People in need were rejected from emergency support in NSW because they had sought refuse from fires in Victoria this summer, the Bushfire Royal Commission has heard.
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Tuesday's hearing of the Natural Disaster Arrangements Royal Commission examined many of the issues experienced by local councils.
Snowy Monaro chief executive Peter Bascomb gave evidence that a refuge in his municipality was happy to help residents who had fled north into NSW from Victoria's Gippsland fires.
On his request, a member of the NSW welfare agencies was sent to the refuge to provide extra expertise.
He did not realise state border would be an issue.
"Once they arrived, the delegate indicated they could not provide support to Victorian residents, turned around and left," Mr Bascomb said.
"That's of serious concern to me that there appears, based on that experience, to be no arrangement for the movement of evacuees across state borders."
Council representatives from Victoria and NSW border municipalities told commissioners they worked well together, but there were many outside issues.
Mobile phone apps designed to inform people of the bushfire threat failed over summer when they did not acknowledge when firefronts regularly jumped across the state border.
Neither the NSW or Victorian-based apps showed fire activity in the other state, despite the threat to border communities.
Snowy Valleys Council chief executive Matthew Hyde told the National Natural Disaster Arrangements Royal Commission about the problem at Tuesday's hearing.
"There were significant issues with the movement across the border and the maintenance of apps so the community were not aware of the coming threat of the fire and the need to prepare and maintain safety for themselves and their family," he said.
"The fire did move backwards and forward across the boundary and we did feel that it could have an improved management practice had we had a liaison officer across both those management sectors."
