Fire strategy for small communities- Torbay Catchment 

Torbay Catchment Group is first and foremost a community organisation and has developed this strategy as a basis for promoting better fire awareness and preparedness in our local communities. Our communities are comprised of a mix of large and small rural landholdings, rural residential lots, and urban development. Our area is comprised of a number of small town sites, as well as some suburbs of Albany.   

Important aspects for strategy to address – 

  • Clarifies and prioritises information for its community members. 
  • Focuses on ‘bottom-up’ approaches that motivate and engage members to take responsibility for themselves and their community. 
  • Cultivation of connection between community members. 
  • Empower community to be self-reliant in their understanding of fire management, that organisations such as TCG and Fire Brigades are facilitators/ enablers rather than to be relied upon. 

There are 2 parts to this strategy; Prevention and Active Fire Strategy. The most effective way to mitigate the risks of fire in small communities is, of course, to plan and educate the community in prevention strategies. The second part of this document addresses when, despite prevention, an active fire is in the vicinity and how to support the community to be best prepared for this situation. 

One barrier to preparedness is the sheer volumes of actions that could be taken for better safety.  It is important to discuss and promote that preparedness can be achieved over a number years with improvements being made annually and to promote personal safety as the must have essential that all should have in place. It is also important to help prioritise actions and information so that community members can choose the most essential elements to address first, instead of becoming overwhelmed. Asterisks* mark priority actions and information for starting points to fire preparedness.  Other barriers may include not fully understanding what is required and costs involved with becoming fully prepared.  

 

Prevention Strategies 

One of the best ways to mitigate fire risk is to plan.  There are a lot of actions that can be taken to reduce risk and ensure that households are prepared. There is a lot of excellent literature already about what to do to prepare for fire season, but not everyone is aware of it. 

Promote Essential Resources for Community Members (Prevention) 

  • *DFES ‘My Bushfire Plan’ (can download ap to phone) 
  • Discuss and promote householders establishing a decision matrix for deciding when to leave in the event of fire.  
  • Develop and promote pre fire season check list of what you can do around your home to mitigate risk. 
  • Promote retro fitting buildings to lessen risk such sealing eaves and other places embers can enter.  
  • Promote indigenous style cool, patch burns close to homes with bushland close (see Workshop Ideas). 
  • Promote and develop local knowledge base of waterpoints on farms and of local fire units and other equipment in the event of an emergency fire situation. Information could possibly be collected by local brigades. 
  • *Bushfire Warning System and Fire Danger Ratings 

(https://cdn.sanity.io/files/mor63s58/production/0491bbcf689afe4000895cd1f634779bd960fc97.pdf?dl=) 

  • Promote and develop local knowledge base of waterpoints on farms and of local fire units and other equipment in the event of an emergency fire situation. Information could possibly be collected by local brigades. 

Workshop Ideas (Prevention) 

  • Promote the creation of Bushfire Ready groups. 
  • Use of laminated maps centring on each land-holders property.  
  •  The maps can be used to track fire progress and are re-useable. 
  • Promote indigenous style cool, patch burns close to homes with bushland close and practical workshops on how to implement. 
  • Develop a community brochure highlighting the pro’s and con’s. 
  • Promote the production of Biochar during burning off. 
  • Run a workshop on ‘How To’ 
  • Make Biochar Production ‘Cones’ available for community use. 
  • Run annual awareness events (as funding permits) to pick up community members who have not attended previous events and to keep it under the spotlight.  

 

Active Fire Strategy 

In the event of fire, communication is incredibly important. People can be oblivious to a fire, even one that is close by. It can also be difficult to find out the latest information as websites can take up to 40 minutes to be updated.  Fires can cut power supply & otherwise impact phones.  This possibility should be considered.  

Promote Essential Resources for Community Members (Active Fire) 

  • *Preparing your Emergency Evacuation Kit 

(https://cdn.sanity.io/files/mor63s58/production/5774b6d0c5e13bdcfd1f9db329143e91886bee3a.pdf?dl=) 

  • Encourage people to prepare individual fire kits 
  • Find suppliers of fire blankets, duffel bags, etc and circulate   
  • *Travelling During a Bushfire 

(https://cdn.sanity.io/files/mor63s58/production/52e1617f1349e79dd31184abe85324e36615c5b2.pdf?dl=) 

  • *How to Find Shelter if it is too late to Leave your Property 

(https://cdn.sanity.io/files/mor63s58/production/16747304a11a0f2cc30a3a3e361a7e7b88a3c55e.pdf?dl=) 

  • Firefighting Equipment to Stay and Defend 

(https://cdn.sanity.io/files/mor63s58/production/d0e5e898af84f0e58090799c8958a03a79cd71f9.pdf?dl=) 

  • *Bushfire Protective Clothing 

(https://cdn.sanity.io/files/mor63s58/production/50c2e9af43a1da58e9e0394b9666e6d12ea9dfda.pdf?dl=) 

  • *Develop telephone trees, locality by locality 
  • AND- Promote know your neighbour, raise the possibility of door knocking neighbours if communication by phone is not possible. 
  • Promote Emergency WA site on desktop of phones for easy access 

 

Workshop Ideas (Active Fire) 

  • Offer fire scenario training to small groups eg. simulate tracking a fire, via use of technology, and mapping the fire as it progresses to the point where a decision to leave or stay must be made. 
  • Include scenarios involving neighbours and children, pets and livestock. 
  • Facilitate bulk buys of essentials for personal fire kits, such as duffel bags, fire blankets, torches, batteries, radios, masks, goggles, fire resistant clothes etc. 
  • Look at the practicality of bulk buying of fire-fighting equipment such as units, hoses, hose reels, pumps, sprinklers etc. 
  • Develop telephone trees, locality by locality 
  • AND- Promote know your neighbour, raise the possibility of door knocking neighbours if communication by phone is not possible.