If there's any group of young people you would trust to adapt and change plans in the face of bushfire risk, it's the Scouts, but the Canberra branch of the organisation pulled off quite the move this week.
Canberra was due to host the 13th Asia-Pacific and 21st Australian Rover Moot at Camp Cottermouth this week, but were forced to make the decision to move the event with just 24 hours notice.
The chairman of the event, Benjamin Muller, said the decision was made to move the 515 participants about to arrive from 22 countries across the world after advice from the Emergency Services Agency, considering how easily the site could become isolated in the event of a bushfires.
Under the Scouts' system, Rovers are aged between 18 and 25, and hosting a worldwide event like a moot is kind of like hosting the Olympics - a big deal for the city with four years of planning going into the week's activities.
Facing the arrival of more than 500 young people on Sunday - around 40 per cent of them from overseas - Mr Muller and his fellow committee members made the decision on Saturday to move the event, which involved finding somewhere to sleep, feed and shower everyone in town.
After a few phone calls they set up camp at Trinity Christian School in Wanniassa - moving not only mattresses and sleeping facilities, but the external catering supplies and facilities, Portaloos and showers and three power generators to the school.
Mr Muller said he and the committee - all of whom are Rover Scouts themselves, had made contingency plans that involved the school, but they hadn't expected they would need to stay overnight.
Chief Commissioner of the ACT branch of Scouts Australia Rick Goode said that although the stereotype of Scouts programs was limited to camping and hiking, the activities the groups undertake are much broader, with this moot taking in everything from mountain biking and canyoning to wine-tastings and fine dining. There's even sky-diving and V8 hot laps for the adrenaline seekers.
That doesn't mean Scouts is suddenly very cruisy.
"We want everyone to step out of their comfort zones, try new things, and become the best rover they can be, or the best person they can be," Mr Muller said.
None of the activities needed to be cancelled, Mr Muller said.
"At least half have been majorly altered and pretty much every single one that wasn't based solely in Canberra has been affected in some way by the fires."
Some participants had been affected by the fires on the NSW South Coast, having to stay in Huskisson where they had been scheduled on a diving expedition.
Scouts activities were youth-led and adult-supported, Mr Goode said, describing how this week's events showed how independent, flexible and resilient the young people involved were.
"It leaves me with a great deal of confidence in the younger generation," he said.
