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Towns were unprepared and firefighting not up to tackling the ferocity of NSW’s “Black Summer” which caused an “incalculable loss” of 25 people’s lives, a court has heard.
The coronial inquest into the “catastrophic” eight month long bushfire season of 2019-2020 was told “there did not appear to be an understanding in the community or preparedness” for the extreme fire season.
Counsel assisting the inquest, Adam Casselden SC, told the inquest’s opening day that “in some cases traditional methods of firefighting proved unsuccessful”.
He also said that “strategic backburning can be linked to one death” among the 18 residents and seven firefighters who died when 11,774 fires broke out across the state between July 2019 and March 2020.
NSW State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan read out the names of each of the 25 people who lost their lives and said: “My thoughts are with their families and friends today”.
The inquest acknowledged “the immense loss this represents to their families, friends and communities … and will be remembered”.
In hearings later this year and in 2022, the inquest would hear of “the heroism of the community and all involved … and acts of kindness, selflessness and bravery” as well as the resilience of people later hit by Covid-19.”
“The season was without doubt one of the most catastrophic on record,” Mr Casselden said.
“A statewide state of emergency was declared by the Premier three times.
“Tragically 25 people died including seven firefighters … an incalculable loss.”
The inquest heard on Wednesday that public warning systems to communities throughout the state had generated 340,600 voice messages and 2.14m texts by the Rural Fire Service.
An extremely high uptake by the Fires Near Me app made it the most searched term on Google Australia in 2019.
Mr Casselden said the scale of loss on the land was immense, affecting 5.52 million hectares of land of or seven per cent of the state.
“It is … the largest recorded area of land burnt by fires in the state’s history,” he said.
Fires that burnt for weeks or months destroyed 2476 houses, three schools, 3284 facilities and thousands of outbuildings and other structures, and killed more than 13,000 livestock.
“More than 800m animals were killed. More than 25 per cent of the most suitable koala habitat was in fire areas (and) 330 threatened species … were in path of the fires,” Mr Casselden said.
“The fires had a very significant impact on flora and fauna … and has been described as an ecological disaster.
“(They had) a $10 billion national financial impact.”
Around 91 of the season’s fires in seven major regions in NSW will be investigated by inquest hearings, some of which will be held in local court rooms.
However Covid-19 restrictions will mean the inquiry into several bushfire deaths, including those in far and mid-Southern NSW “regrettably” will have to be heard in Sydney with witnesses testifying via audiovisual link.
Mr Casselden told the court the lack of preparation for the season’s onslaught had identified
a “need to enhance community education and engagement of risk”.
He said “extreme conditions challenged the understanding” of previous ways of tackling bushfires which were “very difficult to contain”.
“In some cases traditional methods of … firefighting proved unsuccessful due to intense ember spotting (and other factors).
“Many also became very difficult to contain due to size and location.”
Mr Casselden identified firefighters’ “very limited capacity to fight fire at night” as a problem because “many fires progressed significantly at night”.
One of the largest fires was the Gosper Mountain and Wollemi National Park fire which was “the biggest bushfire from a single ignition point in Australia’s history”.
This fire, which will be investigated at Katoomba Local Court in June next year, lasted for eight weeks and destroyed 512,600ha of land.
The inquest will begin hearing evidence in September, with hearing days in regional locations central to affected communities.
The inquest statement said, however, “the size and the spread of the fires across NSW mean it is not possible for the court to travel to each of the affected communities”.
The outbreaks listed for hearings starting on September 6 for the NSW Far Southern district include the Dunns Road, East Ournie Creek, Badja Forest and Condella fires.
From September 20, a hearing into the Mid Southern region blazes will include the Charleys Forest, Currowan, Morton and North Black Range fires.
Other regional hearings are likely to take place in 2022, after which further evidence will be heard at the Forensic Medicine & Coroners Court in Lidcombe, Sydney.
The inquest heard that the loss of life, the destruction of property and the scale of the fires had meant several investigations have already taken place.
These included probes by the NSW Police, NSW Rural Fire Service, the State Parliament Bushfire Inquiry, the Royal Commission into Natural Disaster Arrangements and the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee Inquiry.
The inquest noted that apart from the loss of human life, land and wildlife, “large numbers of stock and domestic pets were also lost during the fires, posing both an emotional and economic loss to some families, farms and other businesses.”
The inquest will resume on September 6.