Night time waterbombing was one of the recommendations from the NSW Bushfire Inquiry.

Recently, the RFS owned CH47D Chinook helicopter was deployed to a major bushfire near Lithgow.

The State Government has now responded to all 76 recommendations to transform the state’s ability to prepare, respond and recover when bushfire strikes.

The inquiry, established in the aftermath of the devastating 2019-20 bushfire season, identified dozens of ways to improve the state’s bushfire response.

The 2019-20 bushfire season was among the worst in recorded history, destroying more than 2000 homes and burning 5.5million hectares across the state.

In NSW, 26 people lost their lives, including four NSW RFS volunteers and three contracted air crew.

Each one of these deaths was a tragedy and greatly affected families, communities and emergency services.

Since 2020, the NSW Government has overhauled bushfire policy to include:

• Delivering more than 1,000 new and refurbished trucks.
• Embedding the nationally consistent three-tier Australian Warning System.
• Protecting native wildlife by building the skills of almost 6000 personnel involved in wildlife first response through practical training.
• Boosting the Public Safety Network by an additional 536 sites, which now covers almost 100 per cent of the state’s population. The Public Safety Network is our first responder radio network and is one of NSW’s most critical communications networks.
• Strengthening firefighter and land management capacity by recruiting and training 500 extra personnel to protect communities from bushfires.

Ahead of the 2026 bushfire season, fire agencies across the state are already deploying the latest bushfire science and technology alongside traditional knowledge and ancient land care practices to protect communities.

Agencies and land managers continue to take every available opportunity to undertake hazard reduction burning wherever conditions allow and address potential bushfire hazards at the source.

Aircraft can be pre-positioned in 19 strategic locations around the state, ready to respond to fires alongside ground crews on days of heightened bushfire danger.

Minister for Emergency Services Jihad Dib said the 2019-20 bushfire season was devastating for our communities, our homes, our emergency services and our national parks.

“We’ve listened to the experts and have acted on every recommendation from the NSW Bushfire Inquiry. Some long-term initiatives will take some time to complete but are already well underway,” Mr Dib said.

“These recommendations include practical innovations that will aid firefighters for years to come, including the implementation of night-time waterbombing capability which will make a huge difference to our firefighting efforts.”

This information was provided by the office of Jihad Dib.

This article appeared on indyNR.com on 23 November 2025.