Training for fire disaster preps teams
THE Cairns Local Disaster Management Group’s annual disaster exercise has traded storms and cyclones for a massive bushfire simulation amid Queensland’s tumultuous fire-risk climate.
While the scenario in Exercise Phoenix may be fake, Cairns Local Disaster Management Group chairman Councillor Terry James said the risk was very real if the region’s disaster co-ordination teams weren’t prepared.
“Most people think that the Cairns area is immune to bushfires, but that’s not the case,” he said. “We get a lot of fires in this area, particularly up around the Tablelands and with the state of the weather at the moment, with such hot dry conditions, you can’t backburn, so there’s a big fire load.”
Cr James said the exercise involved an “unprecedented” fire risk situation to prepare teams for the most extreme conditions possible.
“We’re doing this exercise in fires, which we haven’t done before, to test our guys and make sure we know they’re prepared,” he said.
“Once the fires are brought under control, the team will go into the recovery process, which we also haven’t run an exercise on.
“We have a special subcommittee who will go through the logistics of relocating people who have been evacuated, finding food and housing if necessary, and opening up our Edmonton evacuation centre.”
The Queensland state of fire emergency declaration imposed on a number of local government areas including Cairns was partially lifted yesterday, though a local fire ban remains in place for the Tablelands.