A "dangerous" back-burn carried out on the eve of a catastrophic fire day was unlikely to protect coastal communities from an out-of-control bushfire, an inquest has heard.
On New Year's Eve 2019 the Currowan bushfire jumped the Princes Highway and impacted the eastern communities of Conjola, Sussex inlet, Yatte Yattah and Fishermans Paradise.
The inquiry, before New South Wales Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan, is examining the containment strategies used by fire authorities.
The inquest has heard an Eastern Containment Strategy was deployed, which established a containment line of more than 100 kilometres to keep the fire to the west of the Princes Highway.
On the evening of the 30th of December, National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and Rural Fire Service (RFS) crews were deployed along Porter's Creek Road to conduct a back-burn to fill in a gap in the line.
Statements from residents submitted to the inquiry claim spotting from the back-burn started fires that destroyed properties.
The incident controller on the night of November 30, Mark Williams told the inquiry he was aware of the deteriorating weather conditions forecast for New Year's Eve, but approved the back-burn to "shut the gates" on the advancing fire.
Former Deputy Chief Officer of the Victorian Country Fire Authority (CFA) Geoff Conway told the inquiry he understood Mr Williams's decision.
But he said he was concerned by the fact Mr Williams felt he had "no option" but to follow through with the back-burn.
"I am concerned an incident controller … finds themselves in a situation where they feel they don't have other options," he said.
"The application of this strategy was very challenging — we were putting fire in at night, which is always a little dangerous.
"We have to give our incident management team (IMT) some confidence to say, 'Well look, I can try and tie off this control line, but I am looking at the weather and I am looking at fire behaviour, and it is pretty unlikely it is going to work — what else I am going to do?'"
The court heard that the IMT had received a fire behaviour analysis that forecast extreme weather on Monday and Tuesday.
Temperatures of 35 to 40 degrees Celsius, high winds and relatively low humidity were predicted.
Mr Conway said under those circumstances it was unlikely an offensive strategy would be "viable" and that authorities should have felt comfortable using a defensive fire fighting techniques.
"We need to give [incident controllers] a licence to step back and say, 'Well look, that would show people I am doing something, but is it the best option?'" he said.
"There are opportunities for IMTs to step back and say, 'I'm pretty sure this fire is going to run tomorrow — what can I do between now and then to prepare my crews, to prepare the communities that might be vulnerable?'"
Were homes destroyed by the back-burn?
Mr Conway said he could not reach a "definitive" conclusion, based on witness evidence, whether the back-burn started the fire that destroyed homes on Porters Creek Road and Corowa Lane.
"It is quite possible that those back-burns were still quite active at that time of the day and may well have been producing embers that came across the control line and started fires," he said.
But Mr Conway told the inquiry it was the intense blaze along the escarpment near Pointer Mountain that caused the bulk of the spotting that devastated the coastal communities.
"I don't think there is any question in my mind that the main Currowan fire was very much the cause of that developing fire on the coastal plain," he said.
Under cross-examination from RFS lawyer Nicholas Newton, Mr Conway conceded that the back-burn could also have delayed the impact on properties in the Porters Creek Road area.
"I couldn't make a definitive comment, but it is possible," Mr Conway said.
He said despite the failure of the containment strategy deployed during the Currowan fire, back-burning and containment lines remained important tools for firefighters.
"What I am deeply concerned about is we are going to potentially constrain IMTs and fireground managers in such a way that they are not able to take opportunities to establish containment lines and secure fire edges in such a way that it will protect communities," Mr Conway said.
"What we need to do is provide them with good intelligence, appropriate resources, and the confidence that they can make these decisions and have those decisions supported so they can be effective."
Offensive strategies 'consistently overrun'
Throughout the inquiry multiple witnesses have provided evidence regarding the unprecedented scale and intensity of the Black Summer fires.
Mr Conway told the inquiry Australia was likely to experience another fire season like 2019/20 soon and that the firefighting methods in place were not fit for purpose.
"What we have seen more recently – and from conversations I’ve had with colleagues in recent years – is so many of the things that we have traditionally understood work to contain a fire and give us the opportunity to extinguish it have been unsuccessful," he said.
"The offensive strategies that we are trying are consistently overrun."
Mr Conway told the hearing that firefighters have been relying on a "defensive approach", which was a problem because of the scale of the fires they have faced over the last 15 years.
He said crews "never" had the resources to deal blazes of such size and intensity.
