Bushfire public inquiries: From recommendations to hybrid emergency management arrangements

Abstract Victoria, Australia consistently experiences significant bushfires. This article examines the ways in which public inquiry recommendations after major bushfires in Victoria have played an important role in shifting the emphasis of emergency management organisations (EMOs) from bushfire response to bushfire preparedness through hybrid emergency management arrangements. Based on a qualitative analysis of Victorian public inquiry bushfire reports from 1851 to 2020, this study shows that public inquiry recommendations contribute to new emergency management arrangements. These new arrangements have seen organisational hybridity emerge as a way of achieving greater integration between EMOs. These findings have important implications for research related to managing natural hazard events such as bushfires which, to date, has proposed that public inquiries hinder the ability of EMOs to learn from bushfires and, more broadly, natural hazard events. This study also shows how emerging organisational hybrid phases have been important as a mechanism by which EMOs have moved towards an approach to natural hazard mitigation which is shared, collaborative, and prospective. Points for practitioners This article provides insights into ways in which practitioners can use public inquiry recommendations as a basis for creating hybrid emergency management arrangements, including policies, practices and procedures. It also highlights how practitioners can use public inquiry recommendations as a way of focusing on preparedness for future natural hazard events. Additionally, the article offers insights into organisational learning, suggesting that emergency management organisations have been able to demonstrate learning as a process of continuous improvement by implementing public inquiry recommendations. Finally, it presents a framework which can be used by practitioners to operationalise hybridity in emergency management organisations. The emphasis is on approaches that are shared, collaborative and prospective.