The ABC's emergency team on Black Summer, broadcasting during crises and the bushfire season ahead
Pat Hession is often on call in case urgent emergency broadcasting is required anywhere in the country. (Supplied: Pat Hession)
Receiving a midnight phone call is a worry to most people, but for Pat Hession, it usually means one thing: somewhere across the vast Australian landscape, a community is being put at risk in a natural disaster.
"Either things are bad, or someone's pocket-dialled me by mistake," he says.
"Either way, it definitely gets the blood pumping."
Hession heads up the ABC's emergency broadcasting team and every four days, a hotline diverts to his mobile.
If it rings from that hotline, he must be ready to swing into action, no matter when or where the threat may be.
So when Hession says, "Please don't call me in the middle of the night … unless it's an emergency," the phrase takes on a whole new meaning.
Emergency services in Gippsland directed residents to ABC Radio for the most up to date bushfire information. (ABC News: Peter Somerville)
'It was overwhelming'
This summer, the emergency season is shaping up to be a difficult one.
After three years of rain from La Niña, persistent flooding rains have promoted plant growth across the east coast.
It has since dried out or "cured", which forms the fuel on which a fire feeds.
With the Bureau of Meteorology officially declaring an El Niño weather pattern and a positive India Ocean Dipole on the way, the warm and dry conditions mean one thing — bushfires.
The Australasian Fire Authorities Council has indicated large areas of New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory as well as parts of Victoria and South Australia are at above average risk of fire activity from September to November.
The bushfires that started in the Barkly region in the Northern Territory in September 2023 marked an early start to the fire season. (Supplied)
It brings back all too recent memories for Hession.
Having begun his career with the emergency broadcasting team as the Queensland-based coordinator in 2019-2020 during the Black Summer bushfires, he remembers the moment when things took a turn for the worse.
"I remember the day where things really ramped up at Mallacoota. I was in the Townsville studio doing emergency updates for Victoria," he said.
"Here I am in North Queensland butchering pronunciations while trying to call staff in locally to take over, because it was clear things were going badly.
The scenes on Mallacoota pier as the fire bore down on the township. (Instagram: @travelling_aus_family)
"I did manage to get a local team together to start rolling coverage and then the roles switched, and I was there to give them the support they needed during very difficult radio broadcasting."
Thousands of people fled to the water in Mallacoota as fire raced towards the popular holiday destination.
Hession said while there were early warnings the season was shaping up to be bad, the true picture was only revealed slowly.
"We'd been told by fire agencies that it was going to be a difficult season but what we were seeing was far beyond that.
"It was overwhelming trying to come to terms with what was happening."
The fires scorched more than 24 million hectares, killed 33 people directly, and almost 450 more lost their lives from the effects of smoke inhalation.
Most fire agencies agree, high fuel loads and dry conditions are a concern for the 2023 fire season.
Western Australian coordinator Gianfranco Di Giovanni is part of the national emergency broadcasting team at the ABC, who work 365 days of the year, even on Christmas (ABC Emergency)
Ready for whatever's coming
This summer is the first season the emergency broadcasting team will be operating with a bigger permanent team and additional staff for difficult days.
It remains the only specialist national emergency broadcasting team in Australia helping audiences across the country stay up to date during a disaster.
Any broadcast studio across the ABC's more than 50 offices nationally can be used to deliver warnings, targeted directly to a local audience that needs it most.
During emergencies, power and internet access are often interrupted, which means the radio can be the only source of information available.
Hession said the team is set up to tackle anything throughout the country.
Remote outside broadcast consoles allow emergency broadcast coordinators to put warnings to air after hours to any ABC station in the country, without having to travel to a studio. (ABC Emergency: Patrick Hession )
"There are additional coordinators who work overnight during emergencies to keep listeners updated, coordinating with our radio master control to make sure warnings are broadcast to the right transmitter as quickly as possible to keep communities informed at all hours while there are lives and homes are at risk," he said.
Expecting the unexpected
South Australia and Northern Territory coordinator Suzy Ramone is the longest serving member of the current team, and said the strategy of emergency broadcasting developed over time leading to the establishment of a national team.
"I started off doing emergency warnings for South Australia in 2010, then the following year it was South Australia and the Northern Territory, and then South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania and at the end of that season I said it's too much … those states need their own person," she says.
"The [black summer] fires were like monsters joining up across the borders or little fires joining into mega fires and creating their own weather.
"It was so hard to stay across all the warning levels and the names and the stations the warnings had to go to."
Anthony Gerace is the managing editor of the emergency team along with South Australia, Northern Territory and Broken Hill news.
He was the regional editor for South Australia and responsible for managing the radio coverage of the Kangaroo Island bushfires.
"It was a devastating time, those fires were the largest in the island's recorded history.
"The Kangaroo Island blaze burned more than 211,474 hectares of land; almost half of the island," he says.
Anthony Gerace said seeing this warning map from the Country Fire Service with the whole of Kangaroo Island under warning, brought a lump to his throat he'll never forget it. (Supplied: South Australia Country Fire Service )
"While I wasn't managing the emergency team at the time, I was extremely thankful to have them supporting my team and me, giving guidance and advice on what was an unfolding emergency situation for the community.
"You never quite know what to expect some days – but our dedicated and experienced team is equipped to expect the unexpected."
At the height of summer, the ABC's emergency broadcasting team will work alongside every broadcaster in both the capital cities and regional bureaux, from the moment the alert comes in, right through to the recovery stage.
Hession says he chose to join the team because he knows what a difference this type of broadcasting can have.
Notes like this one, left on the ABC vehicle outside the Bega studio, makes the long hours worth it. (Lucy Thackeray)
"At the ABC we work so hard to tell stories that are of interest to people, but there are so many things in life that are also competing for their attention," he said.
"During emergencies, we know that people are looking to us to deliver critical information for Australians.
"That's why we're here."