In his new book Firestorm, former NSW Fire and Rescue Commissioner Greg Mullins AO share frontline accounts of fighting big blazes around Australia and breathtaking stories of real fires, heroism, mateship, and community – and urges us all to take immediate action against climate change. Greg Mullins AO was born to be a firey, following in his father’s footsteps. He grew up in semi-rural bushland on the outskirts of Sydney and fought his first big fire with his father at 12 years old. His calm under pressure, quick thinking and leadership skills saw him ascend the ranks of the fire service – from a floppy-haired cadet in the 1970s to the head of one of the world’s largest fire services.
Mullins first noticed climate change after the devastating 1994 NSW bushfires with more extreme fire weather and longer fire seasons. This pattern worsened in following years. He was awarded a Churchill Fellowship and travelled to the USA, Canada, Spain and France to study different approaches to fighting bushfires. He fought California brushfires with the LA County Fire Department and found that the US was facing the same problems with worsening drought, heat and fire weather.
In 2009, after the Black Saturday fire disaster in Victoria, Mullins was told by a senior politician to keep out of the climate change debate. He quickly learned that speaking publicly about climate change was out of bounds.
Mullins watched in horror as fire seasons became hotter, longer, and more devastating. He could see what was happening – the climate was changing. In early 2019 Mullins built a coalition of former fire chiefs who tried repeatedly to warn the government about the dangerous conditions and the impending catastrophic fire season but were ignored. The Black Summer fires of 2019/20 were the worst on record.
Importantly, Mullins outlines strategies for the short-, medium- and long-term. For example, empowering communities to come up with plans, moving away from coal and retraining workers as part of the transition to clean, renewable energy; and adopting credible emissions reduction targets with supporting policies that, together with the majority of other developed countries that have committed to action, will help to stabilise climate risks while protecting Australia’s economic future.
Firestorm Combines thrilling stories of what it’s like to be on the front line of Australia’s first giga-fire with the hard truths of human-caused climate change, Firestorm is a compelling account of raging fire, political evasion, settled science, and one man’s courageous, urgent call to action.
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