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Speaker 1: Joining me in this studio is Josh Fisher, who is

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Speaker 1: the Deputy Chief Fire Officer. Did I get that title right?

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Speaker 2: You did? But acting presence acting at.

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Speaker 1: Present, Well, good to have you in this studio. I

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Speaker 1: know there's been plenty happening. We got you in obviously

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Speaker 1: because we wanted to find out more about this danger

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Speaker 1: rating system for fires. Before we get to that, though,

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Speaker 1: we know that it's been a busy couple of weeks

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Speaker 1: when it comes to fires around the Northern Territory. Have

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Speaker 1: things been a little bit quieter this week as that

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Speaker 1: humidity and even a tiny bit of rain have crept in.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, certainly, in the last forty eight hours from a

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Speaker 2: wildfire perspective, we've had less incidents, and yeah, thankfully due

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Speaker 2: to the increased humidity, sort of more marginal fire weather conditions,

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Speaker 2: we've seen less instances of fires occurring, and certainly not

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Speaker 2: those dangerous fires where we saw the emergency warnings issued

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Speaker 2: in the Darwin Emergency Response Area and our counterparts with

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Speaker 2: bushfires NT so some really dangerous fires that had occurred

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Speaker 2: in the last seven days. And yeah, thankfully we've got

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Speaker 2: more milder conditions.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you sort of had a few days there where

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Speaker 1: it was there where house fire. Then you had that one.

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Speaker 1: I think it was on Kirkland Road. It was a

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Speaker 1: really busy time.

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Speaker 2: I look, it certainly was on the day that the

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Speaker 2: College Road incident happened. We also had to watching acts

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Speaker 2: issued in the Greater Darwin area for homes under thread

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Speaker 2: and people at risk of bushfire spreading, and then followed

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Speaker 2: up in the following days with an emergency warning there

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Speaker 2: at Wishart Road that burnt through Berrima to Hidden Valley.

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Speaker 2: Some really challenging times, but thankfully our members they worked

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Speaker 2: tirelessly in quite dangerous conditions. Our volunteers, our career firefighters,

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Speaker 2: our support staff, our people at the desk, you know,

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Speaker 2: they're sometimes they've forgotten people that are dispatching our resources.

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Speaker 2: They're recording and collating the information that comes back and

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Speaker 2: assist in our members with resourcing some additional crews to

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Speaker 2: get to those fires. Really challenging time and I thank

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Speaker 2: everyone that assisted.

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Speaker 1: Now, Josh, have you in today because we're keen to

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Speaker 1: find out about these changes to the National Fire Danger

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Speaker 1: Rating system so they actually come into effect as I

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Speaker 1: understand it from today. Why were these ratings reviewed?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so commencing from today. We've now got a simplified

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Speaker 2: fired ager rating system that's national. So what that means

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Speaker 2: is across Australia, wherever you are, whichever community you'll be in,

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Speaker 2: you'll be receiving consistent style of fired ager ratings right

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Speaker 2: across Australia. Look, the reason why the change to a

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Speaker 2: new national approach is simply the previous fired anger rating

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Speaker 2: system was based on science that was greater than sixty

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Speaker 2: years old, hadn't been updated, and it was only designed

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Speaker 2: for very limited number of vegetation types, roughly only representing

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Speaker 2: around a third of the Australian continent. So when we

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Speaker 2: applied that across the whole of Australia, and even in

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Speaker 2: the NT context, some of those fired ager ratings weren't

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Speaker 2: that accurate, particularly in Central Australia where we've got an

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Speaker 2: arried environment with spinifex grasses. The science that was used

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Speaker 2: to model fired ager ratings wasn't for spinifex grasses, so,

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Speaker 2: you know, recognizing that we've got diverse ecosystems that it

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Speaker 2: doesn't the previous model didn't accurately reflect current fuel states.

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Speaker 2: So the total volume of fuel the grass that was

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Speaker 2: on the ground and especially in forests down south, so

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Speaker 2: outside of the territory. And it didn't make use of

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Speaker 2: the advancements mating technology in science over the last sixty years.

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Speaker 2: So hence why a project that's really commenced around twenty

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Speaker 2: fourteen began across all states and territories in federal government

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Speaker 2: to develop a new system.

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Speaker 1: And so what are the new ratings and what do

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Speaker 1: these sort of mean.

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Speaker 2: So we've gone from having six ratings previously, where we

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Speaker 2: had load of moderates. We had a high, very high, severe,

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Speaker 2: and extreme. We've now just got four so we have

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Speaker 2: a moderate, high, extreme, and catastrophic. So they are the

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Speaker 2: four ratings that will have and in periods where there

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Speaker 2: is no fire danger, so in the wet season, during

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Speaker 2: a cyclone, this system is designed to be turned off

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Speaker 2: so there is no rating. So if it's in the

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Speaker 2: middle of the wet season, you're in the top end,

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Speaker 2: the grass is fully fully green, the grass is growing,

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Speaker 2: or there's a cyclone or a tropical low that's bearing down,

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Speaker 2: or there is no fire danger.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and so based on those ratings, I mean, particularly

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Speaker 1: one like the catastrophic. Have we ever experienced those catastrophic

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Speaker 1: conditions in the territory we have.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they are infrequent, but they do occur. And we've

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Speaker 2: seen catastrophic fired anger in twenty nineteen and we've had

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Speaker 2: it recently again. Obviously, when we reach catastrophic fired anger,

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Speaker 2: that's the most dangerous fire weather conditions. And we talk

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Speaker 2: about then that it's around survival and so if you're

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Speaker 2: in a high risk bush fire area, you shouldn't be

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Speaker 2: there because if a fire does start, it's likely that

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Speaker 2: it will result in lost to property and could put

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Speaker 2: people in serious harm.

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Speaker 1: And Josh, I suppose not to normal, you know, to

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Speaker 1: the everyday public listening this morning. Who you know who

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Speaker 1: aren't Caorea firefighters or who aren't volunteers, What does that

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Speaker 1: sort of mean for them? And does they need to

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Speaker 1: be communication to everyday territorians to let them know about

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Speaker 1: this change or is it just something that they'll it'll

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Speaker 1: just happen and they'll notice at some point.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, the look and feel of the fight ager

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Speaker 2: ratings is much the same, So that watermelon wheel is

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Speaker 2: much the same. The coloring is the same, which is

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Speaker 2: reducing from six levels down to four. Territorians will start

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Speaker 2: to see those signs that are on roadsides changed progressively

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Speaker 2: over the next few months. So there's already a new

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Speaker 2: signing place at Berry Springs just near the very Springs

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Speaker 2: T having it the Bushfires in T Volunteer Berry Springs

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Speaker 2: Volunteer Brigade headquarters. There is a new signing place there

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Speaker 2: and we're working with Bushfires in T in the Department

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Speaker 2: of Infrastructure Planning Logistics to roll out the remainder of

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Speaker 2: the signs across the territory over the coming months. You'll

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Speaker 2: also see it in our social media platforms. You'll see

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Speaker 2: some really good information on Secure and T but also

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Speaker 2: the Northern Territory Fire Incident Map. If you toggle there's

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Speaker 2: a little Hamburger icon as it's known. If you toggle that,

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Speaker 2: you click it on, you can start to see these

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Speaker 2: new fight Angel ratings displayed on the UNT Fire Incident

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Speaker 2: Map as well.

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Speaker 1: Right there. You go, well and hopefully just makes it

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Speaker 1: all a little bit more simple for people to understand

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Speaker 1: and know exactly what's going on.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, Josh.

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Speaker 1: Good to catch up with you this morning. I really

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Speaker 1: appreciate you coming into the studio and having a chat

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Speaker 1: with us. No doubt we'll talk again in the near future.

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Speaker 1: Thank you.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie,