2018 Tathra bushfire

Last updated

2018 Tathra bushfire
Location Tathra, South Coast, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates 36°44′S149°58′E / 36.733°S 149.967°E / -36.733; 149.967 Coordinates: 36°44′S149°58′E / 36.733°S 149.967°E / -36.733; 149.967
Statistics
Date(s)18 – 19 March 2018 (2018-03-19)
Burned area1,250 hectares (3,100 acres) [1] [2]
CauseElectrical infrastructure failure (likely) [3] [4]
Land use
  • Urban
  • Residential
  • Farmland
  • Forest reserves
Buildings destroyedAs of 19 March: [5]
  • 69 houses
  • 30 caravans and cabins;
  • 39 houses damaged
Map
Australia New South Wales location map blank.svg
FireIcon.svg
Location of the bushfire in New South Wales

The 2018 Tathra bushfire was a bushfire that burned between 18 and 19 March 2018 and primarily affected parts of the South Coast region in the Australian state of New South Wales. The fire, understood to have been caused by a failure in electrical infrastructure, [3] [4] began in the locality of Reedy Swamp, near Tarraganda, which spread east towards Tathra in the municipality of the Bega Valley Shire. [6]

Contents

The fire burned through over 1,250 hectares (3,100 acres) of farmland and forest reserves, before impacting the village of Tathra. [1] [2] The fire burned into the town and resulted in an urban conflagration that destroyed over 100 structures. [5] [7] [8]

Background

Between July 2017 and February 2018 over 11,000 uncontrolled bushfires burnt 237,869 hectares (587,790 acres) across New South Wales; with major fires in the Sydney, Shoalhaven/Jervis Bay, Hunter, Mid Coast, Port Stephens, the Pilliga, Southern Tablelands, Mid Western and Tamworth/New England areas. December 2017 was the fifth-warmest December on record. [9] In February 2018 the Minister for Emergency Services, Troy Grant, urged the public to help fire agencies by ensuring they remain prepared for fires. [10] The day of the fire, 18 March 2018, was an extremely hot and windy day, with conditions reaching over 37 °C (99 °F) and winds gusting to over 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph) at the time the fire started. [11]

Timeline

March 18, 2018 [11] [12] [13]

March 19, 2018

Response

The NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, Member for Bega, Andrew Constance, Member for Eden-Monaro, Mike Kelly and Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, visited Tathra soon after the fire and met with evacuated people at the Bega Showgrounds. [15]

On 26 March 2018 Berejiklian and Constance announced that up to $10 million was available to remove asbestos-contaminated material and to help residents to clean up their properties; with the clean-up operation coordinated by NSW Public Works in conjunction with insurers and the Bega Valley Shire Council. [16] On 29 March Prime Minister Turnbull officially declared the Tathra and Reedy Swamp areas a disaster zone for the purposes of affected residents accessing Australian disaster relief funds. [17] The NSW Government appointed Euan Ferguson AFSM as the official Recovery Coordinator and announced that impacted residents could access disaster relief grants to eligible individuals and families whose homes and essential household contents have been damaged or destroyed by a natural disaster; small business were provided access to free independent and confidential business advice; NSW Family and Community Services provided a range of temporary housing support options; and a range of other support services were provided. [18] The Bega Valley Shire Council established a Mayoral Appeal Fund, under the chairmanship of Councillor Kristy McBain, the Mayor; over $1,500,000 has been raised to date. [19]

Investigations

Within hours of the fire commencing, numerous criticisms were raised by a small group of Fire and Rescue NSW firefighters through the Fire Brigade Employees Union in relation to the handling of the fire. [20] Of immediate concern was the fact that their assistance had been declined in the early stages of the fire, [21] which they believe cost more houses which could have been saved. [22] Further culminating the issue were claims by RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers that it would have been "dangerous" for Fire and Rescue NSW firefighters to attend the fire, [23] as the terrain required four wheel drive vehicles and there were multiple fires along the Far South Coast. Following the allegations, further information was released detailing numerous incidents across the entire state where the Rural Fire Service had denied help from Fire and Rescue NSW at fires and other emergencies. [24] As a result of this, the NSW Government instituted a commission of inquiry, headed by Mick Keelty AO , APM , a former Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police. The focus of the inquiry was on the call taking and dispatch arrangements of both Fire and Rescue NSW and the NSW Rural Fire Service. [25] The NSW Rural Fire Service Association which represents the Volunteers and Staff undertook a comprehensive consultation process with its members and provided considerable information. [26]

Both the Fire Brigade Employees Union and former Commissioner Keelty emphasised prior to and following the report, that it would not be a criticism of the action of volunteers, but rather an investigation into the overall co-ordination of emergency incidents in NSW. The inquiry identified numerous issues with the response to, and management of the fire. These included: the fact "some policies were not followed on the day"; a deputy incident controller was not appointed; there were delays in feeding information back to the FRNSW ComCen who were on the line to numerous 000 callers seeking assistance; the 'Fires Near Me' app was not regularly updated; an emergency alert was issued too late; ABC radio continued normal broadcasts on the day of the fires rather than broadcasting emergency updates; there were discrepancies in the number of resources attached to the fire between agencies; the RFS were limited to communications by radio with no real time vehicle locators; and that the 000 call taking system was "cumbersome" among other issues. [11]

The key issue of the declined FRNSW assistance was addressed by Keelty in the report. Keelty stated that "It is likely that assistance from FRNSW was initially declined without full situational awareness of the intensity and speed of the fire" and that "FRNSW ComCen overruled the decision of the RFS District Duty Officer and deployed to the Bega Valley fires without being called out, but as it happened this was very useful for the overall protection of homes". [11] Keelty made a number of recommendations, including the abolition of fire district boundaries between the two agencies, the establishment of an independent centralised 000 call taking system to replace the FRNSW call centre, the roll-out of automatic vehicle locators across the RFS fleet, a review of the effectiveness of emergency public information arrangements and that both services take steps to continue to building a strong mutual respect based relationship with one another, particularly in management areas. [11]

Under the Coroner's Act 2009, the New South Wales Coroner instituted a coronial inquiry to establish the cause and origin of the bushfire.

The Coroners Inquiry was conducted by Deputy State Coroner Elaine Truscott across 17 days (3-7 August 2020, 10-14 August 2020, 17-21 August 2020, 10 and 12 November 2020) at the Coroner's Court of New South Wales in Sydney. Due to COVID 19 restrictions and the high level of public interest, all sessions were live streamed and recorded for playback.

The Deputy State Coroner handed down her findings on the 17th of December 2021. The findings which are covered in a 186 page report make a number of recommendations for the NSW Rural Fire Service, as well as Energy network operators Essential Energy and various vegetation management providers.

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Smyth, Ben (18 March 2018). "Tathra evacuated as out of control bushfire destroys property". The Canberra Times . Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  2. 1 2 Gleeson, Ashleigh; Bickers, Claire; Hansen, Nick; Harris, Christopher (20 March 2018). "Tathra bushfire: Residents demand to know where warning was as up to 70 homes destroyed". news.com.au. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Tathra fire investigation" (PDF) (Press release). New South Wales Rural Fire Service. 22 March 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  4. 1 2 Knaus, Christopher (22 March 2018). "Tathra bushfire: NSW Rural Fire Service says power lines likely cause". Guardian Australia . Archived from the original on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 "Initial assessment of fire affected area - Tathra" (Press release). New South Wales Rural Fire Service. 19 March 2018. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  6. ↑ "EMERGENCY WARNING - Reedy Swamp fire (Bega LGA) - Fire impacting on homes on edges of Tathra. Seek shelter as the fire arrives to protect yourself from the heat of the fire". New South Wales Rural Fire Service . Twitter.com. 17 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  7. 1 2 "'Stay away': 69 houses lost in 'perfect storm' fire still burning in NSW town". ABC News . Australia. 19 March 2018. Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  8. 1 2 "Seventy homes and buildings destroyed in Tathra fire". ABC News . Australia. 19 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  9. ↑ "Monthly Weather Review - Australia: December 2017" (PDF). Australian Bureau of Statistics . Commonwealth of Australia. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  10. ↑ Grant, Troy (9 February 2018). "Minister urges public to remain prepared with ongoing dry conditions" (Press release). New South Wales Rural Fire Service. Archived from the original on 31 March 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Keelty, Mick (2018). "Bega Valley Fire Independent Review" (PDF). Emergency NSW. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  12. 1 2 "Up to 35 homes, school lost to bushfire on NSW south coast". The Daily Telegraph. 18 March 2018. Archived from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  13. 1 2 "Bushfire Emergency Warning: Reedy Swamp, Bega". www.google.org. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  14. ↑ "Firefighters fear 70 homes and buildings lost in NSW south coast bushfire". ABC News . Australia. 19 March 2018. Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  15. ↑ "Tathra residents urged to stay away amid asbestos fears". www.9news.com.au. Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  16. ↑ Berejiklian, Gladys; Constance, Andrew (26 March 2018). "Tathra Clean Up Fund to Assist Residents" (Press release). Government of New South Wales. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  17. ↑ Turnbull, Malcolm (29 March 2018). "Declaring the March 2018 Tathra Bushfires (Bega Valley Shire of New South Wales) a Disaster for Tax Purposes" (Press release). Government of Australia. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  18. ↑ Ferguson, Euan (28 March 2018). "Community Newsletter: Tathra & District Fire Recovery Committee" (PDF). Department of Justice (1 ed.). Government of New South Wales. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  19. ↑ "Mayoral Appeal Fund". Tathra Emergency & Recovery. Bega Valley Shire Council. 2018. Archived from the original on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  20. ↑ Vinales, Pablo (20 March 2018). "More homes could have been saved in Tathra if not for 'turf war', fire union says". ABC News. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  21. ↑ Fernando, Gavin; Young, Matt (19 March 2018). "Tathra bushfire: Rural Fire Service declined two requests for help". News.com.au — Australia's Leading News Site. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  22. ↑ Rabe, Tom (20 March 2018). "Union slams RFS over NSW bushfire turf war". South Coast Register. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  23. ↑ Collins, Antonette (20 March 2018). "'It would have been dangerous': RFS rejected help from other fireys". ABC News. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  24. ↑ "Dailytelegraph.com.au | Subscribe to The Daily Telegraph for exclusive stories". myaccount.news.com.au. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  25. ↑ "Independent investigation to be held into Bega Valley bush fire" (PDF) (Press release). New South Wales Rural Fire Service. 21 March 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 June 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  26. ↑ "Rural Firefighters provide valuable feedback for Independent Review".

22. https://amp.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/firefighters-rejected-union-claims-of-turf-war/news-story/8a7c8d8b1ca480736f65945abb116a6d

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