ESA pressure test exposed strengths and weakness

And, like all such pressure tests, it revealed both strengths and the weaknesses within a comparatively small, and ordinarily tight-knit, organisation that has been defined by the lessons of 17 years ago.

Make no mistake, the vast majority of ESA's responses, whether they be about community briefings, the structure of the line of command, or decisions as to whether or not to deploy volunteer staff across the border, were shaped by an awareness of past mistakes.

The results, to a large extent, speak for themselves. Disastrous property losses were averted, no lives were lost and, by the time the Orroral Valley bushfire was out late last week, most Canberrans were singing the praises of ESA commissioner, Georgeina Whelan.

Those who remember 2003 have been fulsome in their praise of the frequency of the public briefings, the degree of early warning given and the level of detail provided over many weeks as flames came to within six kilometres of our southernmost suburbs.

Whelan, who only made it home a couple of times during the emergency, was always front and centre. She was either providing direction and guidance, addressing the community through the media or just trying to get a handle on a highly complex and volatile situation facing the city.

This is why it will have come as a surprise to many that Whelan spent much of her time under fire from within her own organisation. We now know she was required to defend her decisions and criticised for a decisive "take no prisoners" management style and even for her approach to public messaging.

It is probably a good thing that these tensions, often the result of friction between ESA leadership and sections of the eight volunteer rural brigades, did not spill over into the public domain at the height of the crisis. As Scott Morrison found out the hard way, public confidence in those leading the response to any crisis is essential.

The greatest casualty of the ACT's "Summergeddon" has been that crucial relationship between the ESA chiefs and some Rural Fire Service volunteers, some of whom have told The Canberra Times they felt like "cannon fodder" and "second class citizens". Whelan says it's a small number who were disgruntled. But the ACT Volunteer Brigades Association claims it could be half or more.

Whelan is aware of, and acknowledges, the criticisms. Last week she was drafting a letter of apology to members of the Rivers RFS brigade after walking out of a meeting with them at the height of the emergency.

The ESA is calling in independent consultants to review the events of this fire season and is committed to sharing the outcomes with the volunteers.

Hard lessons will need to be assimilated quickly given climate change means the "off season" will last five months at the most.

Volunteers, as has been shown in NSW and elsewhere, are crucial to an effective bushfire response. They are special people who need to be treated with consideration and respect, not as unpaid staff.

Internal reviews should lead to better practices next time around. Relationships should, in time, be patched up, because no one doubts the commitment and intentions of those who combined in this firefighting effort, even if they didn't always agree on their approach.

Canberrans have every reason to be confident Commissioner Whelan, and her senior team, will pick up on these, and many other, lessons before next summer.