On Thursday 17 October 2013, a bushfire ignited near Linksview Avenue, Springwood NSW at approximately 1330 hours. Driven by gusty winds, it rapidly grew to be the most destructive bushfire seen in Winmalee and Springwood in living memory. By 1530, the fire had travelled east from its point of ignition to spot across the Nepean River in Castlereagh. In that progress, 208 homes were destroyed and almost as many were damaged but mercifully, no lives were lost. The fire's fronts and ember storms impacted on St Columba’s Catholic College and St Thomas Aquinas Primary School, both of which are conducted by the Catholic Diocese of Parramatta. While not unprecedented, the experience of these two schools provides opportunities to learn lessons which may improve our understanding of how schools can survive bushfire threats.
The Linksview Fire, while it has had a disastrous impact on the communities of Winmalee and Yellow Rock, has thrown into sharp relief the problems facing the community if bushfires impact on schools when they are in session. Both schools survived without loss of life or significant property but that survival was not due directly to the work of the emergency services. The survival of the two schools was in some ways a best case scenario. They had enjoyed a unique preparation which enabled school leaders to make the good decisions in the day of the fire. Other local schools had not made preparations in the same way but fortunately they were not in the path of the fire. A lesson seems clear: schools in a bushfire prone area should be prepared in a similar fashion and school leaders should be trained to make the decisions to safeguard their students and staff and reduce the impact on plant and equipment.