Goroke Group Officer Justin Batson
Leadership during a bushfire is a complicated and multifaceted undertaking, something that CFA Goroke Group Officer Justin Batson came to understand firsthand this fire season.
Not only are you preoccupied with ensuring resources are where they need to be, trucks in position, crews supported and plans in place, you're also carrying the weight of decisions that can affect an entire community.
In the early hours of 2 February, after a sudden wind change pushed the fast-moving Little Desert National Park bushfire toward the small community of Goroke in Victoria's west, CFA Goroke Group Officer Justin Batson was forced to make an uncomfortable decision: Should we issue an emergency warning to leave immediately?
With conditions worsening and the fire's behaviour becoming more erratic, Justin made the call.
"It was the first time I'd ever been asked to make that kind of call, and it was something I didn't take lightly," Justin said. But with the fire behaviour we were seeing, there was no question in my mind. We had to get people out."
The fire had jumped containment lines and was moving quickly. Crews had trucks and fallback plans in place, but the risk to life was too high to not take action.
"We had plan A, B and C ready to go," Justin said. "But we also knew if the fire broke through at the wrong time, we'd be dealing with houses under threat, maybe worse.
"If people left early, it meant we didn't have to wonder who was still in the town, or where they were.
That knowledge changes everything for our firefighters and community reassurance."
The decision was made, and the emergency warning was sent. To Justin's relief, the community responded exactly as hoped.
"There was no pushback. People understood the risk and they trusted us. That's not always the case during emergencies, and it made a huge difference."
Knowing residents were safe allowed firefighters to focus entirely on asset protection and fire suppression.
"We were dealing with winds that changed without warning," he added.
"The fire did things that didn't make sense, it didn't follow the usual patterns. There's no rulebook for something like that.
"We're all so thankful to CFA strike teams from across the state who assisted us, working in tough conditions, and to the local farmers and private units who did their bit too," Justin said.
"It was a team effort, and everyone was doing what they could to protect their neighbours and stop the fire from escaping the desert. The work on the ground was huge."
In the end, no lives were lost. No lived-in homes were destroyed. And while the nearby Little Desert Nature Lodge was sadly destroyed, the town was spared the worst.
"People thank us for the outcome, but I think the community deserves just as much credit," Justin said.
"Their trust gave us the breathing room to do our job."
"You don't forget the weight of that call. You think about the elderly, the families, your own mates.
You're asking people to leave their homes, maybe not knowing if they'll have one to come back to. But when it's life or death, you can't afford to hesitate."
In the days that followed, messages of thanks poured in, from handwritten notes by local schoolkids to homemade meals delivered to staging areas.
"If I had my time again, I'm sure we'd make the same call.
I didn't want to issue the emergency warning. But I'm glad we did," Justin said.
