Inquiry Search
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC327-4348 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | By December 2023, the Rural Fire Service should: report annually on fleet allocations to RFS Districts, and identify the ways in which fleet resources align with district-level fire risks |
REC327-4349 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | By December 2023, the Rural Fire Service should: develop performance measures to assess the performance and capabilities of the fleet in each RFS District by recording and publicly reporting on: fire response times and fire response outcomes; and, completions of fire hazard reduction works. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC315-3866 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That, in order to ensure evacuation arrangements can be scaled up when needed, Resilience NSW: |
REC315-3825 | 39 - Disaster Risk Management | That Government, acknowledging that a strategic approach to planning for bush fire will take time, and in order to protect, prepare and build resilience into existing communities better, should immediately: |
REC315-3853 | 7 - Inter-agency communication | That, in order to ensure the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) can maintain communications during emergencies, the Government provide the SEOC with independent Public Safety Network functionality. |
REC315-3865 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That the NSW RFS include the following priorities in the Fires Near Me improvements roadmap: |
REC315-3872 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That, in order to improve support for people evacuating with animals, the Department of Primary Industries: |
REC315-3814 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That the NSW RFS identifies remote bush fire prone areas that do not already have an indoor Neighbourhood Safer Place (NSP) and upgrades the relevant NSW RFS Stations to meet NSP guidelines. These stations would require adequate Asset Protection Zones and active/passive protection systems to provide short-term protection. |
REC315-3852 | 7 - Inter-agency communication | That, in order to improve fireground communications between NSW agencies and interstate personnel: a) Government ensure all NSW fire authority personnel and vehicles can access and utilise the Public Safety Network (PSN). This should include access to NSW RFS Private Mobile Radio networks where PSN coverage is not yet available. |
REC315-3863 | 15 - Inter-service cooperation | That, in order to provide real-time information on evacuation doorknocking during emergency events, Government explore a shared data gateway for NSW agencies based on the NSW State Emergency Service Collector app and a common mapping and analytics platform. |
REC315-3871 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That, in order to ensure equitable access to evacuation centres and associated support services for people in border communities, Resilience NSW ensure cross-border access arrangements are reflected in evacuation centre management guidelines. |
REC315-3811 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That in order to provide greater consistency in public information and warnings, especially in border areas: |
REC315-3835 | 15 - Inter-service cooperation | That, in order to ensure the safety of local landholders on firegrounds, the NSW RFS emphasises the importance of local landholders using protective clothing while fire fighting as part of the RFS’ ‘Farm Fire Unit Integration’ priority for 2020-21. |
REC315-3862 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That, in order to improve information flows and increase public awareness of ABC emergency broadcasts, Government: |
REC315-3870 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That, in order to ensure the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable people during an evacuation, Resilience NSW: |
REC315-3806 | 15 - Inter-service cooperation | That the NSW RFS work with AFAC to analyse the impact of changing fire seasons on inter- jurisdictional resource sharing agreements, both domestic and international, and determine any flow-on effects for NSW fire fighting personnel capacity. |
REC315-3832 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That, in order to improve the provision of evidence-based public health messaging about air quality during bush fire events, Government develop a public education campaign and supporting systems before the next bush fire season. This should include: |
REC315-3855 | 7 - Inter-agency communication | That, in order to ensure all agencies have a clear understanding of cross-border communication channels during bush fires, all MoUs between state or territory agencies include an agreed protocol about how agencies will communicate across borders and that these are reflected in Incident Action Plans. |
REC315-3867 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That, in order to ensure evacuation centres are fit-for-purpose, Resilience NSW work with Local Emergency Management Committees (LEMCs) to: a) update the guidelines for LEMCs identifying evacuation centres to require a risk assessment of potential locations, which should include identifying alternate sources of power for use by evacuation centres and recording these appropriately |
REC315-3830 | 39 - Disaster Risk Management | That as a matter of urgency, in order to accelerate and finalise a State-wide strategic fire trail network, the NSW RFS Commissioner and Bush Fire Coordinating Committee (BFCC): |
REC315-3854 | 7 - Inter-agency communication | That, in order to ensure emergency response agencies can communicate across state and territory borders, the Commonwealth Government allocate 10 + 10 MHz as a dedicated spectrum for Public Safety Mobile Broadband (PSMB) at no cost to states and territories. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC302-2404 | 8 - Communications and warnings | Review the effectiveness of emergency public information arrangements, and give consideration to embedding an ABC Manager (not a journalist) into the RFS headquarters during emergencies to broadcast warnings to the community that can be pooled to commercial media outlets |
REC302-2400 | 15 - Inter-service cooperation | Until a single call centre is developed, continue deployments of a senior RFS officer to Fire and Rescue NSW ComCen on a 24/7 day basis. This arrangement should determine the quickest most suitable resource and who is ‘in charge’ of an incident |
REC302-2396 | 15 - Inter-service cooperation | The Commissioners of Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) and the RFS issue an instruction to FRNSW ComCen that while AVL capability is being made available to the RFS vehicle fleet, no offers of assistance by one agency to the other in combatting a fire is rejected or delayed if what is being offered is appropriate |
REC302-2394 | 15 - Inter-service cooperation | Take immediate steps to eliminate fire boundaries for call and dispatch purposes to create an agnostic approach to the threat of fires from both a departmental and organisational perspective |
REC302-2393 | 15 - Inter-service cooperation | In recognising the success of the work of both the volunteer based Rural Fire Service and the full time Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) members in joint operations – both agencies should be represented at major briefings or press conferences to reinforce successful integrated collaborative efforts rather than individual agency achievements |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC301-2392 | 39 - Disaster Risk Management | TFS should engage in discussions with government about the construction of purpose-built State Control Centre facilities for emergency management in Tasmania. |
REC301-2388 | 15 - Inter-service cooperation | TFS, PWS and STT should establish a State Air Desk, to be staffed by specialist staff year-round, with responsibility for managing both preparatory and contractual issues out of season as well as aircraft management when fires or other emergency events are occurring. |
REC301-2386 | 15 - Inter-service cooperation | TFS, PWS and STT should work with government and each other to continue to pursue a whole-of-state fuel management and burning program that encompasses all land tenures, meets the range of outcomes required by the state (township protection, risk reduction and landscape-scale burns) and is inclusive of private landholders and local communities as well as all fire agencies. |
REC301-2383 | 15 - Inter-service cooperation | Tasmanian Fire Service (TFS), Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) and Sustainable Timber Tasmania (STT) initiate a discussion among their Australasian peers about good practice around managing new fire starts in remote terrain, to include issues around identification, predictive analysis, risk management and suppression activities. The outcome should be a document which allows for benchmarking to accepted good practice across Australasia, from which Tasmanian fire agencies can develop protocols against which the management of future events can be tested. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC002-4012 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | Complete sets of daily-report books should be provided, and kept in the mine or office, to be overlooked by the Inspector during his periodical visits. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC287-1180 | 15 - Inter-service cooperation | The Tasmanian fire agencies consider the development of fire operational guidelines to avoid long-term environmental impacts such as: • • • strategies and tactics that will minimise the impact of fire management activities conditions under which earthmoving equipment and fire chemicals may be used information on seasonal conditions and the times of year when various strategies and tactics should be applied, and fuel management strategies. |
REC287-1179 | 15 - Inter-service cooperation | The Tasmanian fire agencies develop a joint multi-agency Fire Preparedness Matrix to guide decision-making in response to severe fire weather conditions or capacity issues. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC267-1149 | 15 - Inter-service cooperation | PES External Surge Program The success of the PES External Surge Program and the willingness of participants to deploy at short notice to support the recovery effort is commendable, as is the readiness of their supervisors to release them from their duties to enable deployment. The Program, supported by an appropriate training program, is one that should be sustained as part of the whole of Government recovery readiness effort. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC261-1509 | 34 - Local knowledge | That the NSW Rural Fire Service, in order to ensure greater respect for volunteer fire fighters’ knowledge and experience in the management of fires: |
REC261-1497 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That the NSW Rural Fire Service investigate mechanisms to enhance the predictability of megafires and how this information is communicated easily to the public. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC260-1067 | 15 - Inter-service cooperation | That as part of the adoption of such a posture in ‘severe’ or worse fire conditions, the National Parks and Wildlife Service consider alerting, at an early stage, all relevant persons and organisations, such as shire councils, heavy plant operators, the local RFS captains, Fire & Rescue NSW and other emergency services, that it is doing so, and that their assistance may be required at short notice. |
REC260-1054 | 2 - Emergency powers | That the Rural Fire Service consider extending pre-emptive section 44 to whole of Castlereagh RFS/Warrumbungle Shire area. |
REC260-1066 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That during periods of ‘severe’ or worse fire conditions, that the National Parks and Wildlife Service consider adopting a posture of pre-emptive planning and deployment of incident management teams in national parks similar to the manner in which the Rural Fire Service does. |
REC260-1053 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That in Class 3 fire-fighting operations, the Rural Fire Service consider including a fire behaviour analyst in the incident management team if feasible. |
REC260-1061 | 18 - Access to fire ground | That the National Parks and Wildlife Service, in consultation with the relevant local Council(s), devise a policy that enables the John Renshaw Parkway to be closed at either end of the Warrumbungle National Park during a bush fire in such a way that its closure would not impede access by emergency services vehicles into the park. |
REC260-1052 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That the Rural Fire Service consider amending its fire prediction reports to include a checklist of significant factors that have not been able to be considered in the prediction model and a warning to be alert for them and seek intelligence on them from fire ground managers. |
REC260-1060 | 7 - Inter-agency communication | That the Rural Fire Service and National Parks and Wildlife Service review the procedures for requesting aerial support in ‘severe’ or worse fire conditions to ensure that delays in providing it are reduced to the minimum time possible. |
REC260-1051 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That the Rural Fire Service consider redrafting the disclaimer in its fire predictions to make abundantly clear where the potential errors or omissions may affect the prediction and how to detect them if they are there (for example, by comparing them with linescans) and what other factors (such as VLS) may affect the predictions and in what way. |
REC260-1059 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That the Rural Fire Service and National Parks and Wildlife Service consider amending their protocols for upgrading advices to higher levels to emphasise the significance and urgency of raising warning levels as soon as the potential dangers of fire to lives or property materially increase. |
REC260-1055 | 34 - Local knowledge | That the Rural Fire Service together with other land managers develop a program whereby local stakeholders come together regularly (every 2 months during non-fire season and monthly during the fire season) to share intelligence and to consider hazard and incident management measures for implementation. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC259-1048 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That State and Local Government agencies maximise communication to the residents owning bushfire prone properties to be aware of their level of exposure by having access to the BAL relevant to their property. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC247-0887 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That qualifying the evacuation authority in section 47 of the Fire Service Act 1979 be considered — by exempting those people with a pecuniary interest in a property from a directed evacuation where it is reasonable for them to remain. |
REC247-0920 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That Tasmania Fire Service reviews its approach to communicating with communities threatened by bushfire and consider the matters referred to in this Report. |
REC247-0858 | 7 - Inter-agency communication | That all agencies and the Government support moving to an integrated communications technology for police and the emergency services. |
REC247-0900 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That a public information plan be developed as a part of the State Special Emergency Plan–Recovery, for implementation in the immediate recovery phase. |
REC247-0948 | 15 - Inter-service cooperation | That the Department of Justice conduct an independent review to develop a suitable model for integrated and interoperable emergency management arrangements in Tasmania. |
REC247-0865 | 34 - Local knowledge | That Tasmania Fire Service reviews its position on using local experienced officers on the fire ground in the command model in a structured and systemic way. |
REC247-0911 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That emergency management plans specifically include processes and resources for effectively engaging with and using local communities, including volunteers |
REC247-0886 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That a state-level policy on evacuations be developed in the emergency management plans, including specific requirements for vulnerable people and guidelines for its implementation. |
REC247-0919 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That Tasmania Fire Service and Tasmania Police review their use of modern forms of communication with the community, including social media, and commit resources to fully use this capability where appropriate. |
REC247-0857 | 2 - Emergency powers | That the Tasmania Emergency Management Plan enable, and all organisations with a role in emergency management activate, emergency plans at lower threshold events to practice their arrangements and achieve a ‘hot start’ in escalating events. |
REC247-0899 | 18 - Access to fire ground | That appropriate plans are made to mobilise resources quickly to re-open roads affected by emergencies. |
REC247-0947 | 20 - Role of police | That Tasmania Police develops and implements a program for examining emergency management arrangements and facilities in Australia. |
REC247-0863 | 34 - Local knowledge | That Tasmania Fire Service considers measures to bring local knowledge into Incident Management Team operations. |
REC247-0906 | 18 - Access to fire ground | That emergency management plans recognise the need to provide priority access to areas of emergency operations for critical infrastructure providers. |
REC247-0885 | 18 - Access to fire ground | That arrangements are made for and appropriate pre-planning occurs to effectively implement the policy on road closures and traffic management. |
REC247-0918 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That the State Emergency Management Committee makes arrangements to actively manage the use of social media in the community during an emergency, to avoid negative consequences for emergency operations. |
REC247-0856 | 2 - Emergency powers | That the Government reconsider the current position on emergency declarations in the Emergency Management Act 2006 and the Act is amended to provide: • a graduated scale of emergency declarations; • the ability to make a declaration when an emergency has occurred, is occurring or is about to occur; • the ability for the State Controller (or whatever the person in overall control of response and recovery operations is called) to make one or more declarations; • a declaration to enable access to all emergency powers. |
REC247-0890 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That decisions to open Community Fire Refuges and evacuation centres be coordinated with Tasmania Police. |
REC247-0946 | 20 - Role of police | That Tasmania Police establishes a section within its structure with responsibility for developing and maintaining contemporary expertise in emergency management, progressing innovation, assisting organisational change initiatives and supporting its responsibilities in state emergency management arrangements. |
REC247-0862 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That Tasmania Fire Service and its partner agencies establish a means of monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of centralising the location of Incident Management Teams. |
REC247-0905 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That the Government consider whether it should discuss options for greater mobile phone coverage and redundancy in areas of high risk in emergency situations where there are presently telecommunications limits. |
REC247-0884 | 18 - Access to fire ground | That Tasmania Police reviews its Emergency Traffic Management Points policy; and develops a multi-agency policy in the emergency management plans for road closures and traffic management, including clarity in decision making, coordination and sufficient operational flexibility. |
REC247-0917 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That the State Emergency Management Committee makes timely decisions and resource commitments on the appropriate use of social media in emergency management. |
REC247-0854 | 15 - Inter-service cooperation | That in multi-agency response and recovery operations, arrangements be made so it is unambiguous who is in charge of these operations. |
REC247-0889 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That Tasmania Police be identified as the lead agency on evacuations. |
REC247-0945 | 20 - Role of police | That Tasmania Police conducts a review to ensure emergency management is treated as a priority and a core function throughout the organisation, including the development of contemporary capabilities, and is supported by an appropriate culture. |
REC247-0861 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That Tasmania Fire Service examines options for developing and issuing fire management objectives and tactics from Incident Management Teams in a more timely way, including ‘quick’ plans. |
REC247-0902 | 7 - Inter-agency communication | That evacuation centres and other centres have a standard operating procedure for communications. |
REC247-0875 | 34 - Local knowledge | That Tasmania Fire Service reviews its integration of rural local knowledge and volunteer brigades into fire operations, develops and maintains appropriate strategies, and aims to be a best-practice fire service in this regard. |
REC247-0916 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That Tasmania Fire Service ensures that the priority on warning communities at risk of active bushfires is not confined to when bushfires are burning out of control. |
REC247-0853 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | That the State Controller (or an alternate if they are not available) be expected to personally take an active role in controlling and coordinating response and recovery operations, depending on the nature and scale of the emergency, and until other identified arrangements for ongoing operations are established. |
REC247-0888 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That arrangements are made and appropriate pre-planning occurs to effectively implement the policy on evacuation. |
REC247-0922 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That Tasmania Fire Service develops a research base from which to inform the design of communication campaigns for communities threatened by bushfire. |
REC247-0859 | 7 - Inter-agency communication | That police and other emergency services examine options for achieving radio interoperability between them in the absence of an integrated radio system. |
REC247-0901 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That evacuation centres and other centres have plans and arrangements for electrical power redundancy. |
REC247-0867 | 7 - Inter-agency communication | That Tasmania Fire Service reviews the communication systems used for all emergency management operations, ensures operators are qualified, and ensures there is appropriate accountability. |
REC247-0915 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That Tasmania Fire Service actively uses predictive modelling to design emergency communications for communities threatened by bushfire, unless there is a compelling reason for not doing so. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC246-0786 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | TFS develop written guidelines for the use of IMTs about the use of evacuation in a bushfire context, and triggers for decision-making. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC208-0524 | 8 - Communications and warnings | That the Premier issue clear and unambiguous guidelines to all Government Ministers specifying the timing of notifications to the public of any matters that may affect public health or safety. |
REC208-0525 | 7 - Inter-agency communication | That the Office of Environment and Heritage amend its operating procedures for the Environment Line to ensure that there are clear obligations to pass on information relevant to other agencies, to those agencies in a timely manner. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC193-0228 | 8 - Communications and warnings | Tasmanian entities with responsibilities for bushfire management actively pursue national consistency of warning systems and emergency warning signals through national bodies such as the National Emergency Management Committee. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC163-1939 | 2 - Emergency powers | That the Rural Fires Act 1997 be amended to provide to designated Fire Investigation Officers of the Rural Fire Service the power to enter any land upon which a bushfire has occurred for the purposes of investigation for a period of up to 24 hours after a fire has been declared out. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC121-3652 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | A designated staff member at the RMC should act as the rail emergency management co-ordinator. He or she should be the sole point of contact at the RMC with other rail personnel involved in the rail accident and emergency services personnel during the rescue phase of the emergency response. |
REC121-3775 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | The Minister for Transport Services must table in Parliament, each such quarterly report by ITSRR. |
REC121-3676 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | A direct line of communication should be established between the RMC and Emergency Services Operations Control Centre by a “tie line” or otherwise, so as to ensure that in the case of a serious rail accident there is an open line of communication between the officer in charge of the management of the incident at the RMC and the various emergency response services. |
REC121-3710 | 39 - Disaster Risk Management | The ITSRR should have permanent access to the RailCorp intranet. |
REC121-3774 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | The ITSRR must provide a quarterly report to the Minister for Transport Services on the progress made by RailCorp in implementing these recommendations, including: |
REC121-3666 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | The rail commander should have complete authority to direct and control any rail employees attending the site of a rail accident, in accordance with directions given or arrangements put in place by the site controller, until the rescue phase of the emergency response to the rail accident has been completed. |
REC121-3700 | 39 - Disaster Risk Management | Maintenance plans on all trains should be revised annually. |
REC121-3729 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | All reports of the Chief Investigator of OTSI should be delivered, upon completion and without being reviewed, to ITSRR and the Minister for Transport Services. |
REC121-3665 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | The role of the rail commander should be to provide support and assistance to the site controller and emergency services personnel until the rescue phase of the emergency response to any rail accident is completed. |
REC121-3697 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | All train drivers’ defects reports should be entered by RailCorp into a computerised record and tracked to finalisation. |
REC121-3723 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | All ATSB accident investigation reports should be made public. |
REC121-3664 | 20 - Role of police | The location of the command post for site control at the scene of any rail accident should be identified by NSW Police by a distinctive flashing light. |
REC121-3684 | 39 - Disaster Risk Management | The ITSRR should conduct its own risk assessment in relation to the risk of any such high consequence, low probability accident and, if necessary, direct RailCorp to conduct a further risk assessment to reduce the level of residual risk to a level ITSRR regards as acceptable. |
REC121-3722 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | The ATSB should deliver any report of any such rail accident which it investigates to the Board of any rail organisation involved in the accident, ITSRR and the Minister for Transport Services. |
REC121-3663 | 14 - Incident Mgt Teams | The incident command system should clearly identify the roles of the rail commander, site controller, police commander and commanders of the other emergency services, and the way in which each is to work together during the recovery phase of any rail accident. |
REC121-3776 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | The Minister for Transport Services should retain, independently of ITSRR, safety auditors to provide a report to the Minister confirming or qualifying the contents of each such ITSRR quarterly report. |
REC121-3683 | 39 - Disaster Risk Management | RailCorp should undertake risk assessments of each of its activities as follows: |
REC121-3712 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | RailCorp and ITSRR should co-operate with national programs for the collection, collation, trend analysis and dissemination of safety critical information. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC013_3977 | 8 - Communications and warnings | To arrange with settlers who live on hills or have a clear view, and are connected by telephone, to act as " look-outs ", and to communicate with the brigade in the case of fire. |