EMHS 6063_ Case Study
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Case Study: 2019-2020 Australian Wildfires
Introduction:
The summer of 2019-2020 is also known as the “Black Summer” for Australia. The
bushfire season of 2019-2020 was one to remember as it spanned over June of 2019 into May of
2020. Bushfires are a very common natural event that happens in some of the world’s driest
climates, however sometimes they can join and form mega bushfire events. This rapid series of
mega bushfires during Black Summer caused insurmountable damage all over the continent. The
fires scorched more than 20 million hectares. While almost all of Australia was on fire most of
the damage occurred in New South Wales. This insurgence of bushfires made headlines in
international news and was a grave concern for the government bodies in Australia. There were
massive evacuation efforts, fire mitigation, and post-disaster response that were unrivaled to
those of previous brush fire years.
Reason for choosing topic:
I wanted to choose the Black Summer for my case study because I found it to be one of
the most interesting international cases that happened. I find wildfires to be some of the most
interesting natural disasters that occur because of how unpredictable they can be and what a
unique problem they pose to emergency managers and communities alike. With the extent of this
mega bushfire and the length of it I think it poses a great case study in terms of how long-term
management, evacuation plans, and fire mitigation work in preventing loss of life or property. I
also think this will be a good case study for the ecological impacts and how emergency managers
need to recover during severe ecological damage events. I hope to learn through this case study
how much the role of emergency management plays in wildfires. As well as how much
preparedness and mitigation impacts the way that a fire is managed. I hope to learn as well what
steps could have gone better in Black Summer and where emergency or government officials
failed.
Impacts:
The Australian 2019-2020 mega bush fires were classified as an ecological disaster. At
least 1 billion vertebrates died (Filkov et al., 2020). 92 total vertebrate animal species suffer from
fire overlap, in the study conducted, with 78 of those species being considered threatened (Legge
et al., 2022, p. 579). This fire impacted many species, but some of those most affected are short
range vertebrate species who home ranges were significant
impacted by the fire overlap: “... the
loss of the only known population of one short- range host-specific species” (Legge et al., 2022,
p. 580). The bushfires burned over eighteen
million hectares, over three thousand houses, and
thirty-three people lost their lives in 2019-2020 (Filkov et al., 2020).
The impact from the
bushfires was more than the destruction of the flames, the smoke from the fires caused
significant damage as well. The smoke from these fires was linked with incredible human harm:
“ 417 excess deaths, 1,124 hospitalisations for cardiovascular problems and 2027 for respiratory
problems, and 1305 presentations to emergency departments with asthma” (Felkov et al. 2020,
p.340).
The economy of Australia was also heavily impacted with an estimated set back of up to
$40 billion.
Stakeholders Involved:
The bushfires of Australia did not spare anyone in becoming an active stakeholder in
what was occurring. Groups impacted include all public and private sectors. Some of the
stakeholders involved in the recovery and response process include: Red Cross Disaster Relief
and Recovery, NSW Rural Fire Service, South Australia Country Fire Service, Country Fire
Association of Victoria, WWF-Australia, Environment Minister.
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Evaluation of the Preparedness and Response
Preparedness & Planning:
Australia is no stranger to bushfires. Large scale bushfires are usually managed by local,
state, and regional governments, with specific plans laid out in an Incident Command System
(ICS). Australia has a very structured system even for the unpredictability of a bushfire. They use
a leveling system that allows them to grade the fire based on complexity (Bearman et al., 2018).
However, the 2019-2020 bushfires were on a scale unprecedented and unpredicted in scale and
complexity. No matter how much planning went into bushfire season nothing would have
prepared Australia for black summer.
Response:
The Australian Bushfires were met with lackluster response in comparison to the damage
and size of the fires. Information was not clearly communicated to first responders in terms of
information on vulnerable species affected, where the fire was headed and what steps emergency
managers wanted them to take. The government acted quickly and began to make movements
towards lessening the impact of fires as they occurred. They began evacuating homes and
preemptively back burning in order to stop fires from destroying more land (Bearman et al.,
2018).
Current Status and Recovery:
I have chosen to lump current status and recovery together since the current status of
Black Summer is recovery. As of late 2022, scientists are still assessing the damage trying to
achieve greater understanding of the damage by the fires. One Tree has committed to planting 25
millions trees by 2025 for the reforestation work being done in Australia (Dungey, 2022).
Australian governments are still feeling the effects of this fire on their economies and
ecosystems, with no really clear way to recover other than to carry on.
Lessons Learned/ Recommendations:
One of the biggest lessons learned from the Australian bush fires is the importance of
education and preparedness. Scientists are expecting mega bush fires like this to continue to
happen in Australia in the years to come (Deb et al., 2020; Levin et al. 2020). People need to be
aware of what exactly a mega bushfire entails and how to react to save their own lives and
possibly their homes. On the ecological side of this, it is an incredibly powerful fire that has
claimed many ecosystems, it may be smart for Australia to consider a holistic approach to
forestry management. Holistic in that is considered the damage bushfires do while also taking
into account the need for timber in Australia. Another suggestion is possibly reintroducing the
species that had their ecosystems completely destroyed to different parts where they could
continue to thrive.
References:
Bearman, C., Grunwald, J. A., Brooks, B. P., & Owen, C. (2015). Breakdowns in coordinated
decision making at and above the incident management team level: An analysis of three
large scale Australian wildfires. Applied Ergonomics, 47, 16–25.
https://libcatalog.atu.edu:2217/10.1016/j.apergo.2014.08.009
Brooks, B., Curnin, S., Bearman, C., & Owen, C. (2018). Human error during the multilevel
responses to three Australian bushfire disasters. Journal of Contingencies & Crisis
Management, 26(4), 440–452.
https://libcatalog.atu.edu:2217/10.1111/1468-5973.12221
Deb, P.,
Moradkhani, H.,
Abbaszadeh, P.,
Kiem, A. S.,
Engström, J.,
Keellings, D., &
Sharma, A. (2020).
Causes of the widespread 2019–2020 Australian bushfire season.
Earth's Future,
8, e2020EF001671.
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EF001671
Dungey, G. (2022, March 15).
As Australia faces new fire reality, forest restoration tactics
reevaluated
. Mongabay Environmental News. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from
https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/as-australia-faces-new-fire-reality-forest-
restoration-tactics-reevaluated/
Filkov, A. I., Ngo, T., Matthews, S., Telfer, S., & Penman, T. D. (2020). Impact of Australia's
catastrophic 2019/20 bushfire season on communities and environment. retrospective
analysis and current trends.
Journal of Safety Science and Resilience
,
1
(1), 44–56.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnlssr.2020.06.009
Legge, S., Woinarski, J. C. Z., Scheele, B. C., Garnett, S. T., Lintermans, M., Nimmo, D. G.,
Whiterod, N. S., Southwell, D. M., Ehmke, G., Buchan, A., Gray, J., Metcalfe, D. J.,
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Page, M., Rumpff, L., van Leeuwen, S., Williams, D., Ahyong, S. T., Chapple, D. G.,
Cowan, M., & Hossain, M. A. (2022). Rapid assessment of the biodiversity impacts of
the 2019–2020 Australian megafires to guide urgent management intervention and
recovery and lessons for other regions. Diversity & Distributions, 28(3), 571–591.
https://libcatalog.atu.edu:2217/10.1111/ddi.1342
Levin, N., Yebra, M., & Phinn, S. (2021). Unveiling the Factors Responsible for Australia’s
Black Summer Fires of 2019/2020. Fire (2571-6255), 4(3), 1–28.
https://libcatalog.atu.edu:2217/10.3390/fire4030058