Enhanced emergency planning for Blue Mountains Early Childhood Education and Care Centres underway

Bushfire expert Tony Hawkins discusses emergency planning with Blue Mountains Early Childhood Educators

Long term Blue Mountains residents will never forget the speed with which the 2013 bushfires rocketed though townships of Springwood, Winmalee and Yellow Rock, destroying homes and bushland within minutes. 

That year homes were lost and extensive damage was also suffered in the Mounts region (Mount Victoria, Mount Irvine, Mount Wilson) and Blackheath as well as in townships located between Lithgow and Bilpin as a result of the State Mine Fire. 

The Linksview Rd fire is reported to have started in Springwood at 1.30pm on Thursday, October 17, 2013 - a week day when hundreds of children were still at school and in Early Childhood Education and Care Centres.  That afternoon, several schools and centres in Springwood and Winmalee were ordered to lockdown before evacuations where able to take place later that day.

Not only was this a terrifying scenario for parents but it was also an incredibly stressful situation for the educators who had the responsibility of ensuring the safety of the children in their care. 

Since 2013 much work as been done in the area of emergency planning to improve the safety of schools and Early Childhood Education and Care Centres in the Blue Mountains in the event of a bushfire. 

One critical factor informing this planning is understanding that children have unique needs and vulnerabilities to adults in disaster settings. Kids can’t be expected to behave like “little adults” which is why it is imperative that emergency plans involving children are created alongside experts in childhood such as teachers, early childhood educators, psychologists and child health nurses. This ensures that any plans created include appropriate activities for children at different stages of development.

To support this important work, Resilient Villages has recently partnered with Blue Mountains City Council to co-ordinate a series of site visits with bushfire consultant Tony Hawkins at Early Childhood Education and Care Centres in Blackheath, Katoomba, Winmalee, Lawson, Blaxland and Hawkesbury Heights. 

Through a series of workshops held in December 2023, local educators discussed areas of concern with Tony such as what to do if staff members needed to get home to their own families during an emergency, how to safely transport large groups of young children (sometimes 60 - 80 kids) to safe places, how to manage parent concerns and keep children calm as well as make the crucial decision of whether to evacuate or remain in shelter if a bushfire is approaching. 

During these workshops participants talked about the need to have several plans in place that could advise on what actions should be taken at various stages of bushfire warnings (Moderate / High / Extreme / Catastrophic). Similarly, what actions to take if a bushfire suddenly erupted without warning as happened in 2013 when a tree fell on powerlines on Linksview Rd in Springwood and ignited a fast moving bushfire within minutes.

Other topics discussed at the workshops included keeping supplies of age and allergy appropriate food, water, and medical supples (such as puffers and Epipens for asthma and allergy sufferers) at centres and battery powered equipment (such as AM radios) in the event of a power blackout. 

Overall, Tony’s key points for enhancing emergency plans were: 

• Keep the plan simple enough to allow flexibility in changing situations.

• Ensure that the plan is achievable, consider available resources and time.

• Ensure that the plan is self-reliant, any reliance on external sources for information, advice or assistance may lead to failure.

• Staff should, where appropriate, discuss personal physical and psychological issues that may prevent them from being effective in an emergency so that alternative solutions may be developed.

While on location, Tony also inspected the buildings, playgrounds and gardens surrounding Early Childhood Education and Care Centres to suggest ways to make them less prone to the threat of bushfires. 

After the visits early childhood educators commented that Tony had given them the skills and confidence needed to be able to have the best possible emergency plan in place. 

In addition to this, studies have also shown that effective disaster management preparation like this can not only minimise the risk of injuries and death of children at the time of an emergency but it can also minimise the psychological impact and trauma of a disaster and help promote long term resilience for both children and adults after the event. 

Similarly, as Early Childhood Education and Care Centres provide an essential service to the community as parents with young children at home are often unable to work, the ability for centres to be able to keep operating as usual directly impacts the broader community’s ability to recover post-disaster.  

Throughout 2024, Resilient Villages will continue this important work with local Early Childhood Education and Care Centres. The next phase of the planning process involves RV’s Get Ready Coordinator Renee Vincent meeting with individual services to review and enhance their plans as well as work with them on scenario planning.