storyline.

Australia has relied heavily on leasing its assets in the off season.


Photo: An air tanker drops retardant while battling the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County,
California, in October. (AP: Noah Berger)

The science of bushfires

How does a bushfire begin and spread, and what
happens to the environment once it's moved through?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-01-06/the-science-of-bushfires/8124050

"The Erickson sky cranes, the Elvis helicopters, 737s with 15,000 litres, C130 Hercules with 15,000 litres. We don't have them in Australia," Mr Mullins said.

This poses a major problem now that the seasons in Australia and California are overlapping.

"Their air force of 23 — one fire service, 23 fixed-wing water bombers — we have one in NSW," he said.

"As each of the states and territories in Australia, their fire seasons heat up and start early, they won't be able to share trucks, people, incident-management personnel, so it's going to be harder and harder to fight these fires and we need a national response to this."

Prime Minister 'fobbed us off'


Photo: Bushfires burn near Forster-Tuncurry on the NSW mid-north coast in October.
(Supplied: Martin Von Stroll)

Mr Mullins is one of 23 former senior emergency figures trying to get the Australian Government to listen to their concerns about climate change and the missing capacity to fight fires in a new era.

"It's up to the retired fire chiefs who are unconstrained to tell it like it is and say this is really dangerous," he said.

"People are at risk, we need a game changer in how we deal with
these catastrophes because they're going to get worse and worse."

However, his written requests for a meeting with Prime Minister Scott Morrison have failed.

"We were fobbed off to Minister [Angus] Taylor who is not the right minister to speak to," Mr Mullins said.

"We wanted to speak to the Natural Disasters Minister and the PM. We asked for help with that, we never got a reply.

"You had 23 experts willing to sit down with a PM and come up with solutions, but he's just fobbed us off.

"What does it take to wake these people up in Canberra? I don't know."

Can rainforests burn?

The recent Gold Coast hinterland bushfire
prompted the question — can rainforests burn?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-09/gold-coast-hinterland-bushfire-why-rainforests-burn/11491364

In a statement, Emergency Minister David Littleproud said the Australian Government contributed almost $15 million annually to the National Aerial Firefighting Centre and, "is currently considering further funding towards this capability".

"The Government is not considering the use of military assets to assist in fighting fires, as aircraft used for aerial firefighting are required to be significantly modified," he said.

"While my office has not received a formal request to meet with Mr Mullins to date, I have asked my staff to reach out to Mr Mullins to initiate a meeting in the near future."

Mr Mullins, however, is not giving up on his push for a meeting with Mr Morrison.

"We're coming into what I think is the most dangerous fire season — the most dangerous build-up to a fire season I've seen since 1994, when NSW was devastated," he said.

"And there's not even platitudes, there's just closed doors and closed minds as far as I'm concerned.

"That's atrocious that our national government doesn't recognise that there's a disaster heading their way. So, again, please listen, Prime Minister."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-06/former-fire-chief-worried-about-firefighting-resources/11677760