To the west, I could see columns of smoke turning black as the wild westerly winds sent flames roaring into the treetops.

Sirens blaring, our convoy reached Batemans Bay and Mogo, and we battled the flames all day. We lost many homes, but saved more.

In the afternoon, electrical power was lost as numerous telegraph poles burned and fell. Soon mobile phone and internet coverage was lost (together with mapping), and then phone and some radio coverage.

The local RFS put on a BBQ to feed the hundreds of out-of-area firefighters, and a local butcher, who no longer had refrigeration, apparently donated the meat. In ensuing days, deliveries of food and other essentials could not get through on the highways.

The events of New Year's Eve highlighted several key lessons that will serve us well as we head into the next fire season.

First, the importance of early evacuation. The fact there weren't mass casualties on the South Coast despite the unprecedented conditions was remarkable, and largely due to the timely decision to evacuate, and the efforts of police on the day.

Second, the aftermath of the fires revealed just how fragile and exposed some of our critical services, like electricity and transport are, in the face of worsening fire conditions being exacerbated by climate change.

As we saw, the NSW and ACT fires were unable to be controlled by human intervention. It took rain - and lots of it - to put them out.

How do we reckon with the fact that this is now our 'new normal' - natural disasters of a size and scale that can't be mitigated or adapted to in any meaningful way?

The first and foremost priority is people's well-being and safety, and ensuring that communities in bushfire-prone areas can be resilient against a growing threat.

Community resilience - first, the ability to 'take a hit', and then, the ability to 'bounce back' - is a conversation that must begin with survival strategies.

When trying to stop the fires starts to look futile, the number one focus has to be on providing information, advice and warnings. This was one of the key recommendations to come out of the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009, when the death of 173 people came as a significant shock to fire authorities.

On the worst fire days, good, timely information can help individuals make better information about their personal survival, such as leaving the day before.

But more is needed. Standards for building in bushfire-prone areas, aimed at making homes a safehaven, are based on scenarios that are now regularly exceeded as extreme weather intensifies.

Small isolated communities, like those on the NSW South Coast, may in the future need a solid, fire-safe building where locals can take shelter in an emergency - because most deaths happen when people try to flee in cars or on foot.

To prevent the hugely disruptive electrical outages that we saw in Batemans Bay on New Year's Eve, a simple - albeit expensive - solution is to place power lines underground. This would make a huge difference to future resilience in a disaster; not just fires, but also floods.

The other critical half of the resilience conversation, is, of course, to address the key reason that the risk, frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events is increasing in the first place: climate change. We need real and urgent action on what is driving it - rising greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of coal, oil and gas.

This two-fold approach to community resilience - increasing our ability to withstand the threat, while reducing the threat itself - is exactly what the group of former fire and emergency chiefs that I formed last April, the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action, have put our collective 1000-plus years of experience into calling for since last April.

Across our careers, we have observed the climate changing for the worse, and natural disaster risks escalating in tandem with increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.

The science is clear, simple, and cannot be disputed - intensifying extreme weather is being driven by the warming atmosphere and oceans, and since the year 2000 there has been a significant increase in the frequency and number of serious weather events.

Our group, which launched with 23 members last year and now counts 33 former fire chiefs among our ranks, has made repeated, and detailed recommendations to the Federal government on how to better prepare Australia for worsening bushfire danger.

From measures like more resources for fire and land management agencies to a credible climate policy that rapidly and significantly cuts greenhouse gas emissions, our recommendations draw on our own expertise, the best available science and readily available technologies.

Our calls have taken on a fresh urgency as the fallout from the COVID-19 crisis sparks a major wave of spending to reinvigorate the economy. For the future well-being of all Australians, it is glaringly obvious that solutions which simultaneously solve both the economic and climate crises must be a priority.

Things like renewables and low-emissions technologies, including green hydrogen, can create massive economic and employment opportunities across our urban and regional centres.

The Federal government must step up and back these smart solutions instead of wasting time and resources on more coal, oil, and gas projects, which will only worsen climate change and undermine the safety, health, and well-being of communities.

We owe it to future generations to try to stabilise, and then reduce global heating. Our collective future is at stake here, and failure is simply not an option.