Fire Management Training with Nepalese locals
Earlier this month, Neill Johanson, Principal at Davenport Campbell, joined a group of Nepalese fire management professionals, local community, land management, and provincial leaders to participate in a Fire Fellowship program hosted by the Australian Himalayan Foundation (AHF).
The program combined hands-on learning, field demonstrations, and a series of briefings with the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) and Victoria’s Country Fire Authority (CFA). It concluded in Sydney, with the RFS sharing their insights on volunteerism, community engagement, fire behaviour, and inter-agency collaboration. These learnings will directly contribute to developing the social and physical infrastructure needed to address Nepal’s mounting bushfire crisis, where more than 4,500 forest fires erupted last year alone.
As both an RFS member, mountaineer, and architect, Neill Johanson and Davenport Campbell, have been long-time partners of the AHF, actively supporting its school rebuilding program in Nepal since the devastating 2015 earthquakes. It was a natural extension of this partnership for Neill to assist in helping this program come to life.
Last year alone, AHF fire resilience initiatives have helped result in:
150 locals engaged in wildfire-awareness programs;
85 community members trained on fire prevention and management; and
40,000 sqm of biomass cleared and new fire lines established to protect Himalayan villages.
The ongoing goal is to empower Nepalese communities with the tools and confidence to prevent future devastation across the region’s fragile landscapes. Our belief is that design, leadership, and social responsibility are strongest when grounded in empathy, humility, and collaboration.
Watch the SBS News report below to learn more about the AHF’s wildfire prevention and management project: