Leading through wildfires: a typology of communication during crisis events

Purpose – Natural disasters are increasing in frequency and severity, intensifying the communication demands placed on school leaders. This article examines how Australian school leaders communicated during catastrophic wildfire events, with attention to how communication supported trust, ensured safety, and fostered operational continuity.

Design/methodology/approach – An interpretivist collective case study was conducted with six school leaders in New South Wales, Australia. Data comprised open ended interviews, supplemented by relevant school/ system documents and social media captures. Interviews were professionally transcribed and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, with iterative, inductive coding and analytic dialogue between researchers.

Findings – Leaders mobilised a set of crisis-communication practices spanning immediate threat response and longer-term recovery. These included emotionally attuned communication; rapid, adaptive multi-channel messaging; values-based care; ethical advocacy and boundary-setting; risk-informed proactive decisions; coordinated engagement of frontline staff; receptive listening to lived experience; trust-building transparency; decisive messaging under uncertainty; and equitable communication oriented to the collective rather than the most vocal.

Research limitations/implications – Findings are based on a small group of participants in one Australian state with retrospective accounts of crises. Transferability to other crisis types and systems warrant further research.

Practical implications – The typology and reflective questions provide a practical framework for preparedness planning, distributed communication roles, and equity-oriented stakeholder engagement.

Social implications – Strengthening crisis communication capacity can support community trust, safety and resilience as climate-related disasters increasingly disrupt schooling.

Originality/value – The study contributes a typology of crisis communication grounded in leaders’ wildfire experiences and offers a reflective self-assessment tool for leadership preparation and team learning. It extends crisis-leadership scholarship by specifying communication as a situated, relational practice that underpins trust, safety and continuity in high-stakes contexts.