How one valley's residents are taking fire plans into their own hands

During last week's "catastrophic" fire danger ratings, an alert went up on the Rural Fire Service's "Fires Near Me" app, warning that a blaze had been detected in a forested region of the Kangaroo Valley, in the Shoalhaven region to Sydney's south.

Within nine minutes, the local community had sprung into action and were able to declare the alert a false alarm, spreading the word over their UHF radios or walkie-talkies.

"We'd tested all the communications before. You can tell the people when it's real or they can relax," said Gary Moore, the co-ordinator of the region's Upper River Committee. "I didn't hear any panic."

Professor Moore, formerly dean of Sydney University's School of Architecture, is one resident stepping up to spur neighbours into action. Another is Matt Gray, a senior Qantas pilot who headed flight training at the airline for three years, who oversees the overall Kangaroo Valley response.

Mr Gray spoke to the Herald. about "the principles and practice" of risk reduction.

"The typical human behaviour is they won’t do anything until they actually see embers dropping on your house, which is too late," he said.

NSW's extreme bushfire season shows no sign of easing and may, in fact, be about to ramp up. About 150 fires were burning across the state on Friday - 100 igniting in a day after storms - with difficult weather to come.

Towns such as Kangaroo Valley may offer a template for what residents can do to prepare for the worst, including minimising risks to life and property if a blaze threatens.

In September 2018, RFS volunteers and a former police officer who worked through Victoria's 2009 Black Saturday bushfires responded to incessant inquiries about fire plans amid a similarly early and active fire season.

Hundreds turned up to a subsequent meeting to discuss what households could do, and also to hear about which assets were left off the regional fire management plan, such as the valley's historic Hampden Bridge. The wooden structure, built in 1898, is the sole bridge across the Kangaroo River and also carries a major water pipe.

"I was surprised there was no plan for the bridge," Professor Moore said.

One outcome was to divide the valley into sub-regions, and then to appoint co-ordinators to muster and train residents on what steps to take in case of fire.

"The information the RFS puts out is pretty good but it has to be accessed by people, but they tend not to do that," Mr Gray said. "Having this human contact where you know people is a much, much better way of getting people to have a plan."

The Upper River community is the most organised, with Professor Moore divvying up that region's 300 residents into nine neighbourhoods scattered over bucolic farmland or nestled into woodlands along the escarpment.

"This is a very dangerous area," he said, pointing to a "pinch point" where the forest reaches down from steep terrain across the single road in and out. "We’re got to think about what we’re going to do if there’s a severe danger."

Both Professor Moore and Mr Gray have detailed written fire plans that they share with others.

"Our plan should be able to stand alone," Mr Gray said. "We need to look to the worst-case scenario, that we may not be able to talk to the RFS at all."

Kate Watson, a resident in the Wottamolla area, said people in the valley used to assume fire was a minimal risk because of the reliable rainfall.

"Now nobody thinks that," she said, adding perennial springs near her had dried up in the past year.

Climate change could mean the current dry spell may not just be a cycle and residents "may well have to put up with fire throughout the year", Ms Watson said.

One advantage of creating a close-knit personal network was that some residents had poor mobile phone or internet access and would not get public alerts, she said.

Joan Webster, who has written on bushfire safety for more than half a century - including Essential Bushfire Safety Tips published by the CSIRO - said groups such as Kangaroo Valley's were right to localise their responses.

"This is what everybody should be doing," said Ms Webster, who briefed co-ordinators last weekend. "I believe they should create their own plans to suit their own circumstances."

Anthony Bradstreet, RFS's manager of community engagement, said the Kangaroo Valley response "was a wonderful outcome" that had echoes elsewhere in NSW. "It takes everyone to be at the table to do it really well."

He said the omission of the Hampden Bridge from the regional management plan "does not mean action would not be taken to protect it" if fire broke out, with the decision to be based on that day's operational needs.