Schools Leadership Under Fire: The gaps exposed from past school fires

Emergency Planning: A vital responsibility for school leadership and governance

Preparing staff and occupants to respond in accordance with a well-considered plan needs to be conducted under an accurate and reportable system that meets appropriate fire safety standards.

As with all emergency planning, policies are made up from lessons learned from past incidences but sometimes it is good to have a refresher as to what those lessons were.

Here’s a summary of the key lessons learned from the article “Lessons learnt: two schools in a major bushfire” published by the Australian Journal of Emergency Management (AJEM)

• On 17 October 2013, a fast-moving bushfire ignited in Springwood, NSW, threatening two schools: St Thomas Aquinas Primary School and St Columba’s College.
• Despite the severity, no lives were lost, and both schools successfully managed the emergency.

Key lessons learned

1. Situational awareness Is critical

• School leadership teams demonstrated strong awareness of the fire’s progression.
• Real-time decision-making was supported by local knowledge and communication with emergency services.

Are you keeping First Responders up to date with current and accurate floor and site plans of your schools?

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2. Full rehearsals of emergency plans work

• Schools had conducted full-scale rehearsals of their bushfire response plans
• These drills helped staff and students respond calmly and effectively during the actual emergency.

How often are you conducting a full scale rehearsal?  Do you require assistance from fire safety specialists?
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3. Worst-case scenario planning Is essential

• Planning was based on worst-case bushfire scenarios, not just typical fire drills.
• This included preparing for blocked access roads, smoke inundation, and rapid evacuations.

Include different scenarios in your drill exercises such as suspicious packages and bomb threats to test out your plan.  Allocate a Observer to your drill and have them assess proceedings against an Observer’s checklist.  This can help you further improve your emergency response.
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4. Strong support from school authorities

• The Catholic Education Commission NSW and local fire brigades provided proactive support.
• A pilot exercise called the Hawkesbury Road Project helped principals gain practical emergency response skills.
     

Seek advice from outside your school, Emergency responders and Fire Safety Advisors are resources you can call upon to test and sharpen your response methods.

5. Communication with families and communities

• Timely and clear communication with parents and the broader community reduced panic.
• Schools used established channels to keep families informed during the crisis.

List your communication channels (schools have many) and make sure your communications provide consistent messaging across all channels, or nominate one channel and make sure all stakeholders know what it is.

6. Site preparation matters

• Physical site features (e.g. timber buildings, bushland proximity) were assessed and mitigated where possible.
• Schools with higher exposure received additional support and planning resources.

Current and up to date site and building plans are critical tools to help you keep accurate records as to where risks are located and to make sure management plans are in place to monitor and report on those risks.
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