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Mobilising community for suppression and protection during large scale operations
In the 24/25 Bushfire Season almost a ¼ of a million hectares of land consumed by fire in the Western District of Victoria. Most the impacted areas occurred over two days during a fire operation that lasted weeks.
In the leadup to one spike day communities were engaged to undertake mitigation works, and to prepare for suppression around their properties. When the fire struck this activation of the community led to successful results across the firescape.
Indigenous communities undertook fuel management work around key cultural assets including trees and rock art. Scar trees were wrapped in insulating material to protect them from fire – many assets were saved as a result.
In farming communities’ ploughs and machinery created breaks around key agricultural assets and homes. These communities also mobilised over 200 private firefighting resources, when the fires hit, they managed many spot fires, and this allowed strike teams to focus on the main fire front and flanks.
In the impacted townships, neighbours helped neighbours bringing people together to travel to emergency relief centres or undertake protection works in the community.
In these impacted townships, meetings were conducted, formal and informal, bringing agencies together with community sharing information.
When the fire passed, no lives were lost, despite threatening nearly 5000 homes, only four were lost. The relationships between fire agencies, emergency services and the community had been forged days prior to the fire impact – these relationships now would now form the foundation of recovery work.
As fires increase in frequency, and impact, fire agencies will never have enough resources to deal with future challenges.
This presentation will show you what can be achieved when we share responsibility for fire with community. This presentation will also share some of the strategies that led to such successful outcomes in the Victorian landscape.
In the leadup to one spike day communities were engaged to undertake mitigation works, and to prepare for suppression around their properties. When the fire struck this activation of the community led to successful results across the firescape.
Indigenous communities undertook fuel management work around key cultural assets including trees and rock art. Scar trees were wrapped in insulating material to protect them from fire – many assets were saved as a result.
In farming communities’ ploughs and machinery created breaks around key agricultural assets and homes. These communities also mobilised over 200 private firefighting resources, when the fires hit, they managed many spot fires, and this allowed strike teams to focus on the main fire front and flanks.
In the impacted townships, neighbours helped neighbours bringing people together to travel to emergency relief centres or undertake protection works in the community.
In these impacted townships, meetings were conducted, formal and informal, bringing agencies together with community sharing information.
When the fire passed, no lives were lost, despite threatening nearly 5000 homes, only four were lost. The relationships between fire agencies, emergency services and the community had been forged days prior to the fire impact – these relationships now would now form the foundation of recovery work.
As fires increase in frequency, and impact, fire agencies will never have enough resources to deal with future challenges.
This presentation will show you what can be achieved when we share responsibility for fire with community. This presentation will also share some of the strategies that led to such successful outcomes in the Victorian landscape.
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