ABC Local Radio took a high profile at the Bushfire CRC/AFAC annual conference 2008 in Adelaide in September with a broadcast booth and running online coverage. This is an edited extract of an address to the conference by Ian Mannix, the Manager of Emergency Broadcasting and Community Development at ABC Local Radio.

Earlier this year ABC Local Radio Victoria was presented by the Victorian Government with A Victorian Unit Meritorious Service Award as recognition of its outstanding contribution over an extended period to public safety.

It was an honour for me to receive the award on behalf of the staff of ABC Local Radio Victoria. During the presentation The Victorian Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Esplin said “The ABC could now see itself as an emergency agency.”  At the time I remember being humbled by that suggestion – ABC broadcasters traditionally don’t see themselves saving lives, rescuing people, keeping them from harm, but after some reflection it occurred to me that, at our best, that is what we are aiming to do.

The ABC is the sole media outlet in Australia, and possibly the world, which wants to provide emergency warnings for the community in a way which gives them time to respond to any threat, and advice about how to respond. We want to motivate listeners to take immediate action.

This is not about news stories and current affairs. It’s about using our skills, knowledge and connections to the community to assist emergency agencies in their work of keeping people safe.

So if the ABC was an integral part of the emergency response what would we do? Well, to be blunt, we’d do things differently.

Our messages about fires would be different than those being delivered at present by most emergency agencies. The technology would keep pace with modern trends and the people who deliver these vital messages would be different too. I believe the ABC can help create a more resilient, a more self-sufficient community, more willing to work in partnerships with emergency agencies before, during and after disasters and other crises.

Over the past decade or so ABC Local Radio has learned much about emergency warnings and communications not just during fires, but also from floods, cyclones, tsunamis and thunderstorms, radiation and toxic gas spills. We’ve even had experience with equine flu, which we treated as a crisis.

Each time we issue warnings we review how the messages are received, how they are distributed, whether they met our goal of providing the community with information they can use to respond to the event.

Our knowledge also comes from the close working relations, which are forming across Australia with ABC Local Radio Managers and Regional Program Managers sitting on state, district and regional emergency management committees.

And our understanding is also driven by the listeners’ feedback, and as you know, listeners are willing to give feedback. We just wish some of them would think before they call our talkback lines.

This year I have been conducting research for a book which looks at how people behave when they are in a bushfire. I was interested in learning more about the preparation that’s needed to defend a property in a bushfire.

Australia leads the world in encouraging people to defend their properties, and it seems to me having witnessed the way the community stands to fight fires like those in the Grampians, or the Great Divide, or the East Coast of Tasmania, that the public is willing to defend their homes and protect their families.

But we know that many people also take enormously risky decisions when confronted by the flames and the roar of the wind.  So I was interested to find out what psychological preparation is needed, and I wanted to meet the people who stayed at home.

I spoke to almost 100 people in 16 locations around south east Australia about their experiences.

I accept this approach to human behavioural studies has nothing to do with the scientific method, and there is no academic rigour in it either. But during this process I formed in my mind the perception that The ABC should be doing things differently to respond to the needs of its listeners.

The characters in the book were in fires in Canberra, Gosford, Mt Kuringai, Gaffneys Creek, Toongabbie and Snake Valley in Victoria, Four Mile Creek in Tasmania, and the Eyre Peninsula.

All of the people said they were terrified by their experience. All said the fire behaved differently than they expected, most did something significantly wrong, at some stage during the fire all of them had at least one episode of panic; all were surprised by the behaviour of fire agencies, and yet almost all of them successfully defended their homes and their families, and all but one said they’d defend their homes next time, and they’d do it better.

Pleasingly all of them were aware that the ABC is trying to provide an emergency warning service and all of them at some stage during the event, went to The ABC seeking advice. A couple heard music; one or two turned the radio off because it added to the chaos in their lives; one turned it off so their children wouldn’t hear the reports of fires, but most received some warning of what was happening around them.

But if you dig a little deeper and ask them how the fire fighting experience related to their own expectations, they invariably said that in hindsight, they were ill equipped to defend their homes.

That’s despite the fact that fire agencies are spending millions of dollars on research and public relations, literature, DVDs, radio and television campaigns.

At the farming property of Booroomba, 15 kilometres south of Canberra, John and Anna Hyles prepared for the 2003 bushfires for weeks. Their local fire captain explained to them what was going to happen, they had plenty of financial resources, they had the motivation to stay and defend their property, John was in the local Bushfire brigade; the Hyles gathered around them a dozen solid people who were willing to defend the homes on the property; they watched the fires for days, and yet when the fire came over the hills out the back, Anna Hyles had very little understanding of what was about to unfold.

Anna needed to know how fast fires travel; what an ember attack is; she needed to know that it would get so dark she’d have difficulty seeing anything; she needed to know she would be safe inside her house while the fire passed over. It would have helped her if she had known that panic is likely but most people can cope with that.

To help her prepare Anna needed a picture. And such a picture was taken of her neighbour’s homestead fifteen minutes after the fire passed over Booroomba. The picture was taken by a NSW Bushfire Service volunteer as he was leaving the property to go and defend a home that wasn’t so well prepared.

Anna Hyles would see the darkness that was descending. The size of the flames, the orange glow.

She now knows that the seven people who stayed to defend the neighbour’s property remained unhurt, every building remained standing and unscorched.

Rarely does fire agency literature carry pictures like this.

Anna also needed to know how bad things would get. Without knowing that, Anna wasn’t really in any position to make a judgement about whether she should stay and defend the property, or go.

Tish Proud from the Eyre Peninsula was told by her husband, Robert, that the Wangary fires wouldn’t come near her property. Her story is compelling and universal.

Tish’s sheep and crop property was 35 kilometres away from the Wangarry fires.  Her husband, Robert, a local fire captain volunteer, went off in the morning to mop up the Wangarry fires.

Tish was at home alone with six month old Zoe, and an old fire truck she couldn’t start, or drive.

A neighbour called to say it looked like the fires had got away, so she tried to call Robert and ask what she should do. It took an hour for her to get through. An hour for her to choose to stay or go. But she didn’t know if she should go, and she felt pretty certain that Rob or someone would call if she needed to leave.

So she stayed. And then it was too late to leave. Robert eventually called and told her the safest place to stay was at home, and he’d try to get friends and family members out to help.

He spent the next hour dealing with the effects of a burn over that disabled his vehicle.

The fires raced across the paddocks and arrived ferociously at Tish’s home. Her brother in law, and a friend and her mother in law Cath arrived just before. Cath, a good solid farming woman, panicked, which frightened the daylights out of Tish.

The two men went up the paddock to try to rescue the breeding ewes. When they returned they got the old tanker and fought the fire head on as it raced over the home.

Tish was terrified. She was splashing water on the beds, tearing down curtains and then putting them up again, she asked if she could turn the air conditioner on. No one could think of a reason not too. The air conditioner immediately sucked in a huge breathe of smoke, which filled the house and set the fire alarms off. Embers like those from an arc welder were being forced inside where they were burning holes in the carpet.

Zoe was screaming so Tish tried to breastfeed her.

Tish filled her bath with water, thinking that maybe it would be better if Zoe drowned, than if she was burnt to death. But it didn’t get to that.

The fire passed over the property, killed all 4000 sheep, destroyed most of the neighbour’s homes; and devastated the peninsula.

Tish needed to know how fast fires would travel; she needed to know her house was a fortress; she needed to know not to turn the air conditioner on; that the fire alarms would screech and they could be turned off by removing the batteries. She needed to understand that people around her would panic.

She needed to know where her husband was; what was happening outside the house; and most of all she needed reassurance.

Tish needed to see a picture such as the one of a home that survived the fires at Snake Valley.

She needed to know for sure that a house can keep you safe, even if every blade of grass and tree around is blackened.

Tish’s home was entirely untouched by the fire.

But you can’t help some people.

In Tasmania in 2006, a fire on the east coast burnt 13 homes at Scamander. The fires continued down the coast, and town after town was threatened. The news for days was about the efforts being made to try to protect a dozen or more towns and hamlets.

At Four Mile Creek, 20 kilometres south along the coast, The MacCallum family were glued to the radio and television. They started to reduce waste from their overgrown block. But when the Tasmanian Fire Service came around for a triage meeting, they were convinced their only hope would be to flee the home.

They made a decision that if the fires came they would not stay and defend, they would leave the house and walk down to the rocks on the sea shore about 250 metres from their home.

The fires did come, moving down from the north, as Catherine MacCallum, and her family huddled in the front room watching the fires move up from the south. They were waiting, and wondering when to leave … they were mesmerised by the approaching flames, which were at the end of the drive, and which, in fact, were the least of their problems.

Catherine McCallum’s home was saved by a TFS fire crew.

Catherine now says she needed to know what the phrase “go early” means. She needed to know that fires come from different directions. They needed to understand that fire fronts are preceded by a massive roar, and that if you can’t hear someone talking to you a metre away, then you are in pretty serious trouble.

The MacCallum’s had the TFS DVD, but hadn’t looked at it. They didn’t attend any town meetings. They had met the TFS officers twice, and they were woefully prepared. But they did listen to ABC Local Radio.

So they knew there were fires around, but our broadcasters didn’t give them enough information in a way that made sense to them. But we could have.

People like The McCallums, the Proude’s the Hyles, need a better understanding of the smoke, wild winds, the ember attacks, the darkness, the noise, the heat.

They need to see footage inside a house as the residents face a bushfire. Given that houses are relatively safe, that shouldn’t be too hard, but it would reveal the noise, what an ember attack looks like; how things catch fire, and show what doesn’t catch fire. But fire agencies keep the media away from bushfires.

The people in the book were motivated to take action. They wanted to know where the fire was and when it would arrive. They wanted to know how big it was.

All that information can be provided initially with warnings delivered on mobile phones and other hand held devices, or emails.

We should provide them with information describing the hazard details, the best way to respond, and what ABC Local Radio frequency to listen too.

It was fascinating to learn how much time these ordinary people send on the phones when a fire heads their way. They try to get more information, they try to warn friends and relatives and neighbours; they try to call emergency agencies. It’s equally surprising how many phone calls they receive. One woman, at Toongabbie, received 15 messages in about 15 minutes when the Cooper Creek fires started. She spent ages answering the messages in case one was a person calling her seeking help.

I believe these people need a fire forecast map.

Attached to a web site, updated at regular intervals, possibly even every few minutes, and it would probably look a bit like the one that my friends at ABC Innovation put together for me.

It is based on the Bureau of Meteorology Cyclone tracking maps, with a loose apology to their Thunderstorm tracking maps.

We are already forecasting fire travel but we tend to provide the information to the listeners through interviews and warnings on radio. A map contains so much more detail.

It’s permanent, while over at the radio we might be talking about something different; taking a 15 minute news bulletin, or focussing on another fire, or, heaven forbid, giving out cricket scores.

A map like this can be created in such a way as to be downloadable on hand held devices like mobile phones, Blackberries and iPhones. So long as the mobile system was still working, people would no longer be out of touch if their power was off.

The forecast would tell people where the fire was, where it was likely to travel to, how quickly it was travelling, and other useful information. I’ve included a region where it is likely the fire will travel in an hour (in red) ; where an ember attack is likely (in orange) ; the forecast spread in two hours (yellow) and the possible spread in four hours. I’ve included road closures, and warnings. This map can be updated every few minutes.

I believe this is the type of information fire agencies use to determine their suppression response, and I’ve seen some given out for campaign fires, so it shouldn’t be too hard to give that information to the public in the form of an online map. I’ve included a disclaimer to help the public understand that fires do unusual things.

It’s really heartening to see the development of maps like this at the University of WA, and at Lands Department of Victoria, and at the DSE in Victoria.

I have seen a demonstration of the new weather bureau forecasting service and we now know they can add instant curing data, and the DSE has vegetation overlay. All the elements that make up my fire forecast map are available, we just need the will to bring them together.

One thing you notice when talking to people who’ve been involved in various natural disasters is that they rely on other human beings for advice and reinforcement. Leadership is crucial in the face of a disaster.

When Tisha Proude was scared; when Anna Hyles was panicking, they relied on human beings to give them confidence to keep going, to calm down, to feel reassured that they had made the right choices.

ABC Local Radio would have experienced fire fighters in studios, talking, reassuring, describing events to give people context.  The personal response of experienced fire fighters would help the community feel reassured in a way that no talk back caller, or ABC broadcaster or politician could ever hope to do.

Maybe they might stop panicky mums and dads heaving their kids into their cars and driving away, into smoke and flames. But the biggest difference I noticed between those who successfully defended their homes and those who didn’t was how important it is to have as many people as possible around to fight the fire and provide reassurance.

Fire captain at Tharwa, Val Jefferies, who is a bit old fashioned in his ways and the way he runs his general store, said to me “fires start small. That’s when you can stamp them out.” He told his community to return to the village before the Canberra fires arrived. He told the police that he’d get physical if they continued to tell people in his town they should evacuate. Farmers and graziers try to get as many good people together as they can to support their fire fighting efforts, as does Val Jefferies and others.

At Phegans Bay, Gosford during the new year’s day fires in 2006, the police and fire officers turned up to tell the people living in the street that they should consider evacuating if they weren’t well prepared. It’s not much of a message to hear when the flames are coming over the hill. But four men remained in the street; two with fire fighting experience, two who’d never seen a spark. Good thing they stayed too, because the homes are close together.

One house in the street burnt down, you can see how close it is as this photo was taken from the roof next door. The NSW Rural Fire Brigade stopped that fire spreading, but they only had one truck available. If the people hadn’t stayed in the street no-one would have put out the hundreds of embers that landed in the forty or so minutes beforehand.

What role can ABC Local Radio play in these circumstances? Our broadcasters can work harder to keep people off the roads so people can drive home; they can inspire the community to join groups like the Community Fire Units.

They can remind people to stay off the phones during emergencies so the locals can use the network.

This is about community building, inspiring people to take responsibility for their families and friends and communities.

None of the projects I have outlined require a great deal of technical development. A small amount of money can create these things for the community, and the ABC is willing to do the work. But we don’t have the information. Fire and emergency agencies have that.

The contemporary approach to hazard response is to seek the support of an active and motivated community. During cyclones people know they must stay at home. It’s not a big step to ask people to stay at home and defend their properties and families from bushfire either.

But if the emergency agencies are to continue with that message, then the public has the right to more information, delivered in a way that is useful to them, at the time they need it.

The job of ABC Local Radio is as a communications conduit. Working in partnership with emergency agencies we can help provide a safer community.

(This article first appeared in the Summer 2008/09 issue of Fire Australia magazine.)