NEW AUSTRALIAN-U.S. FIREFIGHTING AGREEMENT IN THE WORKS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MELBOURNE 000011 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID SENV AS SUBJECT: NEW AUSTRALIAN-U.S. FIREFIGHTING AGREEMENT IN THE WORKS Ref: 09 MELBOURNE 127 AND PREVIOUS Summary -------------- ¶1. (U) U.S. and Victorian fire authorities are preparing a new draft of an agreement which permits the routine exchange of fire experts. The updated agreement will contain language that will allow exchanges to take place independent of emergency needs and focus to a greater extent on research and skills transfers. The deployment of 13 U.S. wildfire experts to Victoria in mid-January has generated significant benefits even in the absence of a major fire. End Summary. Revised Agreement Expected Soon -------------- ¶2. (U) The 2002 "Wildfire Arrangement Between the Department of Interior and the Department of Agriculture of the United States and the Australian Participating Agencies" is due to expire in May 2010. State Department authorities are presently revising the agreement which permits the exchange of U.S. and Australian wildfire experts. Fire authorities in Melbourne expect a draft to arrive in Australia after the U.S. Departments of Interior and Agriculture provide comments. The draft contains language permitting routine (non-emergency) fire personnel exchanges aimed at increasing response times to natural disasters as well as bolstering collaboration in research and best practices. The revised agreement also notes the provision of legal immunity for exchange firefighters through laws passed in both countries in 2009. (Note: The state of Victoria is the lead interlocutor with U.S. fire agencies; other Australian states typically follow Victoria's lead and will likely sign the agreement after Victoria does. End Note.) U.S. Deployment to Victoria -------------- ¶3. (U) A team of 13 U.S. and two Canadian fire experts are wrapping up their four week assignment to Melbourne and to several regional hotspots within Victoria. Their deployment has generated positive media coverage and the lead U.S. liaison reports that two-way skills transfers have never been more productive. The devastating fires of February 2009 provided political impetus to proactively position U.S. fire experts in Victoria during the peak fire season in early ¶2010. A second team of U.S. fire experts is due to arrive on February 9. Despite forecasts of fire conditions as bad as or worse than last year, the fire season to date has been mild by comparison. Victorian fire experts warn, however, that fire conditions may worsen if the state does not receive badly needed rain in the coming weeks. ¶4. (U) U.S. fire experts say that they are using this window of opportunity to swap best practices with their Australian counterparts. U.S. and Victorian authorities are also investigating metrics by which they can gauge the exchange's success and are open to suggestions from both the Embassy as well as the Department. There is some concern that the absence of a major fire may deteriorate political and financial support for the fire exchange program, but authorities here are confident that they can sell the benefits of the exchange program on the basis of skills transfer alone. ¶5. (SBU) In addition to their work in Victoria, DOI and U.S. Forest Service experts visited Canberra in December and briefed the Australian federal government on the existing arrangements for fire assistance. On January 21, Jim Dance, Assistant Secretary of the Crisis Coordination Branch at Emergency Management Australia, contacted Canberra econoff to say that EMA was interested in meeting to begin discussions on a federal-level agreement similar to that currently in place at the state level. We have been unable to sit down with Dance since that discussion to further sound out the GOA's idea but plan to do so before the end of February. Post will report back as soon as further information becomes available. Comment -------------- ¶6. (U) The devastating Black Saturday fires of February 2009 have provided new momentum to the nearly 50-year old de facto firefighter exchange program with Australia. Authorities here are eager to harness this energy to further regularize these exchanges. Both U.S. and Australian fire experts have told post that these exchanges have translated into real lessons learned for both sides and will lead to shortened response times in future emergencies. MELBOURNE 00000011 002 OF 002 THURSTON