Bushfires: Preparedness, Mitigation, Response and Recovery

Bushfires: Preparedness, Mitigation, Response and Recovery

The 2019-2020 megafires in Australia have burnt 18,600,000 hectares (46 million acres) as of January 14, 2020, with an estimated loss of over 1,000,000,000 mammals, birds and reptiles and possibly entire species having become extinct. More than 20 people have lost their lives, and over 2,000 homes, 48 facilities and 2,000 outbuildings have been lost in NSW alone, with reports of over 70 metre high flames at times. To provide global context, the 2019 Amazon Rainforest wildfires burnt 900,000 hectares, and the 2018 Californian wildfires burnt 800,000 hectares. 

Australia has never before experienced this level of destruction of property and ecosystems as a result of bushfires, and recovery efforts – ‘unprecedented’ is no longer sufficient to capture the level of destruction and sheer devastation that these bushfires have brought, and continue to bring. In true blue Aussie spirit, however, life moves forward and we are coming together to rebuild and support each other. 

Join us for this exciting HEI event that explores how bushfire risk is assessed for resilient design, the complementary roles of hazard reduction, Asset Protection Zones and resilient design in making our cities & towns safer, emerging approaches such as indigenous cultural burning and where these fit in, and dealing with the risk of fire in a changing climate.

Over the past six months or so, NSW has experienced the most extensive and protracted bushfire season on record, following a period of severe and extensive drought. Bushfire planning, suppression and recovery strategies and systems have been and continue to be tested like never before. Peta and Katherine will discuss this from a conservation perspective, as bushfire management and threatened species conservation practitioners. The Rural Fires Act was introduced in 1997 and prompted detailed consideration of environmental and cultural matters in bushfire planning, suppression and recovery. Since then, environmental considerations have become embedded in bushfire management. Bushfire suppression strategies that aim to protect threatened species, as well as life and property, have been developed and implemented in recent years and examples of strategies for the protection of brush-tailed rock wallabies will be discussed. Following the bushfires of this season, alongside recovery operations for communities, work has commenced on conservation and wildlife recovery programs. Immediate recovery actions in NPWS reserves across the Hunter and Central Coast will be discussed.

SPEAKERS

Peta Norris

Peta Norris has worked in conservation and land management with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) since graduating with an honours degree in environmental science from The University of Newcastle in the 1990s. She is currently leading conservation and wildlife recovery programs across NPWS reserves in the Hunter and Central Coast following the unprecedented 2019-20 bushfire season. Peta has qualifications in environmental science, ecology, environmental law, government management, bushfire and incident management, and workplace training and assessment. She has extensive experience planning and delivering bushfire management programs in conservation reserves, as well as leading bushfire suppression operations, particularly remote area firefighting in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. Peta is one of a handful of NPWS officers qualified as a major incident controller with the NSW Rural Fire Service and has contributed to the design and delivery of multi-agency fire and incident management training in NSW and interstate. When she’s not at work, she can generally be found spending time with her partner and kids, pottering in the vegie garden, or yacht racing.

Peta at a Hazard Reduction Burn

Katherine Howard

Katherine Howard is a Senior Project Officer – Threatened Species, working for the Saving Our Species program in the Hunter Central Coast Branch of NPWS, which includes projects focused on more than 30 threatened species and ecological communities. She has qualifications in zoology, conservation science and land management. Katherine has been with NPWS for three years, and before that worked for most of her career at WWF-Australia in various roles relating to threatened species, community engagement, policy and advocacy.

Kath and Lace Monitor at Watagans National Park

Cormac Farrell

Cormac is an Environmental Scientist with Umwelt, with extensive experience in the vegetation management, ecological assessment and building protection aspects of bushfire management. This includes the detailed modelling of fire risks, ecological assessment/design of Asset Protection Zones and the design of bushfire resilient residential buildings, public shelters and critical infrastructure. He has written extensively on bushfire science & management during the 2019/2020 bushfire crisis, including pieces published in the Guardian and New York Times.

He has delivered major bushfire protection projects for State and Federal Governments, and is certified in Bushfire Planning and Design (BAPD – Level 2) through the Fire Protection Association of Australia. He is also an experienced ecologist specialising in forest, woodland and grassland ecosystems, and is a Certified Environmental Practitioner through the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand.

Many thanks to the University of Newcastle for supporting this event.

Event Photos