We need to learn from Australia

An independent review of the responses to the devastating, fatal and probably deliberately-lit Port Hills fires in Canterbury last February has produced a dozen useful recommendations to improve emergency management in the future. A couple stand out.

One is that a public warning and information system should be established as a ‘‘single source of truth’’.

Another is that the new government agency Fire and Emergency New Zealand adopt an Australian system called AIIMS to better manage incidents in the future, and that firefighters and other emergency personnel should be trained and exercised in its use.

The action taken on these recommendations should go some way towards addressing some of the main concerns arising following the fires.

Those concerns were essentially that the emergency management response to the fires was confused and lacked focus, and that the communities affected were poorly informed.

Communication, and sometimes the lack of it, was an obvious failing in the Port Hills fires – not just between the different organisations battling them, but also with the public.

The report said that, in future, communities needed to be at the heart of the way fire agencies operate, and a well-staffed communications operation was needed to give the public timely and accurate information.

Much of the report, written by Alan Goodwin of the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council, was praiseworthy of the efforts of frontline firefighters, who did ‘‘good work’’ over days of extended firefighting, even though the report noted examples of miscommunication.

However, the fires burned in three separate fire jurisdictions and two council areas and crossed the rural-urban boundary. Firefighters from several different organisations were involved, and the report found that co-ordination between them remained an issue throughout the emergency, even down to different terminologies being used.

The report highlighted a need for different agencies to be ‘‘interoperable’’ and work to a single management system.

That objective will have been made easier since July’s establishment of the single Fire and Emergency NZ agency through the amalgamation of the Fire Service, the National Rural Fire Authority and 38 other regional and district organisations.

The Goodwin report, however, goes a step further in suggesting the adoption of AIIMS – the Australasian Inter-Service Incident Management System – which is used in every Australian state.

New Zealand already uses a similar system, the New Zealand Co-ordinated Incident Management System, and this has been refined by particularly Kiwi experiences, including earthquakes.

However, the Goodwin report suggested there is now a ‘‘unique opportunity’’ for the new Fire and Emergency NZ organisation to join the Australian model, which is well-resourced and includes comprehensive and updated training. There is obviously merit in at least considering a switch to the Australian way, but not at the expense of New Zealand’s accumulated wisdom and experience.-Stuff