This article may contain upsetting content.

I took the below picture at about 7am on New Year’s Day in 2020, through the 2CC studio windows in Canberra.

I almost certainly spoke to Former Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service, Shane Fitzsimmons on that day or used his audio in our news. Shane held that position for 12 years but perhaps, like me, you weren’t aware of him until November 2019 and the escalating Black Summer bushfires.

He was a constant during that period. Calm, honest, empathetic and articulate. The image of him pinning a Commissioner’s Commendation for Extraordinary Service and a Commendation for Bravery medal to Harvey, the son of fallen firefighter Geoffrey Keaton the day after my photo, on January 2 (below), was shared across the world.

Thursday, January 2, 2020 at the funeral for Geoffrey Keaton, one of two firefighters who lost their lives fighting fires on 19 December 2019. Keaton was awarded the Commissioner’s Commendations for Bravery and Service. (AAP Image/Supplied by The NSW Rural Fire Service)

I spoke with Shane for an hour this week. I had written down only four questions, one of which he would partially answer before I asked it.

It was, are you okay?

Prior to 2019/20 Shane and his team had worked very hard to improve the communication channels between emergency services and radio and TV.

He said:

“Research has shown us over again that people want to validate what they’re hearing locally, whether it’s response, preparedness, information, warnings, communications. I know through the RFS we invested a lot in making sure we moved away from that era of not talking to the media because you don’t want to get caught out with a misconstrued message. We sought to dismantle that fear so that with the right people providing the information, the education, the awareness, and particularly during those big events, volunteer captains or salaried and incident controllers, we were able to be available for regular catch ups with local and community radio. We were able to build that trusted relationship through leadership and open and honest dialogue and sharing. And I think that’s the conduit that really matters to a lot of people.”

The NSW Rural Fire Service has more than 70,000 volunteers, community radio 17,000. People serving and giving back to the communities and towns they live in. For as long as I can remember the ABC has been the nation’s emergency broadcaster.

In December 2019 Gordon Waters, the manager of the NSW Southern Tablelands community radio station Braidwood 88.9FM, the rough midpoint between the ACT and the South Coast, knew that reception from the Canberra, Illawarra or Bega ABCs were flaky in pockets of the town and the Fires Near Me app was only providing basic warnings to remote properties.

Like many community radio volunteers Waters knew his town, the region and its people, and was aware that the station was perhaps the only accessible source of up-to-date information. For months, across the day and night, he and a team of volunteers worked with the RFS to keep his community safe.

Gordon Waters doing a live update in December 2019 on Braidwood 88.9FM – from Facebook

“There were people that had the radio on 24 hours a day every day just to hear what was happening. There was no on the ground local coverage from the ABC here. It’s not like people here could turn on the ABC and know what was happening at Jinglemoney Lane.” Gordon Waters, Braidwood FM (Source: From The Embers podcast, 2020)

The impact of those action became the subject of another later podcast, Heart of the Storm, and was highlighted in the CBAA’s Beyond Broadcasting report, about community media’s response to emergencies.

Shane said:

“During that period, it was relentless, 24 hours a day. I think we went for 160 consecutive days of above normal, significant firefighting operations. It was like we’ve never seen anywhere else in the country. Local radio networks and outlets were experiencing massive disruptions and changes to regular programs. We know that there were people working together to roster themselves around 24 hours a day, because the challenges and the risks and the threats weren’t switching off at certain hours of the day they weren’t running.

The value of hyperlocal information sharing by community radio has been recognised by Government as an asset to support the ABC in times of disaster.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said:

“When the 2020 bushfires blazed through the regions, community radio was a constant. Through the early hours of the morning and into the night, Braidwood FM was a conduit for crucial, urgent, local information. It broadcast the movements of the fire and helped the community stay safe during this devastating time. It’s more than a community broadcaster – during the bushfires, Braidwood FM was a lifeline.”

Shane:

In whatever we’re doing, whether it’s emergency information updates or the day-to-day connection with people, we want to share stories, we want to share experiences so we can hopefully connect and resonate with those that are listening or those that are engaging in in that dialogue. Community radio provides both. You’ve got people that are listening and understanding and relating to what their neighbor or their or their colleague or their constituent down the road is talking about because they’re in that area and it makes a lot of sense. But there’s also the opportunity for people to call in and share and contribute or challenge and say, well, actually, that might be happening down there, but it’s not happening up here. Well, that that unfolding of information, that telling of a story with the multiple contributors to that story telling helps everybody garner a picture.”

Community radio stations are also support hub for community action before an emergency and in the aftermath. They support fundraising events, provide a focal point for relief efforts, co-ordinate volunteers, and provide a collaborative partner for authorities looking to reach diverse audiences with life-saving messages.

In April 2020, after the fires were put out, floods, mouse plagues and Covid entered the equation instead. Shane left the NSW RFS to a newly created role as the Commissioner of something called Resilience NSW. It was dissolved two years later, at the end of 2022, leaving Fitzsimmons strangely adrift from places and people he considered extended family.

He took some time to travel with wife Lisa where even in far flung places people would come up to him and, like me, say that they felt like they knew him. That they trusted him.

Now he works in advisory roles speaking to the pillars of his values – leadership, preparedness and open and honest communication.

Community radio last year released their Roadmap 2033. One of its drivers is responding to disasters and disruptions. Towards that a key strategic partnership has been formed with the ABC, which includes providing communication advice and resources to stations on what to do during events such as fires.

But as to my question to Shane about how he is?

“I’m very mindful that we are on the eve of the five-year anniversary of the fires. There’s so much that I haven’t been able to watch or replay. We are all human. And when we live through really difficult and challenging times, even if we garner the best support, assistance and results we possibly can, going through those periods of time are truly life changing. We carry it with us for a lifetime.

During that fire season, I shared absolutely in the grief, the loss, the damage and the destruction. But I also reflect with an immense level of pride and admiration for how my team, the broader teams of fire and emergency services personnel and the communities impacted and affected came together.

There’ll be days and moments etched in our minds forever. We actually saw the very best in humanity. The sincerity of generosity, giving, compassion, love and caring. That will sit with me for a very, very long time. But it’s a really mixed bag of emotional experiences that we’re still learning how to process.”

Former Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service, Shane Fitzsimmons AO AFSM, will give a keynote address as the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) Annual Conference.

The CBAA conference is on from October 17-19 on the Gold Coast, Shane’s address is on Saturday October 19. You can purchase tickets here: CBAA Conference 2024 (eventsair.com)

This article contains material and images that may be traumatic and upsetting.

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Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo