Experts recommend Australian bushfire strategies go beyond just preventing & putting out blazes

The Drum, ABC News by Elly Duncan 2 August 2020

Former emergency chiefs, scientists, economists and other experts came together to release more than 160 recommendations for future bushfires strategies.

Although not connected to the current Royal Commission or the NSW Bushfire Inquiry, the independent report from the Climate Council and Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ECLA) detailed how we might think about firefighting going forward.

It claims the impacts of a fire are broad, deep, and long-lasting. Former fire chief Greg Mullins told The Drum that means Australia's strategy has to go beyond the fire prevention and fighting process itself. "Right across different sectors, we've got huge changes needing to be made," he said.

Resilience has been a word used often when speaking about the small communities impacted by bushfires. The Climate Council/ECLA plan said it was "essential" that vulnerable communities were helped to build resilience, in a number of ways.

The group wants the federal government to come up with a national strategy on the effects climate change has on health and wellbeing.

In addition, there are calls for a dedicated program addressing the mental health of firefighters, emergency responders, and affected locals.

Resilience can take other forms. The cost of insurance premiums, for example, has soared in recent years. "If people aren't insured, they can't bounce back," Greg Mullins told The Drum. Gwenda and Keith Duncan's Rainbow Flat property and business were not insured at the time fires rolled through the area. The couple, both pensioners, could not afford the payments. "It took a long time after the fires before help started to come. Slowly money did come out and we're using that to build a shed so we have somewhere to live."

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