Ron Janas · 32 min
A retired police officer and CFA volunteer with 32 years of service reveals how bureaucratic failures during Australia's 2019-2020 bushfires endangered the very communities emergency systems were meant to protect, and what must change.
Hear this story
Ron Janas has lived in the Buffalo River Valley for 34 years. He's a retired police officer, a volunteer firefighter with 32 years in the CFA, and now a councillor with Alpine Shire. When the 2019 bushfires approached from the north, Ron did what he'd always done: he showed up. He worked 12-hour shifts protecting the pine plantations that employ people in his community. He attended community meetings to make sure people understood what was happening and knew someone had their back.
But the bureaucracy that followed the fires revealed something that troubles him more than the flames themselves. Evacuation orders kept changing. Residents were told to leave at 1 or 2 a.m., driving through smoke-filled roads with wildlife fleeing the fire, sent to unfamiliar towns instead of sheltering locally with people they knew. Firefighters who'd fought all night came back to roadblocks that turned them away from their own homes. Farmers worried about their stock; neighbours asked people to stay behind to check on properties. The messages were unclear, the orders contradictory, and the cost in stress and community tension was real.
Two years later, a simple upgrade to the fire station's community hall, adding a basic female toilet, became a two-year bureaucratic nightmare with costs that exploded. The locals could have finished it in months.
Ron isn't dwelling in what was lost. He's focused on what communities need to do before the next fire comes: write a plan, know your local conditions, understand that the country isn't the city. But he's also clear about what emergency systems need to learn: clear orders, safe local shelter, and respect for the people who live there and know it best.
“if the story is not told then that history is forgotten and we need to learn from historical events going forward”
“Preparation and planning are key to it and have a written plan within your house so everybody in the house knows what they're going to do”
“you look after your family first and yourself and your family first if the bush burns the bush Burns you know so if there's no real lives at risk there”
The hero, today
Evacuation orders need to be clear and consistent, and communities should have safe local places where families can shelter with people they know rather than driving through smoke-filled roads to unfamiliar towns. Firefighters and emergency service volunteers who live in the area should not be locked out of their own homes by roadblocks after nights fighting fires. Money spent on mental health support after a disaster should be matched by money spent on rebuilding infrastructure and environment, and on strengthening community spaces where people naturally gather. Some people move forward best by processing what happened and then letting it go; constantly revisiting the trauma can prevent them from moving on, and support organisations should respect that different people heal differently. Written evacuation plans, prepared before fire season, are what keep families safe, every person in the household needs to know what they will do if something happens, especially if one partner is out on a fire truck or in the paddock when danger strikes. Visitors and tourists to fire-prone areas need to understand local conditions and know their limits; during high-fire-risk days, people who do not need to be in the community should consider leaving to reduce the load on local emergency services.
Yes. Ron Janas is a real person who shared their own story in their own words. Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit that shares first-person stories of overcoming adversity, told with the person's consent.
Kintsugi Heroes, a registered Australian not-for-profit. Every story is shared with the hero's own consent and reviewed under Kintsugi Heroes' trauma-informed content standard before it goes public.
Evacuation orders need to be clear and consistent, and communities should have safe local places where families can shelter with people they know rather than driving through smoke-filled roads to unfamiliar towns.
Firefighters and emergency service volunteers who live in the area should not be locked out of their own homes by roadblocks after nights fighting fires.
Money spent on mental health support after a disaster should be matched by money spent on rebuilding infrastructure and environment, and on strengthening community spaces where people naturally gather.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 00:04
Welcome to the Kansuki Heroes Podcast special Alpine Bushfires series, where we share inspirational stories of everyday people from the Victorian Alpine region who went through the bushfires which occurred from late 2019 through to early 2020. These stories highlight the different challenges and events people went through and how they overcame them. Please be aware that the story you're about to hear may have moments of deeply felt emotions and personal experiences. If anything you hear has a triggering effect, please reach out to someone who can help you. If you love this conversation, please like and share it with your friends so we can continue to share more inspiration and hope to as many people as possible. Now listen up for our next hero's story. Hello, here we are. It is another episode, and this is our special Alpine series for Kintsugi Heroes. And my guest today is Ron Janis. How you doing, Ron?
Ron Janas (Guest) · 01:13
Yeah, good, thanks, Evelyn. And happy, uh, happy winter.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 01:17
Exactly, it's the first day of winter today. So far my children have not come up to me and done picture the punch for the first day of the month. I think they forgot, but that, that's probably coming a bit later on. They love doing that.
Ron Janas (Guest) · 01:29
No, after midday it doesn't count.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 01:31
Oh, that's true, after midday it does not count, so they've missed out. Um, thank you, thank you so much for joining me, uh, on, on the show and coming to share your story. And this is all about obviously the, the bushfires and in the region, and you've been a— that's, it's affected you and your life and, and I'm keen to hear all about that. So now I'm going to literally hand the mic over to you and invite you to take us back to the beginning and share with us your story.
More stories
This site is part of Kintsugi Heroes. Visit the main site for the full podcast. If any of these stories hit close to home, support is out there, you don't have to sit with it alone.
Read how we handle these stories ↗
Kintsugi Heroes · Registered Australian not-for-profit · kintsugiheroes.com.au ↗
Some people move forward best by processing what happened and then letting it go; constantly revisiting the trauma can prevent them from moving on, and support organisations should respect that different people heal differently.
This conversation includes thirty-four years in the buffalo river valley, the fires came from the north, twelve-hour shifts protecting the pine plantations, the disagreement at home about evacuation, sent to unsafe towns in the middle of the night and the roadblock arguments and confused orders.
Ron Janas (Guest) · 02:03
Oh, thanks, Eveline. It's good to have these stories out there because if the story's not told, then that history is forgotten and we need to learn from historical events. Going forward. So just a little bit of background on myself. I've lived here in the Buffalo River Valley for 34 years. I'm a current member of the Buffalo River Fire Brigade. I've been in the CFA 32 years now. I'm retired, a retired police officer from the area, and I'm also currently a councillor with the Alpine Shire Council. I've had many and varied roles in the community, so some are historic, some are current. Our area is quite renowned for areas where bushfires actually start, and that's because of the geography of our area, the granite outcrops up at Mount Buffalo and get lightning strikes and they start bushfires and they predominantly travel along and cause greater fires going forward. I suppose at the time, we could just focus on the 2019, where we had so many fires north of us on the border and coming our way. There was a lot of concern from the authorities about where that was heading and how that's going to impact certain communities. So everyone was super vigilant, uh, and we had the military here, we had police from all other areas coming to support us, we had the army here. So this was something we We've never normally had the military forces here to assist the community. And although they were there to try and support and calm things, because there's a lot of media coverage of this and some people react differently to media coverage, it's a matter of getting the facts straight. If it's overhyped, then people who have not experienced these conditions before, either visitors or new people to the area, can overreact as well. So it's trying to keep things calm. So, uh, look, our brigade was called out, as with— as was every other brigade in the area, to fight fires to the south of us and to the southwest of us that were coming through the area, and we have a lot of pine plantations surrounding us, so they're a valuable asset to our community because they provide jobs. So we do a lot of asset protection in the pine forests with other units and with the HVP, which harvest those pines, or Hancock Plantations. A lot of shift work in that, 12-hour shifts on the truck. So it was taxing in that regard. One of the issues that sort of has always worried me since then is our community on a number of occasions were asked to evacuate. We had police members coming up to our driveways, etc. Advising us that we have to go. Now, our partners who are left behind worry about us as well, and that's natural. And I think that, and I can say that even in my case, there was some disagreement whether I should accompany my wife into a safer place or I just stay and keep sleeping. So that, that in itself caused some consternation within the household. And one of those reasons is because I knew what was happening on the fire front, but other people didn't. So I made my judgment call from that. But I think one of the lessons learned is, a, you look after your family first and yourself and your family first. If the bush burns, the bush burns, you know, so be it. There's no real lives at risk there. But the other thing that concerns me about the number of evacuations that we had is people were asked to go to nearby towns. And this could have been at 2 o'clock in the morning or 1 o'clock in the morning, you know, where you've got a lot of smoke about, got a lot of wildlife fleeing fires or fleeing the smoke on the roads, and the communities where they would've had to drive through areas that, in my view, were unsafe. What we need to do as communities is to have places where people can go, families can go and be looked after, I suppose, by people of your own community. That's where they feel more comfortable. And I think that that can be done. But these are decisions made from incident control centres and the like, and maybe they have a greater view of the picture of where things are happening. But I don't know whether that was best communicated to the community. And I'm not saying that, you know, they did— it's just they want to look after life. That's their first role, is to look after life and then property, to make sure we're safe. But that's something that keep— has kept coming back to us ever since that event. And a lot of people did stay in town, and they— we you know, went to friends' places and stayed overnight. Then we tried to get back home, and because the road was clear again to come back, and then you'd get stopped at a roadblock to say, sorry, you can't go, you know. And then, and then you'd get this argy-bargy at a roadblock, and people would not always be respectful. So to speak, with the officers or people manning those roadblocks, because one minute they're told they can come, then they can't. And of course, we're a farming, agricultural community. People are concerned about their stock and their fencing and all of the rest. So getting the message clear and consistent is of most importance in any of these things. So that's something I think we can learn on and improve on going forward. And we've had many fires here since my time here, and they're all different, they all travel a bit differently. And, um, but in this instance, I think it was hypervigilance from those in command because of what was also happening up in New South Wales and coming our way, and also because of what occurred in 2009, say, with Marysville and how quickly that fire spread. So, you know, and then there was the issue with some farming farmers in particular would not leave their farm, their stock and things. Their neighbor would leave, then they'd ring the farmer that stayed behind to ask them to check on their property. So there was extra stress on those people staying behind to give updates of what's happening before. And of course, the other thing with the firefighters who lived in this area, and this did actually happen, where we've been out all night on a fire and you come back to where you lived and we stopped at a road to go and get some sleep and stopped and said, you can't go through, you know, and that was it, full stop, no arguments, you can't go through. You've been out all night fighting a fire. So there's lessons there that need to be understood and it causes so much angst within the community and negativity and that's something we really have to avoid in time of a major incident like a fire or even a flood. Anyway, I think we're getting better at that going forward and there's always got to be positives out of these things. So we must talk about, talk up the positives. But nevertheless, some people are still affected by that, and that is ongoing. The other point I'd make is the mental health side of things. Country people are very resilient in themselves, and I don't doubt that there are some people who have got some mental health issues because of it. But most people just want to deal with the incident and then move on and think, get the positives happening. The more we pursue that, sometimes the less we're able to move on from it. And, and I've seen that as well, and there's a lot, a lot of money being expended on the mental health side of things. I'd like to see, you know, more money spent on repairing some of the damage done, repairing the environment, ensuring that places where people can go safely are better equipped to deal not only with people but their pets and other animals that are that are dear to them and ensuring that our community spirit remains. And that's one wonderful thing about living in the community is the community spirit and how the community all gets around each other to help in those times. And that's that resilience and bonding within the community. So that's extremely important. And that's capacity building as well. So, you know, it's been a few, few years now since that thing, and I've said my bit to the Emergency Management Commissioner, Tony Pearce. I think by the time I finished with them, they thought I needed to— next stop was to go and see the mental health person, but I got it off, got it off my chest. And move on. So, but I think, you know, with, with this process as well, other people are probably thinking the same or similar to me, but they don't necessarily want to express it for fear of hurting somebody who may be in genuine need still. And I certainly acknowledge that there are people who are in that need. And I recently went up through Corowa and up through those bushfire-affected areas. People are still, you know, over in Gippsland, and they're still living in caravans and bush houses. They still haven't got their house back. They've been badly affected in that regard. And, you know, I feel really, really sorry for them because I've I didn't lose anything here, but they've lost a lot where they are. And I didn't consider this particular incident as bad as some of the ones we've had previously. But certainly there are other people close by to us who were in other shires and that were more affected. We move on and I I've moved on.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 15:13
You're very pragmatic and resilient and caring at the same time, Ron.
Ron Janas (Guest) · 15:18
I think always, you know, it helps if you just keep banging on about it. Yeah, yes, you must care, but you've got to get on with life as well. You know, as a result of trying to be more resilient and making use of some of that funding that is became available through the Bushfire Funds. So our community at Buffalo River do not have a community hall. Everyone meets at the fire shed, which is pretty basic. So in order to upgrade that facility a bit— and when I mean upgrade, I mean putting in a female toilet instead of just one outdated toilet on the side of the shed, it has become a bureaucratic nightmare.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 16:10
Sorry for the interruption.
Ron Janas (Guest) · 16:11
This is Ian Westmoreland, the founder of Katsuki Heroes, and thank you for listening to this story from one of our amazing heroes. Our mission is for these stories to provide hope and inspiration to people experiencing life challenges and to also educate the broader community on how best to provide support. If you would like to help us to continue to produce more hero stories and cover more adversity themes, we would welcome all donations. These can be made via our website, kintsugiheroes.com.au.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 16:43
The donate function is at the bottom of the homepage.
Ron Janas (Guest) · 16:46
We'd also welcome any feedback.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 16:48
You can email me direct using ian@kintsugiheroes.com au.
Ron Janas (Guest) · 16:55
Now let's get back to the story. And the costs have blown out exponentially, and, and so therefore that project has been going for 2 years now, and the best we've got is an oversized hay shed on the side of the, the building. And a partly constructed male and female toilet. So the bureaucrats' system has taken over, has cost more money. We could have had it built and been using the facility 18 months ago had it been left to the locals to get the job done.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 17:43
You're just stating the facts, right, Ron? You've given a lot of, I guess, wisdom, right? And you've shared with me, Ron, a lot of learnings that you and the community can take away from the events of 2019. But also, you've— you're coming from many other events. I mean, you've been in the community a long time, and you've seen more than one bushfire.
Ron Janas (Guest) · 18:11
I don't know if I can add too much more to to the conversation and my story. But I would advise people, yes, these things happen, but be resilient, be organized for these events because they will continue to happen, whether it be a fire or a flood or something else, heat, heat stress. All the scientific evidence is that it will occur, and they will occur more frequently and with higher intensity as we go forth. And we can all do something about that, even in our own homes, so that we have plans in place. If we have to evacuate, you make sure you take all the documents that you need to take with you. All these plans are out there on all the different government websites. People just need to accept the fact this is going to happen, and before a fire season starts, get yourself organized and have a plan, a written plan in place. And the best one is to do a written plan and to tell me what to do with the children. Yeah, because they are organized, they learn about these things at school. And we have an active program within the Alpine Shire with resilience with children at all, all over the schools, and they're really good at it. And I think when you We reflect back to when we had to wear seatbelts and the click clunk every trip or something was the catchphrase, and it was the children who would remind the parents what they had to do. So we have to listen to and educate our young ones in this. Just because we did it 50 years ago doesn't mean it's always relevant. To today's circumstances.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 20:08
Very true. And I have to say, I remember that click clack front and back.
Ron Janas (Guest) · 20:16
Yeah, that was another one that you might be—
Aveline Clark (Host) · 20:19
That's the one that I heard and I learned when I was a kid. Ron, I got a question. For the 2019 fires, you touched on, you know, the emergency services and also having the military there and all of that. What was your role in— during the time of the actual fires, over those days when the fire was raging in the community? Were you with the fire brigade then? Were you fighting the fires?
Ron Janas (Guest) · 20:45
Well, I had a role with the CFA as a volunteer, and then I was also attending community meetings as a councillor. People do look to their local leaders for strength and advice and to know that you've got— basically, you've got their back and you're looking after their interests. So that's why— I mean, I didn't give updates on what the fire is doing, etc., etc. I leave that up to the professionals who are in charge of in the incident controller or whomever it might be that are leading that part of it. But I think it's good that you have your local representatives also there to support people and help people who don't quite understand what's going on and ensure that they get that information in a timely manner so that they do understand. And there could be might not be able to just hear, or they— there's a language difficulty. Could be anything. They might be worried about their farm or their children somewhere else. So you've got to make sure that they're okay. So yeah, multiple roles in that regard. And of course, then you've got your own property to look after. I'm back into National Park. Here. We're classified as a high-risk area, and of course, if my wife is left here, you know, clearly that she is concerned about the physical aspects of a fire coming onto our property. So, as I said earlier, the first thing is to do, ensure that yourself and your family are safe. And if you have to get out of there, just get out then, you know. Some— if the house goes, it goes, you know. But take, take your documents with you when you go, because then you're going to have to deal with bureaucrats again to try and get all the information back.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 23:06
Did the fire come close to your house? In 2019?
Ron Janas (Guest) · 23:12
No, it didn't. No. The smoke was the worst thing, and the constant days living in a smoke-filled environment has an effect on everybody. And that was because the winds come up from the south or southwest. If there's a fire that way, it blows into our valley., and we can have weeks of it. You can't even see the front road because of the thickness of the smoke. And, you know, that's where you also need to know if your neighbours, for argument's sake, have got someone who's asthmatic in the house, that they're safe and not suffering with some other medical complaint. That's looking after your neighbors as well as your family.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 24:08
You speak with a lot of wisdom, a lot of experience, Ron. I'm very grateful for you sharing that with me.
Ron Janas (Guest) · 24:15
That's all right. I'm pleased if someone— it might— I'm hoping that, you know, people think similarly to me, that they're not feeling bad that they're thinking in a certain way, because there's a lot of people thinking the same way I think. But I still say those people who are suffering mentally from it, then there are provisions out there. There's a lot of provisions out there for assistance, and it's all confidential, and I encourage people to do that. But on the other hand, I'd also ask those organizations to be mindful that people also need just to move on and just don't keep reminding them all the time.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 25:08
Yeah, and I completely understand what you're saying. If you, if you stay in the pain, you're just staying in a whirlpool of pain, reminding yourself and continually going back to something that can't be changed. And there's no judgment on those people that have mental health issues because we've all experienced it in some way. Quality of life is clearly at your, you know, a priority for you and for everybody. And I can see where you're coming from. You want people to move on to be able to progress and enjoy their life.
Ron Janas (Guest) · 25:44
Indeed. Enjoy what we have. We live in a wonderful country. Wonderful area up here in the northeast of Victoria. And we, you know, we share so much with our friends who come from the cities to visit us. And, you know, they have to understand as well— this is another issue with an area like ours who've got a high popular, high tourist visitation. People have to understand that if there's a major incident like this, we can't look after everybody. And when a town goes from 3,000 to 30,000, you know, we have to— and not being unkind, but you'd have to say, people, if you don't need to be here, maybe it's best to pop back to the— where you've— to the city or wherever you've come from, because our community is under stress here, and having more and more people doesn't always help. And that's not being unkind to, to the people either. It's a fact that we can't— you can't have a fire truck at every house or surrounding every street or anything. The more and more people there are you know, that risk becomes more. And if you do come to an area and it's a high fire day or something, well, check the local conditions before you light up the fire somewhere, a little campfire somewhere. When you do have a campfire, make sure you put the thing out properly with water.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 27:30
Yeah. I've got a final question. If you think about the journey you've been on, as in you've seen many bushfires, a lot of natural disasters, you've got a lot of pragmatic experience, like wisdom, and a lot of experience. So moving forward, looking into the future, as you've said, more of these fires are gonna come. They could be bigger and greater in severity. We know that from weather predictions and what's going on from research. It's not just fires, it's floods. And this is Australia, we're the land of fires and floods. What advice or what would you like to say to someone into the future about how to cope or deal with another natural disaster?
Ron Janas (Guest) · 28:14
Preparation and planning are key to it and ensuring you have a plan. I spoke about this before, a written plan within your house and everybody in the house knows what they're going to do if something occurs, because one of the partners might be out in the paddock or on the fire truck or in the SES or something. Something occurs, so the rest of the family have to take over and take charge of that situation at home. When you come to an area, and as I said before, if it's an area that's prone to to certain things, just check the local conditions and make sure you understand them, you know, before, before you come. And then know what your little plan is if something does occur. And it's even like going for a swim in the river. If you can't swim, don't go in the deep end and where there's logs and undercurrents there that you're not aware of. It's not like the local swimming pool in the middle of Melbourne. And so there's— whether it's on the Murray or on the Buffalo River, it's all the same. Check your local conditions before you jump in.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 29:34
Thank you for that, Ron. It's, you know, you've got a lot of wisdom. I like what you say, your message. Thank you for sharing. And I love your positivity and your strength, right? And the way that you get on with things, and you're very caring and very accepting and wise and pragmatic at the same time. So good on you. Thank you for sharing. Thanks for being here, and I hope that your message resonates with people in the right ways whenever they hear this, and I'm sure that will. So appreciate you being here today.
Ron Janas (Guest) · 30:09
Well, thank you. And it's just, just watching this, uh, Thing is, there's another issue too. Don't think that you're going to get mobile coverage when you come up to the country, particularly if you're on particular service providers. You just won't get it.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 30:27
Won't get it. Very good tip. That's it. Thanks, Ron.
Ron Janas (Guest) · 30:31
We'll call it quits for the day.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 30:33
All right, sounds good.
Ron Janas (Guest) · 30:35
No worries.
Aveline Clark (Host) · 30:40
We hope you've enjoyed this episode of Kintsugi Heroes with the Alpine Bushfires Special Series. Please like and share the show to your friends so we can get this out to even more people. If you have a story you'd like to share with us, please reach out using the contact details below and join us for our next hero's story. Until then, keep being you and remember that we We are all heroes in our own unique way.
Ron Janas (Guest) · 31:12
Only when it's broken, only when it's broken, when it hits you in the middle of the night and the truth burns so bright, only when it's broken. Only when it's broken. Take pride in those cries, it's only for tonight, and then you rise. Only when you're broken. Only when you're broken. Only when you're Broken.
You don't have to be in crisis to call.
Subscribe
Spotify
Apple