REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS BEFORE JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE ON BUSHFIRES ¾¾¾ At Nowra on Monday 22 April 2002 ¾¾¾ The Committee met at 10.30 a.m. ¾¾¾ PRESENT Mr J. C. Price (Chair) The Hon. Rick Colless The Hon. Tony Kelly Mr E. T. Page Mr R. H. L. Smith The Hon. John Tingle Mr G. R. Torbay CHAIR: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I apologise for our latecoming; unfortunately, we could not take account of the weather. Nevertheless, I declare the meeting open and I thank the witnesses for appearing before this Committee today. Members of the Committee look forward to hearing your evidence. I am advised that you have been issued with a copy of the Committee's terms of reference and a copy of the Legislative Assembly's Standing Orders 332, 323 and 334 that relate to the examination of witnesses. PETER GERRARD RYAN, Regional Manager—South, Rural Fire Service, 2 Crown Street, Batemans Bay, sworn and examined: CHAIR: Did you receive a summons issued under my hand to attend before this Committee? Mr RYAN: Yes I did. CHAIR: Do you wish to make an introductory statement in support of your submission? Mr RYAN: Yes, a very short one. I apologise for not having my submission ready. I received notification late and I am actually on annual leave. I will make a short statement on who I am and where I come from, and I will talk in general terms of the fires in the South Coast. After a 17-year career in the New South Was Police Force I became a member of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service as a fire control officer in Kyogle in 1993. In 1995 I went to Richmond River where I was a fire control officer until 1998 and I became the central regional co-ordinator for the Rural Fire Service based at Young. In the restructure last year, I was fortunate enough to win the position of Regional Manager—South, and I took up the position during the last week in July 2001. In relation to the fires that occurred in the region's south and in particular those that occurred on the South Coast at Moruya, or in the Moruya district or the Shoalhaven district, I will give a quick outline because I know that people following me will probably talk about this in much more detail. I will just give my understanding of how, why and when these fires began. I will talk firstly in relation to the Deua National Park because that fire started earlier and had been burning for some time prior to a section 44 declaration being made. That fire started in a place called Merricumbene some three weeks before a declaration was made in relation to it on 28 December 2001. As a result of the fire investigation was carried out, it was ascertained that that fire started as result of a lightning strike during a storm that went through the area. A couple of weeks later a number of fires began at Eulah Creek which is north of Merricumbene and which is also in the Deua National Park. Effectively there were two fires burning in the park simultaneously for a period. Eventually those fires hooked up and became one fire and for a short period—albeit very short—there was high potential for it to impact upon the town of Moruya and possibly the more southerly villages and towns of Eurobodalla and Bodalla. However, that never eventuated, thankfully. The Merricumbene fire, even though it had been burning for three weeks, was being monitored by the National Parks and Wildlife Service as is normal in situations where the fires are in very inaccessible country. The declaration was made on my advice as a result of what had occurred on Christmas Day in the Shoalhaven and because of the fear of the potential for the fire to make a run to the coast, as did the Shoalhaven fire. As I said, a declaration was made in relation to those two fires which eventually became one fire. I believe that there were 58,000 or more hectares that were eventually burnt out as a result of that fire. Fortunately there were no injuries and obviously there was no loss of life. To the best of my knowledge there were no property losses other than the biodiversity issues that occur within national parks and that possibly impinge upon State forests. Mr Terry Tow, the fire control officer from Eurobodalla, was elected as the incident control officer for that fire and managed the fire generally from Moruya with a backup office consisting of Rural Fire Service and National Parks and Wildlife Service personnel in the town of Braidwood which falls in the Tallaganda shire which minimally was under some sort of threat from this fire. That is a very brief rundown, and there will certainly be much more detail given later on today by the National Parks and Wildlife Service in relation to that fire. SELECT COMMITTEE ON BUSHFIRES 1 Monday 22 April 2002 In relation to the other five that has been named the Hylands fire, it also began as a result of a lightning strike. I believe that fire investigators from the southern region Rural Fire Service pinpointed the origin of that fire. It was caused by a lightning strike deep in the hinterland west of Nowra and that is similar to the country in the Deua National Park, that is, very rugged land and at times inaccessible land, from my observations and conversations with people who would know in the local area. On Christmas Day that fire took a run, to use the jargon, towards the coast and in its path were the villages of Falls Creek, Tomerong and eventually the towns of Huskisson and Vincentia where a substantial number of houses were lost. I count the loss of a dozen houses as a substantial loss in anyone's book. There were also losses, although minor, at Falls Creek and Tomerong, and businesses were affected as well in all those areas. On 2 January a major run occurred and it impacted on the town of Sussex Inlet generally on the northern side of Sussex Inlet Road and towards the town as well as the beaches and villages surrounding Sussex Inlet. I witnessed the fire behaviour on that particular day myself and I must say that, although I have been in this game for only nine years and although I have seen some major fires including those in the Pilliga and in the Kyogle district in 1993-94 which were major fires, I had never seen fire behaviour like it in my life and it can only be described as frightening. The run that that fire took down Sussex Inlet Road threatened many houses and other properties and impacted on the town of Sussex Inlet and wiped out homes, businesses, scout halls and even impacted on the police station and the local rural fire brigade. It did not come under any control until things became cooler later that night. I witnessed what I can only describe as an outstanding firefighting effort from not only the Rural Fire Service members but also from members of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the New South Wales Fire Brigade and other agencies and that were present. They virtually put their lives on the line to help to save people and their properties. Unfortunately the fire took another run two days later from a place called Jerrawangala. I will provide a map to the Committee. That fire impacted again on Sussex Inlet but this time on the southern side of the road. It caused similar damage around Berrara and the Sussex Inlet township itself. I would like to say at this point that the fire behaviour was so bad particularly on the first run— and this can only be indicative of the weather conditions and the dryness of the land at the time—that firefighters were actually fighting crown fires, which are fires in treetops and which occur normally during the middle of the day in the worst extreme weather conditions. They were fighting those fires between 12 midnight and four in the morning and were actually doing property protection along the Sussex Inlet Road at that time of day and night. Valuable resources that could have been used to help to contain that fire were being utilised to make sure that property protection was provided. On 7 January the fire took another very severe run. I must say that the run I saw on that particular day headed directly for the village and the hamlet of Conjola and Fishermens Paradise which sort of brought it along to Bendalong and Red Head at a place called Manyana and other places. It was probably the most extreme fire behaviour we have ever seen. It was the middle of the day and I can liken it only to an atomic bomb going off and the mushroom cloud that comes with that which I have seen from TV documentaries and the like. It took a very severe run. I do not know the timing but I did hear one quote that it took a 22-kilometre run in something like three hours which in anyone's terms from a fire perspective is just an amazing run. I believe it had a six-kilometre front and impacted upon houses in ridge country closer to the coast towards Fishermens Paradise. I can only say once again that the use of the now famous Elvis and five other helicopters that I witnessed, including a Squirrel helicopter from the Navy and other smaller choppers, saved numerous houses in the Conjola area.