"Since the devastating fires of November 2019 the focus has been on support and recovery for fire affected residents. However our local RFS volunteers were at the forefront of this emergency and it is important that they also receive follow-up support where necessary," Cr Hoban said.

"They should also be provided the opportunity to discuss issues they encountered in the firefighting effort and have input and receive feedback as to how emergency response might be improved for the future."

Cr John Ainsworth added an amendment that the community also deserved a chance for a debrief.

"The general public has had nothing," he said.

He recalled the community bushfire recovery meeting at the Bowraville Theatre in December last year in which the only representative from the RFS present was a man from Orange who wasn't familiar with the local situation - something Cr Ainsworth said further inflamed tensions in the community.

Cr Janine Reed said there are still questions that need to be answered nearly one year on.

"The biggest problem is there was no warning - no evacuation plan would have been possible," she said.

She said she's heard many accounts of locals who left that Friday morning none the wiser that hell would be bearing down upon their properties that afternoon.

"And many people didn't know where Kian Rd was so they didn't realise they were in danger," she said.

Cr Hoban confessed she'd had to get out a map to locate Kian Rd, despite having lived her entire life in the Nambucca Valley.

Talk soon turned to the feasibility of hosting a COVID-safe community debrief and the logistics around that.

"I think if we can get it to happen a lot of positives are going to come out of it," Cr Ainsworth said.

Mayor Hoban said it would be good for people to talk about last year's fire season, especially in light of this year's which is already upon us.

"The Kian Rd fire burnt through the southern half of the Nambucca Valley. And the northern half of our shire has the same potential to burn this year, given the same conditions," she said.

The council voted unanimously in favour of writing to RFS Zone Manager Superintendent Lachlann Ison to ask what support and debriefing opportunities had been provided for our local firefighters, and "that council request the Zone Manager to provide a debrief of the Kian Road bushfire which is open to the public".

Supt Ison told Guardian News he would be "happy to attend a forum in line with the motion" and can "totally understand the concerns of both the council and the local community".

A reminder that the permitted bushfire danger period for our zone begins at midnight tonight (Sep 1).

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