Fire Ready Week 2022

Fire Ready Week was held at Bushfires NT Headquarters in Acacia Hills, ending with an open day on Saturday 5 March. The event brought together a range of land management experts to assist landholders to prepare themselves and their properties for the upcoming bushfire season.  

Rural residents had access to a range of information around bushfire planning and safety, weed management, and fire warning systems. Community champions including volunteer fire fighters, the Gamba Army and Gamba Grass Roots also attended to provide support and information to residents.

Bushfires NT offers support year round to develop bushfire survival plans, and Fire Ready Week is just a reminder of the many resources available to help rural residents get themselves fire ready.

Remote Fire Responses in Central Australia

In early January Bushfires NT resources responded to multiple remote fires between Mount Wedge, New Haven, Nyrippi and Mount Doreen, to assist staff from Mount Doreen and Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary.

With assets under threat including the township of Yuendumu, a million dollar wildlife sanctuary of Newhaven, and the pastoral station of Mount Doreen, resources from the Vernon Arafura region were deployed to assist with the effort and deliver welfare to the weary crews already in attendance. The Vernon Arafura crews went on to spend 3 days on site at Newhaven / Mount Wedge combating the fire.

Crews utilized a grader and back burning from Newhaven to cut a break from the Papunya Access Road to the Mount Wedge to contain the fire to the south, while back burning the Tanami Highway and the Papunya Access Road to limit the spread to the west.

The fire burnt almost 200,000 hectares over approximately 5.5 days.

Newhaven Sanctuary team with Angus Farlam at the end of a big effort

Jindalee Operational Radar Network – fire response

Bushfires NT was notified of a bushfire on Thursday 17 March on the Plenty Highway near Harts Range.  The fire started from a lightning strike and threatened the JORN facility.   

Early Friday staff from Bushfires NT and volunteers David Hanley and Tyler Bevan from the Alice Springs Volunteer Bushfire Brigade travelled to the facility. On arrival over two thirds of the area had been impacted by the fire with minimal damage to any of the infrastructure.  An excellent network of well-maintained tracks reduced the spread and impact of the fire.  There had been support the night before from the Station Managers at both Alcoota and Mt Riddock stations.  Their work help reduced the impact on the Defence facility.

The volunteers put in a backburn along the western boundary of the facility to prevent any potential spread to the west onto Alcoota Station.

Around mid-afternoon fire activity south of the facility took a run and spotted back into the facility and again threatened the accommodation block and the radar facility.  Excellent work from the volunteers, including Jordan Hill who arrived late morning with a Tanker protected all facilities with burning out operations around key infrastructure.  At around 1800 hours the fire was again under control and the volunteers are debriefing with facility staff departed for Alice Springs.

A huge thankyou to the volunteers who again were prepared to travel outside the Fire Protection Zone to protect high valued assets dotted throughout the central Australian landscape.

Bushfires NT Savanna volunteer appreciation event

• Rod USHER, Katherine VBB Captain (BFNT long and meritorious service medal) 
• Bill BRIGHT, Edith Farms VBB Deputy Captain (VBB appreciation certificate)
• Jan MURPHY, Katherine VBB (2 National Medals, one was for her partner the late Bob WRIGHT)
• Darren JURY, Katherine VBB (National Medal awarded after time in multiple organisations)

The Savanna volunteer appreciation event was held on 5 February, with volunteers from across the Savanna Region recognised at the appreciation event. After having to be postponed from November due to Covid lockdowns, the event was finally able to take place as planned at the Katherine Country Club. The volunteers were treated to a limited menu, especially due to food shortages due to flooding resulting in the closure of the Stuart Highway in South Australia closures, but everyone still enjoyed the night, regardless of the challenges.

National Medals were awarded on the night to Darren Jury and Jan (Murph) Murphy for over 15 years of service in the sector. A third National Medal was also awarded posthumously to Bob Wright, with Murph receiving the medal on his behalf. A fourth National Medal was announced for Simon Patterson who recently moved out of the Katherine area for work. Katherine Captain Rod Usher was presented with a Bushfires NT Long and Meritorious Medal for his continued service to the Katherine Brigade and community.

Bushfires NT would like to again thank all of the volunteers of Edith Farms and Katherine Volunteer Bushfire Brigades for their work throughout 2021.

Tony Fuller

Welcome to Tony Fuller, he has commenced as the new Director of Operations and Chief Fire Control Officer, the position was reviewed in 2021 and upgraded which meant a full recruitment process was required.  Tony is a highly experienced leader and manager who has operated at senior levels in the public service and an emergency management (EM) practitioner.

He is registered, nationally, as a Level 2 Incident Controller under the Emergency Management Professionalisation Scheme.  Mr Fuller has also undertaken deployment in Incident Management roles to support bushfire emergencies in the NT and other jurisdictions whilst as a serving Police Officer of more than 30 years.

Tony comes to us with numerous qualifications, including a Certificate IV in Fire Scene Investigation, he is a local Territorian and has lived and worked across the Northern Territory.

Appointment of council and regional committees

The Minister for Environment appointed the below representatives to the Bushfires Council and Regional Bushfires Committees on the 2 March 2022. The Bushfires Council and Regional Bushfires Committees are statutory boards established under the Bushfires Management Act 2016.  There are five Regional Bushfires Committees, one for each of the fire management zones in the Northern Territory (NT). The role of the is to advise the Bushfires Council and the Minister on measures to be taken to mitigate, manage and suppress bushfires in various Fire Management Zones across the Northern Territory.

Bushfires NT welcome the new and existing members and look forward to working with the representatives of each statutory board with meetings to occur in April and May. A special thank you to our outgoing members for their contribution in improving bushfire management in the Northern Territory, there contribution has been of great value to Bushfires NT and the greater community. 

To see the list READ MORE

Re-appointments of Fire Wardens

The current term of the appointment of Fire Wardens as per section 43(1) of Bushfires Management Act 2016 expires on 1 April 2022. Our Fire Wardens do a tremendous job in supporting our community. Some Fire Wardens focus on fire response roles under the Bushfires Management Act, whilst others issue permits to burn, with a number undertaking the full range of tasks.

Over the past 12 months, Bushfires NT has introduced accredited training pathways for Authorised Bushfire Volunteers (ABV’s) and Fire Wardens.  This allows Bushfires NT members access to accredited training that will build on pre-existing skills and knowledge. Bushfires NT will be offering of a range of courses over the coming years.

It is proposed that current Fire Wardens who commit to the training opportunities offered, will be reappointed for a further 3 year appointment, expiring on 1 April 2025. Within this 3 year appointment term there is an expectation that Fire Wardens will undertake accredited training and obtain at minimum, level 3 Firefighter accreditation.

Bushfires NT acknowledge that many of our serving Fire Wardens are very experienced and we believe you all do a fantastic job in assisting our rural community in management of fire activities. This training will provide members will additional skills and knowledge to fulfil the responsibilities and accountabilities of a Fire Warden and allow us to assist in the protection of our rural community from the threat of wildfire.

If you would like to discuss this matter further, please contact Assistant Director Operations, Andrew Turner on 08 8922 0844 or andrew.turner@nt.gov.au.

Bushfires NT Staff Forum

The Bushfires NT staff forum was held on the 15 to 17 March, 2022 at the Bushfires NT Headquarters, Acacia Hills. Staff members from the Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs regions were in attendance, either in person or via Microsoft teams.

Due to COVID restrictions, this forum was the first opportunity for staff to convene in a ‘face to face’ setting since 2019. McTaggart Consulting was engaged to facilitate the Forum, and worked with Bushfires NT to develop an agenda to focus presentations and discussions.

Over the course of two days, the forum provided an excellent opportunity for staff to meet and catch up.

Nathaniel Staniford, Andrew Turner, Her Honour and Lee Humphris
(absent Christine Platell and Wendy Coghlan)

National medal

The Honourable Vicki O’Halloran AO Administrator visited Bushfires NT Headquarters last year to present some well deserved medals.

The National Medal recognises long and diligent service by members of recognised government and voluntary organisations that risk their lives or safety to protect or assist the community in enforcement of the law or in times of emergency or natural disaster.

The medal recognises 15 years of diligent service by members of the government organisations such as ambulance, correctional, emergency, fire and police forces, and voluntary organisations such as lifesaving or search and rescue groups.

This year, Bushfires NT was proud to award the National Medal to the below Bushfires NT staff members for their diligent service who included:

• Andrew Turner – 17 years of service
• Nathaniel Staniford – 23 years of service
• Lee Ann Humphris – 29 years of service
• Christine Platell – 39 years of service
• Wendy Coghlan – 37 years of service

We all congratulate these recipients on receiving these awards and thank these staff members on their long standing contribution to Bushfires NT and the broader community.

Australian Fire Danger Rating System: Building a modern and consistent Fire Danger Rating System

The countdown to implementation has started with 5 months to go!

The Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS) will be implemented on 1 September 2022, creating a consistent set of fire danger ratings across Australia.

The new Fire Danger Ratings

The 4 ratings that have been agreed on nationally are Moderate, High, Extreme and Catastrophic, and with the range of Fire Behaviour Index locked in. The AFDRS will also introduce “off” or “no rating” for days where there is an FBI of 0-11, creating a more action-oriented set of ratings.

Understanding the non-zero start

Remembering that Fire Danger Rating predicts fire behaviour should a fire commence, not the likelihood of a fire starting, the science that underpins the AFDRS reflects a more sound understanding how different fuel types burn under differing conditions.

Improving this science means we can ‘switch off’ the system on days where no proactive action is required by the community. This isn’t to say that fires can’t or won't start, but that the community doesn’t need to actively anticipate a fire spreading in a fast or threatening way.

The non-zero start brings fire danger into line with other hazards such as flood, cyclone, and storm.

For more information please contact the AFDRS Implementation Project Officer Kelly Benham at Bushfires NT on 08 8922 0844 or email bushfires.nt@nt.gov.au

Bushfires NT alerts

Did you know that you can now receive Bushfires NT bushfires alerts and warnings through email?

To sign up go to securent.nt.gov.au/respond/bushfire-alerts