'We need our own Elvis': Former fire chiefs warn Australia is unprepared for bushfire peril
"As fire seasons overlap in Australia and California, sharing firefighting resources will only get harder"
By Nicole Hasham March 12, 2019 — 12.00am
Australia’s firefighting capacity will fall short unless it buys its own fleet of water-bombing aircraft rather than borrowing them from overseas because monster blazes burning simultaneously across the globe are becoming the norm, two respected former fire chiefs have warned.
However the federal government says purchasing a national firefighting air fleet would be too expensive and current leasing arrangements are working.
Catastrophic bushfires destroyed homes and devastated parts of Tasmania and Victoria this summer, and the timing of intense winter bushfires in southern NSW last year left experts shocked.
The Erickson air crane, aka Elvis, battles a blaze in Victoria. Two former fire chiefs are concerned such craft will soon be unavailable to Australia. Jason South
Former NSW Fire and Rescue commissioner Greg Mullins and former Tasmanian Fire Service chief Mike Brown – who together have 90 years’ firefighting experience – say increasingly overlapping fire seasons in the southern and northern hemispheres, driven by climate change, mean Australia must procure its own fleet of large air tankers and other craft – some possibly operated by the military.
Large water-bombing aircraft such as the "Elvis" air crane helicopter are typically leased from the United States each summer.
However Mr Brown said northern hemisphere locations such as California have begun to suffer year-round fire seasons, and the release of the equipment to Australia in summer cannot be assured.
For example during the destructive 2013-14 bushfire season, Victoria was unable to lease the Elvis helicopter as it was being used overseas.
"It’s become glaringly evident that the [northern and southern hemisphere] fire seasons now overlap, on a regular basis and by quite a margin," Mr Brown said.
"I think you’ve got your head in the sand if you are not accepting that things are really changing out there with the climate.
"There’s going to be a competing demand for these types of specialist resources, and someone is going to fall short … it's time we start looking at building up our own capacity."
Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service fighting a bushfire at Miena in January. Alex Eldridge
He said the military’s experience with running aircraft fleets meant it could partner with fire services to operate large air tankers.
It reportedly costs $20,000 a day to keep the Elvis air crane on stand-by and $11,000 a day to operate. Purchased new, the aircraft cost up to $40 million each.
The NSW government last year committed to procuring a large air tanker and two fixed-wing planes, at a cost of $26.3 million. The air tanker will be the first to be permanently stationed in Australia.
Mr Mullins, former Fire and Rescue NSW chief, said the purchase showed officials were worried about leasing such aircraft in future.
He said current and former fire chiefs had canvassed a "horror scenario" of simultaneous fire seasons across Australia, meaning traditional resource-sharing between states was not possible and "everything gets out of hand".
This summer's Tasmanian bushfires revealed tensions over how limited aerial firefighting equipment should be used. Environmentalists questioned why large air tankers were not used to fight fires in remote bush areas, arguing that while protecting lives and property was critical, natural World Heritage sites should also be saved.
Mr Mullins said large air tankers were "becoming quite crucial in the new fire environment, and we just haven’t got enough".
"The time is coming when Australia, federally, needs a fleet of heavy water bombing aircraft. We are about the only country with a bad bushfire problem that doesn't [have its own fleet]," he said.
A spokeswoman for federal Emergency Management Minister Linda Reynolds said peaks of the northern and southern hemisphere bushfire seasons "will still normally be some months apart" and three-quarters of the 140 specialised aircraft contracted by Australian states remained in the country year-round.
Greg Mullins as NSW Fire and Rescue commissioner. Supplied
"State and territory experts advise continued leasing of firefighting aircraft is appropriate because of the very high cost of purchasing and maintaining specialist firefighting aircraft," she said.
"Leasing offers greater flexibility to adjust resourcing levels to forecast risk and to introduce technological advancements."
The National Aerial Firefighting Centre, of which every state and territory is a member, helps co-ordinate the national bushfire response.
NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the federal government provides about $15 million a year for the centre to engage local and international water bombing and specialist aircraft for use by fire agencies, and an extra $11 million was committed this season.
He said the centre "has recently submitted a business case to the federal government for increased funding to engage additional water bombing aircraft".
Victoria’s Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said longer fire seasons across the world can be a "challenge in terms of planning".
However, conditions in the United States "have not impacted Victoria’s aerial firefighting capability this summer," he said.
Apparently these monsters also ferry firefighters in the US, but the one tanker we have can't for another year, apparently because of some bureaucratic bungles. So the opposition says.
In California, Air Tanker Pilots Help Keep Wildfires At Bay
October 29, 20194:25 PM ET
Matt Guilhem
Tanker 914 is operated by the Albuquerque-based 10 Tanker. It's one of four DC-10 jumbo jets converted to fight fires. The huge planes are 181 feet long and have a wingspan of 165 feet. Fully loaded before making a drop, the aircraft can tip the scale at 420,000 pounds. Matt Guilhem/KCRW
High winds are in the forecast this week for all of California as fires burn up and down the Golden State. Near the Bay Area, the Kincade Fire has charred over 100 square miles, destroyed more than 120 structures and forced thousands to evacuate in the state's famed wine country. To the south, firefighters in Los Angeles are battling a number of blazes, including the Getty Fire in the hills near UCLA. Helping teams on the ground as they fight the flames is an arsenal of air support. The fires have prompted authorities to call in some of the biggest firefighting planes in operation.
About an hour east of Los Angeles, the three engines of Tanker 914 whine and fade as the jet comes to a halt on the tarmac at the former Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, Calif. The onetime military facility is now partially used as an air operations center for the U.S. Forest Service and hosts both firefighting helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
California requests support from Australia to fight hundreds of bushfires
"As fire seasons overlap in Australia and California, sharing firefighting resources will only get harder"
Posted 1 hour ago, updated 1 hour ago
VIDEO -California's Governor says he is seeking Australian help to fight the state's fires.
The Governor of California has requested assistance from Australia and Canada to fight the nearly 560 blazes ravaging across the US state.
Key points:
* California's Governor says the state is not equipped to fight the fires on its own
* Many fires have been started by lightning strikes and exacerbated by a statewide heatwave
* Experts warn COVID-19 epidemic increases risks posed by smoke inhalation, especially for older Californians
Governor Gavin Newsom said in a news conference that California had "reached out across the border" into Canada for resources and support.
"Many of you will recall, I think it was 2017, the support that we provided and the support that we provided in turn of some of the best wildfire firefighters from Australia," Mr Newsom said.
"We also have requests out for that talent, as well."
The Federal Government said no formal request for Australian assistance had been made yet through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade or firefighting agencies.
More than 12,000 firefighters aided by helicopters and air tankers are already battling bushfires throughout California.
Firefighters from 10 other US states are beginning to arrive in California.(AP: Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Three groups of fires, called complexes, burning north, east and south of San Francisco have together scorched 2,020 square kilometres, destroyed more than 500 structures and killed at least six people.
The blazes, coming during a heatwave that has seen temperatures top 38 degrees, have taxed the state's firefighting capacity but assistance from throughout the country has begun to arrive, with 10 other US states sending fire crews, engines and aircraft to help, Mr Newsom said.
"We have more people but it's not enough. We have more air support but it's still not enough and that's why we need support from our federal partners," he said.
Fire crews across the state have scrambled to contain bushfires sparked by lightning strikes amid a statewide heatwave.(AP: Noah Berger)
The state has been hit by its worst dry-lightning storms in nearly two decades as close to 12,000 strikes have sent flames racing through lands left parched by the heatwave.
Some 175,000 people have been told to leave their homes.
Video footage posted on social media showed giant Redwood trees, some more than 2,000 years old, standing largely unscathed among the torched ruins of buildings in and around Big Basin Redwoods State Park.
A complex of blazes east of Palo Alto and another in wine country south of Sacramento are the seventh and tenth-largest wildfires in state history, respectively, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire).
The agency warned that more dry-lightning storms were expected as early as Sunday (local time).
"We're still understaffed for a fire of this size," said Daniel Potter, a CalFire spokesman, in reference to the Santa Cruz blaze where crews are working 72-hour shifts to save homes in towns such as Ben Lomond.
Plumes of smoke and ash fouled air quality for hundreds of kilometres around fire zones, adding to the misery and health risks of residents forced to flee or those stuck inside sweltering homes that lacked air conditioning.
Medical experts warned that the coronavirus pandemic has considerably heightened the health hazards posed by smoky air and extreme heat, especially for older adults and those already suffering from respiratory illnesses.
A charred vehicle parked in front of a fire-damaged home in Bonny Doon, California.(AP: Marcio Jose Sanchez)
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