During the height of the NSW bushfires, Diggings Brigade Rural Fire Service (RFS) captain and deputy group officer Sara Mika worked every weekend on the fire ground, then "dragged herself in, after two coffees and two Berroccas" to her paid job at UNE.
"I tried to keep the cost to a business to a minimum, but fatigue was a big thing... it was mentally and emotionally draining," she says. "Cognitively, after two days of keeping track of so many fire crews and sometimes a fast-moving fire situation, multiple radios and air support, there was nothing left in the tank.
There was this surreal contrast between spending the day evacuating people who risked losing everything the had ever worked for and then coming in to work and dealing with routine paperwork. Obviously, my productivity was down and there certainly wasn't a spring in my step. Between work and fires, there was only time for eating and sleeping.
Fortunately for Sarah, her supervisor Professor Darren Ryder and staff at the lab are supportive and understanding. They recognise the valuable applications her volunteering has at work. "Clear communication is a key role for Sarah both in our collaborative research projects and when managing fire crews," said Professor Ryder. "The communications skills Sarah has developed in leading RFS teams have directly translated into her science role, whether delivering a seminar to Commonwealth agencies in Canberra or having a cup of tea with local landholders and chatting about river science."
Since being appointed brigade captain three years ago and deputy group officer 12 months ago, Sarah's enjoyed leadership training that she regularly applies in her UNE role. Learning how to instruct new RFS recruits has also enhanced her university lecturing.
"I think my RFS service has greatly improved my communications skills - because you have to be direct on a fire ground; someone's life or assets could be at risk - and I've learnt how to delegate, trust others to work independently and make decisions, and support them," she says. "As in my senior volunteer role, I can't be across everything in the lab. I just have to be clear on the big picture - what in the RFS we call the span of control."
Conversely, Sarah believes the people management skills she's developed at UNE were instrumental in her appointment to brigade captain. "The RFS knew I ran a research lab, that I had teams working remotely, and I was used to holding a team together and getting an operational job done to a high standard," she says. "But I never dreamt I would end up in a leadership position."
Wrangling volunteers in a crisis and earning their respect takes a certain skill set. "There's the practical organisation, people management, managing fatigue; people volunteer with different expectations and commitments," Sarah says. "The RFS training has helped me to grow in confidence and to explore my competencies in the workplace. I am very much an introvert and it has taught me to own the ground I walk on more. That has certainly improved my work and, I think, the performance of our team."
The technical skills and people management skills I use in both settings are very compatible.
Still, it's been a delicate balancing act these past few months. "My commitment to my supervisor is that I won't ever let my volunteering threaten a work deadline, and so I really appreciated the considerable cooperation from the team to keep on top of our research milestones with the drought, fires and my absences," Sarah says. "I had some bad days at work during the fires, when things were weighing heavily on me, but my colleagues were very understanding and respected my boundaries. They knew the situation was unprecedented, and I received lots of messages of support. That meant I could go off able to focus on the RFS when I was fire-fighting."
Now, as communities begin the long road to recovery, Sarah has found a way to bring her twin loves of science and fire-fighting together. "I saw first-hand the impacts of the fires on coastal rivers and estuaries in the Northern Rivers and on the mid North Coast and I intend to study the effects on these important systems and their endangered and threatened species," she says. "If I can combine those two knowledge sets, then maybe I can contribute to recovery and rehabilitation. As an ecologist, I'm now able to reassure people that the bush can regenerate, and give them some hope."
Sarah particularly acknowledges the RFS's New England Zone for encouraging and supporting its female leaders.
