An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 19 and properties. Lieutenant Aiden Frost, 2nd/17th Battalion, Royal NSW Regi- ment, and team leader for the 5th Engineer Regiment Task Group's Strike Team 3, Response Team Alpha, said the bushfire crisis instantly focused the minds of all soldiers in the field. "What I've noticed is that the traditional rivalries between units may still exist for the purposes of humour and rivalry, but the truth is that everybody here is a soldier first," Lieutenant Frost said. "In the absence of normal coordination, it's been amazing to see people across the corps work together to make things happen and help the people affected by this tragedy." The presence of the soldiers also gave a sense of hope to homeowners who lost everything. Verona residents Jim and Enid Humphries lost their home to the fires north of Bega and were living in a tent for a while, but soon had a caravan to live in, thanks in part to the Army. A new access track to their property was needed to circum- vent the destroyed house but the path was blocked by burnt- out trees. That changed when Strike Team 3 arrived, allowing a caravan to be hauled onto the property so the Humphries' could aban- don their tent for a little more comfort. Mr Humphries said the presence of the soldiers was an unex- pected godsend. "Without them I'd have to be into this with a chainsaw myself – and that wouldn't be pretty," the 75-year old said. As firefighting raged on across three states and the ACT, the scale of the effort was so unprecedented that Australia's stocks of water-bombing fire retardant were worryingly depleted – and, again, the military had a solution and volunteers ready, willing and able. A RAAF C-17A Globemaster III collected the first 20-tonne load of critical fire retardant powder from Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and delivered it to RAAF Base Richmond, followed the next day by a second load on a RAAF KC-30A multi-role tanker transport. Even a Canadian CC-177 Globemaster pitched in. More than 100 tonnes was eventually airlifted. Another mammoth flying effort was achieved by the Chi- nooks, recording a record for the most hours flown in a month by the Australian CH-47 fleet. Maintenance Troop Commander for C Squadron, 5th Avia- tion Regiment, Captain Amy Power, said hitting the 400-hour mark after a month was testament to her team's high-tempo deployment. "We've done a lot of flying and the maintenance workforce have been working extremely hard to make sure the aircraft are serviceable and ready to go when required," Captain Power said. Victoria's Emergency Management Commissioner praised the speed and scale of the ADF's response to the bushfire emergency. Commissioner Andrew Crisp said Defence brought an impres- sive scale of forces to support the response, relief and recovery efforts, which meant results could be delivered quicker to af- fected communities. "From planes to helicopters, from ships to plant and equipment, the sheer numbers of personnel and their assets which the ADF could get out on the ground on any one day was fantastic." Commissioner Crisp also said the community response to ADF participation was valuable. "ADF involvement brings a sense of confidence to the commu- nity," he said. "People see the uniforms and feel safe. "That's an intangible benefit and it had an equal, if not a great- er, impact on relief and recovery." A key factor that enabled close coordination between emer- gency services and the ADF was close working relationships. Colonel Michelle Campbell, the Senior ADF liaison officer at the Emergency Management Victoria's State Control Centre (SCC) in Melbourne, said the rapid and agile Defence response had its foundations in lessons learnt from Victoria's 2009 Black Saturday fires. "Previously, State-level ADF liaison was with each agency indi- vidually and that took a lot of time," Colonel Campbell said. "Now, by being embedded at the SCC, we can liaise directly with all agency representatives to support the effects they were trying to achieve and it sped everything up." Commissioner Crisp said the presence of the liaison officers helped emergency services staff understand what resources Defence had available and how their people and assets could be employed. "Working with ADF liaison officers has been terrific," Commis- sioner Crisp said. "Professionally and personally, it's been an absolute pleasure working with them." With a lot of cleanup and support still required, Operation Bushfire Assist gradually wound down in the weeks after the rains – after reaching a peak effort of nearly 7000 military per- sonnel deployed from an organisation that is bound by law to defend Australia from external threats and only allowed under law to assist in domestic emergencies beyond the capacity of civilian authorities. As the global climate changes and the sunburnt country of fires and flooding rains experiences more and more extremes, there is talk of expanded responsibility for the Australian Defence Force – with all its equipment and eager manpower – to have a greater and more easily called-upon role on the homefront. www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 19

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