Rural Fire Tales

Project Summary

The Rural Fire Tales project captured and amplified the positives which help bind communities together in times of disaster. It involved interviewing 42 people seriously impacted by fires in December 2014. This successful recovery activity resulted in a candid, educative documentary film showcasing grassroots community resilience in action. It is also proving an invaluable training resource for those in the emergency management sector.

Background and Situation Context

Rural Fire Tales was implemented within the context of another project managed by Benalla Rural City Council (North East Victoria) entitled Local People Making Local Solutions. This 18-month project, funded by Regional Development Victoria employed a 0.5EFT Co-ordinator to work with four rural communities within the Benalla Shire to build community resilience and better prepare for emergencies. Only 9 months into this project, disaster, in the form of two fast moving grassfires, did strike, severely impacting two of the communities. This cast a totally different light on the project. Circumstances had changed. The challenge now for the co-ordinator, was to capture the resilience that had come to the fore in a way that would enhance the recovery. The Rural Fire Tales documentary project was thus born. The vision was to provide a purposeful opportunity for individuals impacted by the fire to reflect on their experience with a particular focus on the positives. By filming it, these reflections would be ‘captured’ and could help others see such emergencies through the eyes of those directly affected. There would be two major target beneficiaries - community members impacted by the fires (in film) and those who would subsequently view the film.

Activities

The RFT film is the story of the fire & continuing recovery from the participants’ points of view. It does not include discussion of the response to the fire by emergency services. Each interview focused on the unique individual experience - the impact, learnings and many positive stories of community support.

Key features of implementation

• The filming took place over 12 weeks, starting 4 weeks after the fires
• Forty-two people were interviewed aged from 2 to 78 years of age on their own properties in a time and space most comfortable for them.
• Retired farmer assisted with interviewing
• Participants were regularly consulted during editing process to ensure they were happy with footage included. Private preview screenings
• Song-writing workshops with children and young people
• Première of film at country hall which also featured the children singing own song, dinner supplied by CWA and bush dance * Final production of artwork and DVD.
• Community event to launch DVD. This involved
  • Screening of film
  • Emergency Services Interactive Displays
  • Sit-down dinner, then live music and dancing

The Rural Fire Tales project and Local People Making Solutions program finished May 2016. Distribution and presentations to a variety of key stakeholder groups still ongoing.

Results

Rural Fire Tales produced outcomes on a number of levels. The evidence of impact comes from written evaluation surveys, informal interviews and unsolicited emailed responses. The project

1. Assisted individuals, families and communities impacted by the Stewarton, Lake Rowan fires in the recovery process.

   ‘The production of the film gave people, including me, an opportunity to reflect on the event, reflect on how it was handled by myself, my family, the community and realise that despite how horrific it was, there were some amazing positives.’ (Participant)

   ‘It really helped my kids to talk about their experience so that they could express how they felt in their own words and in watching some of the other stories – help them find a place for it.’ (Participant)

   The focus during interviewing and subsequent film, on the positives was an important part of the recovery. Rather than being stuck on the negatives, it enabled people to move forward.

   ‘I think it’s hard to think about an event that is traumatic and often you focus on the bad parts of that event, the horror, the ‘what ifs’. But this process made people think of the good as well, it empowered people and gave them the chance to look past the event and focus on their own strengths, their own skills and their ability to overcome such an adversity and to survive.’ (Participant).

2. Amplified the positives for the community. In particular, captured and reflected back their
   • practical and effective seasonal preparation for fire
   • quick thinking actions as fire approached to minimise losses
   • individual acts of selflessness and courage during the fires community concern for each other during and after the fires
3. Challenged stereotypical gender and age roles. Women interviewed were strong and capable with several successfully facing the fire on their own. Recalling the event and subsequent generosity of local people elicited overtly emotional responses in many of the men. Rather than being seen but not heard, many of the children and young people showed great competence, confidence and resilience during and after the disaster.
4. Developed a community education resource for
   • those involved in the emergency management sector relief and recovery DEPUTY MUNICIPAL RECOVERY MANAGER ‘Puts a human face on what otherwise might just be a process & checklist for those involved in recovery.’
   • first responders (e.g. CFA, police, etc.) for their own understanding and also for community fire preparedness activities CFA BRIGADE SUPPORT: ‘This is SO useful! Because it isn’t just someone from an emergency service trying to ‘tell them what to do’, it is real life, real people saying what they did or what they should have done or will do in future. I recognised a lot of CFA messages in the narrative but they were not coming from a brochure, an advertisement or a Fire Ready presenter, they were coming from community members with first-hand experience.’
   • peri-urban and rural communities. Provides a useful resource to assist community members to prepare, respond and recover from emergencies COMMUNITY MEMBER WHO HAD EXPERIENCED A MORE RECENT FIRE ‘This documentary showed me the importance for us men to recognise and discuss our emotions. I had a similar experience of fire just five months ago, when apart from our farm-house, our farm was totally overrun by fire. This brought it all back but in a good way. Different fire but lots of similarities particularly in feelings. Made me realise how I had been bottling things up.’ Due to the cessation of all funding, unfortunately there is no follow up initiative planned at this point.

Knowledge or product outcomes

A 45-minute film rich with first-hand knowledge from a diverse range of rural community members aged 2 - 78 years who experienced devastating fires. They candidly reflect on emotional and physical impact, learnings and the importance of community in recovery. The short term project has been completed.

Reflection

A film about how communities experience a fire is not unique. However, there are a number of innovative elements about how RFT and addressed multiple challenges which underpin its success. Key factors included

• The LPMLS project coordinator became the filmmaker building on existing relationships of trust and links within these communities and adapting an existing project to changed circumstances.
• Hundreds of hours were spent with people impacted by the fires on their own properties in their own comfort zones. The film making was secondary to the listening. An effort was made to include those who would NOT normally speak out – particularly stoic farmers.
• It shone the light on the ‘ordinary.’ This was not a catastrophic natural disaster like black Saturday where so many lives & homes were lost but that does not diminish the trauma. It is the ordinariness and everydayness of the people & their situations that makes it so compelling, so real & so useful and the reason why it is connecting to so many.
• Children were seen and heard – their reflections and actions valued and highlighted, in what is frequently an adult domain.
• Deliberate focus on positives to avoid being bogged down in negativity and blame. It was stressed that the filmed interviews would not include any discussion of operational matters. Anger and negativity are resilience BLOCKERS. Dwelling on the negatives stops people/communities ‘bouncing back’ and moving forward into a positive future.
• Ensured that any known community ‘tensions’ did not feature in the film and such a diversity of people and perspectives was included that there could be no sense of bias.
• Did not include interviews with people in ‘paid positions’ or from specific organisations. It remained the heart felt experiences of community members and was not the mouth piece for any particular group.

Additional Project Details