Neither the New South Wales Rural Fire Service or Queensland Fire and Emergency Service had established cross-border coordination procedures for aerial firefighting activities to ensure reliable aircraft communication and separation.
The ATSB is satisfied that the implementation of the national guidelines, combined with the additional measures around boundary mapping either side of the border adequately address the safety issue.
Queensland Fire Department (QFD) advised that following the occurrence, discussion was held at a national level and a process of establishing clearer processes when operating in proximity to state/territory borders has been established.
QFD provided a copy of those procedures and advised that since implementation they have been effectively utilised several times – demonstrating increased and effective verbal and written communication with the NSW state air desk regarding crewed and uncrewed aerial firefighting operations.
QFD has also worked with its mapping personnel and generated a boundary of 15NM (28 km) either side of the border, which triggers contact with the NSW SAD when operations are conducted within this area.
