Bushfire tearing through a mismanaged old mine site in Western Australia's Nullarbor Plain was "a perfect recipe for disaster" that caused black rain and ash to fall from the sky.
Dundas Council chief executive Peter Fitchat told the National Natural Disaster Arrangements Royal Commission on Wednesday about his concerns for the health consequences.
Fire burnt through an old mine site from the late 1800s in December, located on crown land, which could have contained asbestos and other contaminants.
This caused black rain and ash to fall at the town of Norseman.
"It just created a perfect recipe for disaster when the smoke came over town. The concern is some of those contaminants could have been picked up and flown across town into water tanks," Mr Fitchat said.
"A lot of those areas aren't properly managed, they're still exposed, some of those contaminants are still on the surface."
He said the site needed to be assessed by Western Australia's Department of Mines, Industry, Regulation and Safety.
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The system of choosing locations for blackspot funding based more on revenue for telcos than the emergency management threat has also been slammed by Indigo Council's chief executive.
Trevor Ierino was among council representatives from across Australia to give evidence at Wednesday's hearing of the National Natural Disaster Arrangements Royal Commission.
He told commissioners about the lack of mobile service along major roads leading in and out of Beechworth in North East Victoria, saying that if anyone had to evacuate, they would not be able to get updates on conditions.
This again became apparent during the summer bushfires.
"People were on constant alert about those fires and communications were important. The lack of communication in the whole area was a problem," Mr Ierino said.
"Our concerns are that, as we understand it, the priorities for blackspots programs are revenues for telcos themselves and that emergency management doesn't feature high on prioritisation for blackspots.
"We would ask more consideration be given to emergency management."
