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Firefighting in a new age
A scene from bushfire-ravaged Kangaroo Island. Photo: Lisa Maree Williams
PhD firefighter says it’s only
going to get worse.
Greg Penney interviewed by Wade Zaglas
I
n part two of our series on the issues
arising from Australia’s megafires, Campus
Review talks to firefighter and Edith Cowan
PhD candidate Greg Penney.
With his unique mix of academic and
hands-on knowledge, Penney explains
how unprecedented the recent bushfire
season was, and talks about the types of
technology Australia needs to develop to
combat such fires in the future.
He also discusses his research project
and warns that traditional models of
volunteerism within the firefighting
community are being stretched to the limit.
CR: It seems the traditional model of fighting
fires hasn't changed much over time. Was
this one of the major problems this summer?
GP: The traditional model of firefighting
is quite a broad subject. The old analogy
of putting the wet stuff on the hot stuff
definitely hasn’t changed, but there have
been some changes around the strategic
approach that we undertake as fire services.
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For instance, there’s a higher community
expectation that we will keep them reliably
and accurately informed, in a timely
manner and at a personal level. Even down
to naming streets that might be impacted
and giving as much warning as possible.
That’s the age of social media, and that’s
definitely changed. In terms of the visibility
of fires, that has definitely increased over
time. So the community’s expectation
and the political expectation about how
we manage these fires has, I believe,
definitely changed.
In regard to whether or not it was one
of the major problems this summer, we
need to acknowledge that not only was this
bushfire season quite possibly the worst
we’ve had in history, but it eclipsed any
of the seasons previously had around the
world. Something that significant – having
that vast impact on so many people over
such a large landmass – is going to be
incredibly problematic to respond to in
any circumstances.
So I don’t believe that [the traditional
model of firefighting] was one of the major
problems this summer. I think the fire
services did an amazing job in responding
and keeping the community safe as best
they could.
What my research is aiming to find out
is how to keep firefighters safer, because
firefighters will always do what firefighters
have done and put themselves in harm’s
way to try and save others.
It’s just finding that balance: how to
keep firefighters safer, how to keep the
community safer, and how to improve
the community’s resilience to fighting or
withstanding these fires.
In the last 10–20 years, how sophisticated
has technology become to fight bushfires?
The technology has increased over time
and is continuing to improve. Throughout
Australia, we’re now using a lot more aerial
firefighting. Some states are able to use
night-time aerial fire suppression, which is a
huge step forward.
Being able to track fires using burn-line
scanning technology has allowed the
intelligence around the fires to increase,
which is significant when you’re in an
incident management team.
Having that real-time information on
where the fire is, where it’s going, how
intense it is and where we can predict it to
be in the next few hours or days is critical
for creating strategies and contingency
plans to keep the community safe.