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Countering misinformation and disinformation through operational-engagement: The role and impact of Community Field Liaison Officers
In a bush fire, it’s not just the flames that move fast — misinformation does too. When communities are under stress, rumours, assumptions and half-truths can travel just as quickly as the fire front. They can delay decisions, distort understanding, and make an already dangerous situation even worse.
This session will explore how the NSW Rural Fire Service deploys Community Field Liaison Officers, or CFLOs, as part of its operational public information strategy to meet that challenge head-on.
Working within the Public Information function of the Incident Management Team, CFLOs act as the human link between operations and community. They combine operational understanding with public information and engagement skills to provide accurate, credible, and timely information face to face. They also feed real-time insights from the field back into the IMT, ensuring situational awareness flows both ways.
Drawing on operational experience and real deployments, I’ll share examples of how CFLOs have helped restore clarity and trust in fast-moving, high-pressure environments. The session will unpack the challenges misinformation and disinformation create during major bushfires, and how CFLOs use practical engagement; from door knocking and Bushfire Information Points to community meetings, to cut through confusion and ensure people get the right information when it matters most.
It will also look at why getting trusted information into the field quickly is an operational priority, not just a communication task, and how what we learn from CFLO deployments is shaping how we build stronger, more connected communities before the next fire.
Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of why information management in the field isn’t just about messaging — it’s about operational success. And why connecting directly with communities in real time can be the difference between confusion and clarity, and ultimately, between life and death.
This session will explore how the NSW Rural Fire Service deploys Community Field Liaison Officers, or CFLOs, as part of its operational public information strategy to meet that challenge head-on.
Working within the Public Information function of the Incident Management Team, CFLOs act as the human link between operations and community. They combine operational understanding with public information and engagement skills to provide accurate, credible, and timely information face to face. They also feed real-time insights from the field back into the IMT, ensuring situational awareness flows both ways.
Drawing on operational experience and real deployments, I’ll share examples of how CFLOs have helped restore clarity and trust in fast-moving, high-pressure environments. The session will unpack the challenges misinformation and disinformation create during major bushfires, and how CFLOs use practical engagement; from door knocking and Bushfire Information Points to community meetings, to cut through confusion and ensure people get the right information when it matters most.
It will also look at why getting trusted information into the field quickly is an operational priority, not just a communication task, and how what we learn from CFLO deployments is shaping how we build stronger, more connected communities before the next fire.
Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of why information management in the field isn’t just about messaging — it’s about operational success. And why connecting directly with communities in real time can be the difference between confusion and clarity, and ultimately, between life and death.
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