Blue Mountains MP Trish Doyle this week returned from an information-sharing trip with fire authorities and politicians in California, as the US state looks to rebuild from the devastating wildfires that destroyed more than 16,000 structures in January. 

The NSW delegation of four was led by Speaker Greg Piper, and included Member for Cootamundra and former Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke, Legislative Assembly deputy clerk Carly Maxwell, and Ms Doyle, who was selected for her role as Shadow Emergency Services Minister during the Black Summer Bushfires, and her insights from living in the Blue Mountains – one of the most bushfire-prone areas in the world. 

Ms Doyle discovered there some similarities to the Blue Mountains. 

“LA (Los Angeles) District 41, which includes Palisades and Altadena which were devastated in the fires, reminded me of the Blue Mountains with our forests and their hills and the peri-urban interface,” she said. 

“However, they don’t have the levels of bushfire preparedness and education awareness campaigns that we have here. Our RFS and Fire + Rescue and National Parks and Wildlife Service all work closely together but they don’t quite have that integrated and unified agency set-up in California.” 

Instead, California has a mix of private, federal, state and local firefighting organisations without a lead agency, and the defence of homes is seemingly prioritised based on the home owner’s level of insurance. 

Ms Doyle spoke with a young man from Pasadena, who works as a staffer for California District 41 assembly member John Harabedian, and who lost his family home in the fires. 

“His father didn’t want to look at their home in ruins, but Miles (the staffer) went back and among the debris he found some pottery that his grandma had made,” Ms Doyle said. 

“Miles was still going to work and focusing on doing what he could to help the community and help others in need.” 

The delegation had planned to tour firegrounds in Palisades and Altadena, but were unable to do so because the area had been restricted to locals who had lost their homes, to stop the influx of people capitalising on “disaster tourism”. 

Having spoken with NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Rob Rogers and Fire + Rescue NSW Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell, and the Fire Brigades Employees Union before the trip, Ms Doyle shared information with the Californians on Australian operations and passed on their condolences to those who lost their homes.  

“They picked our brains on resourcing disasters and how that works here,” she said. 

“They were interested in the concept of ‘build back better’ and were interested in our BAL ratings system.”   

Ms Doyle will brief the Emergency Services Minister, RFS and FRNSW on the information she gathered about the Californian response in coming weeks. 

The RFS has a memorandum of understanding with Cal Fire (the Californian Department of Forestry and Fire Protection), and later in the year Fire + Rescue and RFS officials will visit California to share their insights, and are particularly keen to learn about California’s aviation resources. 

The trip was also an opportunity to meet with politicians progressing environmental issues, including climate change, sustainable projects, and energy usage, which tied in with Ms Doyle’s Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, Heritage, Climate Change and Energy responsibilities.