ACTive ALIA

proACTive

Number 233: April 2003

ACTive ALIA convenor's column

Coping with disaster - when a once in a century event happens

On 12 March three speakers, Paul McNamara from the ANU, Barbara Reeve from the Australian War Memorial and Margaret Hyland from the ACT Library and Information Services spoke on 'After the bushfires', describing how their institutions coped with the bushfire emergency on and after 18 January. The extent of the damage was unpredictable and therefore no existing disaster plan could have fully prepared for dealing with it. A large and varied audience learnt from their experiences of how such a disaster was dealt with.

Mount Stromlo Library fire

The ANU Branch Library at Mount Stromlo was destroyed in the fire on 18 January. Paul McNamara showed two videos of Mount Stromlo: one of before and one of after the fires. They had a disaster plan but it did not encompass a catastrophe. He commented that it was fortunate the fire did not come from the side of the mountain which had the only access road.

It was also fortunate it was a Saturday so few people were there, otherwise lives might have been lost. Paul showed us pictures of the library at Mount Stromlo after the fire, with burnt serials still on metal shelves that had warped in the fierce heat. He also showed distant photos of the fireball consuming the mountain.

All material not out on loan on 17 January had its status changed to DESTROYED. There were many offers of replacement material, such as serial backsets, from well wishers around the world. They had to decide what to say to prospective donors and who should reply to each. Only one item of the collection that was not on loan was saved. It was in a fire proof safe. You can get an idea of the fire devastation from the following websites: http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/colless/StromloFire/, http://canberrafires.xsnet.org/ (in the section Photo Galleries)

Australian War Memorial

The War Memorial had a fire near the Mitchell repository (which was arson not a bushfire) and near the War Memorial but both were contained. The staff found it easier to control and organise fire defences as fire safety had not been contracted out, nor had the building been sold to another owner and leased back as has happened with many government buildings. Barbara Reeve described the problems of some institutions, which had their fire protection services contracted out and had to try to get permission to deal with fire hazards from a number of different building owners. The War Memorial staff organised their own fire defences. They filled tanks used for aircraft restoration and obtained petrol driven pumps to provide the water to fires. This was just as well, as the electricity failed when the fire was at Mitchell.

Destruction of people's treasures in the bushfires was almost total, so little could be restored. Fireproof safes did not, in general, protect material in them. Such safes are fire rated to a certain temperature and duration of fire. The fierce heat of the fires exceeded this. People were only allowed back to salvage their destroyed homes when it was considered safe. Barbara surprised her audience by explaining how ordinary material could be made dangerous by extreme heat. For example, she described a woman and her daughter who brought in part of a collection of crystal glass, which had developed a crust. That was actually the lead in the crystal, which had escaped and was dangerous to touch or inhale.

ACT Bushfire information service

Margaret Hyland from the ACT Library and Information Services asked if we knew that ACT Library and Information staff helped staff the ACT Bushfire information service. They were rostered for two weeks. Libraries were closed some days or had restricted hours to release staff for this emergency service. Because so many people were rostered, and the information to be given out had to be consistent, it was organised in printed blocks. The staff had calls from all over the ACT and also from nearby areas in NSW, as Sydney bushfire information phone lines were overwhelmed.

Both the War Memorial and ACT Library and Information Services emphasised the importance of having information on staff accessible centrally. Contact details should include not just addresses which are useless if the power fails, but also home addresses and phone numbers. The War Memorial also organised information on staff by suburbs and monitored affected and at risk suburbs to determine who could be rostered for work to protect the buildings and collections.

For those of you who missed these talks, I spoke to ALIA National Office to suggest that articles based on these talks could be published in inCite.

Helen Roberts
Convenor, ACTive ALIA