Inquiry Search
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC321-4214 | 1 - Land-use and building regs | We recommend that DELWP determines which elements of different regional planning approaches are the most effective and implements these across the state. |
REC321-4215 | 1 - Land-use and building regs | We recommend that DELWP develops more holistic bushfire-management planning that focuses on the best mix of risk treatments rather than planned burning alone. |
REC321-4211 | 1 - Land-use and building regs | We recommend that CFA (in consultation with FRV) improves planning on private land to ensure risk assessments and plans are conducted consistently across public and private land to address state-wide bushfire risk based on where and how they can most effectively reduce risk. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC314-3265 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | Prepare to ‘scale up’ capability during major bushfire events with senior representatives (including BoM staff) in the SEC 24/7, ensure adequate facilities for IMTs, base camps (e.g. Humanihuts) and recovery centres. Consider the resource implications of providing firefighters to interstate operations. |
REC314-3261 | 24 - Govt responsibility | Consider amending the Fire and Emergency Services Act 2005 to align SAFECOM Board operations with accepted governance standards with the Minister appointing an Independent Chair of the SAFECOM Board. The SAFECOM Chief Executive (CE) should report to the Board and maintain SAFECOM’s role at the direction of the Board. Alternatively, SAFECOM could be abolished, moving to a model of a Department of Fire and Emergency Services where the departmental head reports to the Minister but the value proposition of any such machinery of government change would need to be thoroughly examined. |
REC314-3266 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | Engage with the Australian Defence Force (ADF) once or twice a year to understand the capabilities that could potentially be deployed. Educate IMTs about how to deploy ADF assistance effectively and develop a streamlined ‘call out’ procedure. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC273-1142 | 18 - Access to fire ground | That SACFS consider the Traffic Management Procedures and guiding principles adopted in Tasmania as a model that could be implemented within SA. |
REC273-1139 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | SACFS appoint the Regional Controller and/or Coordinator as the IC for any Level 3 incident occurring within their Region to provide better continuity and improved coordination. The position of the regional controller and/or coordinator could then be backfilled by a suitably qualified individual as required. |
REC273-1138 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | Review the communication and request procedures within SACFS to ensure that the most effective chain of command and line of communications are established between the Incident Management Team, region and state. |
REC273-1135 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That SACFS conduct a review of SIMT with a view to increasing the number of teams from four to six, aligning them with each of the six regions within SA. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC195-0323 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | Incident Controllers ensure that Emergency Management Teams consider, provide advice, and manage the broader consequences of actions, such as reopening roads, the resumption of public transport and school buses, and the welfare of those impacted by traffic management points. |
REC195-0317 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | The Fire Services ensure that an incident action plan (summary) is developed in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedure J3.03. |
REC195-0316 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | The Fire Services continue to develop fire behaviour analysis and predictive science capability by ensuring the Fire Behaviour Analysis Team is appropriately resourced with accredited staff and available to provide services to the IMT. |
REC195-0315 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | The Fire Services, as part of the regular review of Incident Management Teams – Readiness Arrangements, reassess current resource sustainability and identify opportunities for a more flexible application. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC181-0196 | 1 - Land-use and building regs | The State develop and implement a retreat and resettlement strategy for existing developments in areas of unacceptably high bushfire risk, including a scheme for non-compulsory acquisition by the State of land in these areas. |
REC181-0165 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment: ■ amend their procedures to require that an incident action plan summary be completed within the first four hours of an incident being reported and be provided to the State Control Centre and, where established, to the relevant Area of Operations Control Centre; ■ adopt DSE’s incident action plan summary as the template to be used by all incident management teams and ensure that the template is included in the online IMT Tool Box; ■ provide regular training to IMT staff, highlighting the importance of information and reinforcing the support available from specialists within the State Control Centre. |
REC181-0203 | 1 - Land-use and building regs | The State amend s. 32 of the Sale of Land Act 1962 to require that a vendor’s statement include whether the land is in a designated Bushfire-prone Area, a statement about the standard (if any) to which the dwelling was constructed, the bushfire attack level assessment at the time of construction (where relevant) and a current bushfire attack level assessment of the site of the dwelling. |
REC181-0191 | 1 - Land-use and building regs | The State: ■ amend the Victoria Planning Provisions to require that, when assessing a permit to remove native vegetation around an existing dwelling, the responsible authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment, as referral authority, take into account fire hazard and give weight to fire protection purposes; ■ develop guidelines for determining the maximum level of native vegetation removal for bushfire risk mitigation, beyond which level the application would be rejected. |
REC181-0159 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment prescribe and audit the minimum number and nature of level 3 joint training exercises in which incident management team staff (including volunteers) are required to participate. |
REC181-0200 | 1 - Land-use and building regs | Standards Australia move expeditiously to develop a standard for bushfire sprinklers and sprayers. |
REC181-0190 | 1 - Land-use and building regs | The Country Fire Authority amend its guidelines for assessing permit applications for dwellings, nondwellings and subdivisions in the Bushfire-prone Overlay in order to accommodate the amendments to the Wildfire Management Overlay that are implemented as a result of recommendation 39 and make the guidelines available to municipal councils and the public. The revised guidelines should do the following: ■ substantially restrict new developments and subdivisions in those areas of highest risk in the Bushfire-prone Overlay; ■ set out the CFA’s guidelines for assessing permit applications for dwellings, non-dwellings and subdivisions—including the minimum defendable space requirements for different risk levels; ■ clarify that the CFA will approve new developments and subdivisions only if the recommended bushfire protection measures—including the minimum defendable space—can be created and maintained on a continuing basis; ■ clarify that the CFA will approve new developments and subdivisions only if the recommended bushfire protection measures—including the minimum defendable space—can be created and maintained on a continuing basis; ■ emphasise the need for enduring permit conditions—in particular, conditions for the creation and maintenance of minimum defendable space to be maintained for the life of the development. |
REC181-0199 | 1 - Land-use and building regs | The State modify its adoption of the Building Code of Australia for the following purposes: ■ to remove deemed-to-satisfy provisions for the construction of buildings in BAL-FZ (the Flame Zone); ■ to apply bushfire construction provisions to non-residential buildings that will be occupied by people who are particularly vulnerable to bushfire attack, such as schools, child care centres, hospitals and aged care facilities; ■ other than in exceptional circumstances, to apply a minimum AS 3959-2009 construction level of BAL-12.5 to all new buildings and extensions in bushfire-prone areas. |
REC181-0169 | 18 - Access to fire ground | The Country Fire Authority provide to all CFA volunteers an identification card or similar to facilitate their passage through roadblocks established in accordance with the 2009 Guidelines for the Operation of Traffic Management Points during Wildfires. |
REC181-0189 | 1 - Land-use and building regs | The State amend the Victoria Planning Provisions relating to bushfire to ensure that the provisions give priority to the protection of human life, adopt a clear objective of substantially restricting development in the areas of highest bushfire risk—giving due consideration to biodiversity conservation—and provide clear guidance for decision makers. The amendments should take account of the conclusions reached by the Commission and do the following: ■ outline the State’s objectives for managing bushfire risk through land-use planning in an amended state planning policy for bushfire, as set out in clause 15.07 of the Victoria Planning Provisions; ■ allow municipal councils to include a minimum lot size for use of land for a dwelling, both with and without a permit, in a schedule to each of the Rural Living Zone, Green Wedge Zone, Green Wedge A Zone, Rural Conservation Zone, Farming Zone and Rural Activity Zone; ■ amend clause 44.06 of the Victoria Planning Provisions to provide a comprehensive Bushfire-prone Overlay provision. |
REC181-0198 | 1 - Land-use and building regs | The Australian Building Codes Board do the following: ■ amend the performance requirements in the Building Code of Australia to ensure that they incorporate reducing the risk of ignition from ember attack; ■ work with Standards Australia to effect expeditious continuing review and development of AS 3959, Construction of Buildings in Bushfire-prone Areas, and other bushfire-related standards referred to in the Building Code of Australia; ■ negotiate with Standards Australia and SAI Global Ltd an arrangement for free online access to AS 3959-2009, Construction of Buildings in Bushfire-prone Areas, the other Australian standards referred to in AS 3959-2009, and any other bushfire-related Australian standards referred to in the Building Code of Australia; ■ amend the Building Code of Australia to remove deemed-to-satisfy provisions for the construction of buildings in BAL-FZ (the Flame Zone); ■ include in the Building Code of Australia bushfire construction provisions for non-residential buildings that will be occupied by people who are particularly vulnerable to bushfire attack, such as schools, child care centres, hospitals and aged care facilities. |
REC181-0168 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment amend their procedures to require that a suitably experienced, qualified and competent person be appointed as Incident Controller, regardless of the control agency for the fire. |
REC181-0188 | 1 - Land-use and building regs | The State implement a regional settlement policy that: ■ takes account of the management of bushfire risk, including that associated with small, undeveloped rural lots; ■ includes a process for responding to bushfire risk at the planning stage for new urban developments in regional cities, the process being similar to that used for new developments in Melbourne’s Urban Growth Zone. |
REC181-0197 | 1 - Land-use and building regs | Standards Australia do the following: ■ amend the objective of AS 3959-2009, Construction of Buildings in Bushfire-prone Areas, to ensure that it incorporates reducing the risk of ignition from ember attack; ■ review, and amend as appropriate, the testing methods prescribed in its standards for Tests on Elements of Construction for Buildings Exposed to Simulated Bushfire Attack (AS 1530.8.1 and AS 1530.8.2) to ensure that, so far as is possible, the methods provide a reliable predictor of the performance of construction elements under bushfire conditions. |
REC181-0167 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment establish before the 2010–11 fire season: ■ a uniform, objective and transparent process based on the current DSE approach for the accreditation of level 3 Incident Controllers; ■ a performance review system for level 3 Incident Controllers; ■ a traineeship program for progression from level 2 to level 3 incident management team positions. |
REC181-0205 | 1 - Land-use and building regs | The State initiate the development of education and training options to improve understanding of bushfire risk management in the building and planning regimes by: ■ providing regular training and guidance material to planning and building practitioners; ■ providing regular training and guidance material to planning and building practitioners. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC155-3480 | 1 - Land-use and building regs | That the Integrated Fire Management Planning framework establish zones in the interface between public and private land in which bushfire risk management is the shared responsibility of the Victorian Government and private landholders. |
REC155-3474 | 24 - Govt responsibility | That the Victorian Government consider all available means, consistent with conservation values, for substantially increasing the access of apiarists to the public land estate. |
REC155-3473 | 24 - Govt responsibility | That the Victorian Government expedite the implementation of its 2006 election commitment to provide four wheel drive clubs with access to management vehicle only tracks. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC154-3461 | 24 - Govt responsibility | DPI should develop an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Human Services that capitalises on and strengthens the current good working relationship to support joint forward planning and risk management and mitigates against relationship failure in the event of leadership change. The MOU should clarify: |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC153-1791 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That the Minister for Emergency Services and the Chief Officer of the South Australian Country Fire Service consider the creation of a position within an Incident Management Team of a Landowner Liaison Officer the duties and responsibilities of whom is to establish contact with and liaise with the owner and/or occupiers of rural land on which a fire is situated. |
REC153-1799 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That the South Australian Country Fire Service establish preplanned Level 2 Incident Management Teams in each Region for deployment to Level 2 incidents. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC122-3777 | 1 - Land-use and building regs | The Committee recommends that native vegetation, excluding road reserves be fenced. |
REC122-3779 | 24 - Govt responsibility | The Committee recommends that relevant government departments implement an ongoing management program for the eradication of feral pests and weeds. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC104-2272 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That personnel assigned the roles of Division Commander, Sector Commander and Strike Team Leader on the fire ground are actively encouraged to provide input into the selection of strategies and tactics. |
REC104-2303 | 24 - Govt responsibility | That Interstate Agreements prepared by the fire agencies be reviewed to include protocols for the joint release of consistent and appropriate information relating to fires burning across State borders. |
REC104-2232 | 24 - Govt responsibility | That Government in the development of its statewide water policy includes appropriate consideration of access to water for firefighting. |
REC104-2256 | 24 - Govt responsibility | That the State Emergency Operations Centre develop and maintain strong and close links with the State Emergency Response Coordination Centre, if collocation is not possible. |
REC104-2271 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That DSE and CFA ensure that agreed strategy and tactics, and the rationale, be communicated to personnel involved in the fire fight and be included in briefings for fire line personnel. |
REC104-2280 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That DSE and CFA ensure that: |
REC104-2230 | 24 - Govt responsibility | That DSE investigates whether such agreements should exist with other government Departments and agencies, particularly those with officers located in rural Victoria who may be involved in fire response and support operations in the future, based on their expertise and experience. |
REC104-2255 | 24 - Govt responsibility | That the options of collocating the State Emergency Response Coordination Centre with the new State Emergency Operations Centre |
REC104-2269 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That the fire agencies ensure that Incident Action Plans developed by Incident Management Teams are consistent with, and built on, the agreed Fire Control Priorities. |
REC104-2279 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That operational briefings in multi-agency fires should, wherever possible, be joint briefings of all agencies involved. |
REC104-2225 | 24 - Govt responsibility | That the Victoria Emergency Management Council establish a sub-committee by June 2004 to ensure an all-agency and appropriate industries’ policy framework is developed and agreed in respect to the planning for fire prevention, mitigation and suppression. |
REC104-2331 | 24 - Govt responsibility | That a State Emergency Operations Centre be established to replace the existing separate fire agency centres. This could, if necessary, be initially confined to being a State Fire Operations Centre as recommended in Chapter 18, Part D. |
REC104-2254 | 24 - Govt responsibility | That a single state-of-the-art all hazards State Emergency Operations Centre be established for Victoria. This could, if necessary, be implemented in stages, initially incorporating DSE, CFA, MFESB and the State Aircraft Unit. |
REC104-2267 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That DSE and CFA develop an agreed process for the effective transfer of control from one Incident Control Centre to another, including processes for communicating this change to fire ground supervisors and local communities. |
REC104-2275 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That the ‘Incident Objectives’ established for any response should reflect the endorsed Statewide ‘Fire Control Priorities’, and the relevant Municipal Fire Management Plan. |
REC104-2192 | 24 - Govt responsibility | That, according to available scientific evidence, a decision regarding cattle grazing in the High Country should not be based on the argument that ‘grazing prevents blazing.’ |
REC104-2321 | 24 - Govt responsibility | That Government confirms that the Model of Fire Cover/Fire Safety Victoria strategy should be a seamless model for the whole of the State and include both private and public land. |
REC104-2247 | 24 - Govt responsibility | That an appropriately resourced, national aerial firefighting strategy is urgently required, and that the Victorian Government make representations to the Commonwealth to support the Australasian Fire Authorities Council recommendations |
REC104-2262 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That the practice of appointing Deputy Planning Officer, Deputy Operations Officer and Deputy Logistics Officer in an Incident Management Team be abandoned. This recommendation acknowledges the benefits of retaining a Deputy Incident Controller from the support agency (in accordance with section 4.2.6 of the Emergency Management Manual Victoria), to ensure that the command structure of that agency is preserved. |
REC104-2273 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That personnel assigned the roles of Division Commander, Sector Commander and Strike Team Leader be given flexibility to alter tactics to take advantage of changed conditions on the fire ground. |
REC104-2315 | 24 - Govt responsibility | That the Privacy Commissioner be asked for advice in the development of this model. |
REC104-2239 | 24 - Govt responsibility | That any local level agreements developed to address geographically specific risks or issues must be consistent with State-level arrangements. |
REC104-2258 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That, wherever possible, Incident Management Team members from DSE, CFA and MFESB who are likely to be deployed together to manage fire, should train and exercise together. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC015_3956 | 24 - Govt responsibility | It is strongly recommended that no public department of possible combination of public departments interested in forests should be permitted to gain control of this authority. |
REC015_3954 | 24 - Govt responsibility | It is recommended that each public department or body which may now or hereafter control forest areas be allowed to pursue its own policy of fire prevention and suppression. As each such body is responsible directly or indirectly to Parliament it must be allowed to carry its responsibility in its own manner. It is strongly recommended that no such department be given authority over any other body in matters relating to fire prevention or suppression. If it is ultimately shown that a department is unfit to discharge the duty involved other measures may be taken. |