The scale and intensity of the Black Saturday bushfires that occurred on 7 February 2009 had not occurred before in Australia’s history. During this episode, Senior Station Officer Gavin Parker from the CFA shares his experience on this day. In particular, he discusses how he and his crew worked to protect a vital communications tower.

Gavin and his crew faced many challenges during the Black Saturday bushfires. He has documented the event in a presentation and a selection of the slides are shown below. If you would like a full copy of the slides, he can be contacted via email at [email protected].

Senior Station Officer Gavin PakerVictoria's State Strategic Control PrioritiesWhile they did not exist in 2009, Victoria’s State Emergency Management Priorities place particular emphasis on the protection of critical infrastructure. Indeed, the state strategic priorities which underpin the planning and operational decisions when managing the response to emergencies include the “protection of critical infrastructure and community assets that support community resilience”.The Churchill Black Saturday bushfiresChurchill is about 160 kilometres south-east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Churchill Black Saturday bushfires started at about 13:32 on 7 February 2009, 3 kilometres south-east of the Churchill fire station.The CallNot long after the fire commenced Senior Station Officer Gavin Parker and his crew were responded to the fire. The red dot to the left of the image below shows the approximate location where the fire started.

On route to the reported bushfire at Churchill.On SceneSenior Station Officer Gavin Parker's crew were the third fire truck to reach the fire. Shortly after arriving they were formed into a strike team. Strike Teams are defined as a set number of resources of the same type. They are usually made up of five resources of the same type such as vehicles, crews, earth moving machinery etc.

Photo taken on arrival at Glendonald RoadAsset protectionAlmost as soon as crew arrived they were tasked with asset protection. Gavin's team was assigned to protect a communications tower circled in green below.

Map showing communication tower locationCreating defendable space in bushfiresA critical aspect of ensuring crew safety and asset protection was creating a defendable space.

Permission requested to backburn.

Tower compound after the firePreparing for the fire front to arriveCreating a safe area by conducting strategic burning

Burning out sequenceSheltering from radiant and convective heat and monitoring for ember attackRadiant heat is the biggest killer in bushfires. Gavin's crew used the building to protect them from radiant heat. They continued to monitor the situation and put out fires in and around the building.

After the fire front passes crews monitor and extinguish fires in and around the building

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