Inquiry Search
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC321-4217 | 5 - Hazard reduction burns | We recommend that DELWP in partnership with Country Fire Authority and Fire Rescue Victoria develops, implements and publicly reports on a holistic suite of performance metrics to demonstrate: - the impact that planned burning has on public and private land on bushfire risk - the impact that planned burning has on public and private land on ecosystem resilience - the impact that non-burn fuel management activities have on public and private land on bushfire risk - the impact that its activities at local and regional levels have on bushfire risk - the cost-effectiveness of its fuel management activities on public and private land. |
REC321-4212 | 34 - Local knowledge | We recommend that DELWP increases its collaboration with Victorian Traditional Owner groups to facilitate the reintroduction of cultural burning and ensure effective support for these practices across all of its regions. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC319-4186 | 34 - Local knowledge | Supporting local recovery: The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that the entity referred to in Recommendation 13, or otherwise responsible government department work with councils and communities before, during and after emergencies to strengthen: |
REC319-4190 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | Humanitarian relief: The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions work with the Municipal Association of Victoria and councils to build contingencies into emergency relief centre planning to ensure places of shelter are inclusive, recognise diversity and are better placed to support all displaced people in circumstances of: |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC318-4180 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Victoria Police – in collaboration with the community and the emergency management sector – reflect on events of the 2019–20 fire season to review and enhance evacuation plans and processes with consideration of: |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC316-4037 | 17 - Assets and technology | Consideration be given to developing alternate website contingency in the event of a critical failure and an assurance review across all community facing Government websites. |
REC316-4030 | 17 - Assets and technology | Continue to explore options in the short term to improve the functionality and relationship with NSW RFS ‘Fires Near Me’ with respect to ACT specific information before the 2020-21 bushfire season. |
REC316-4044 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | A Relocation and Evacuation working group be established from stakeholder organisations to consider and develop an Evacuation and Relocations Sub- Plan. The Sub-Plan should consider the lessons learned this year and address principles, lead agency, WHoG coordination, trigger points etc. This could be the same working group formed for reviewing the Emergencies Act, Plan and sub-plans. |
REC316-4029 | 17 - Assets and technology | ACT Government continues to develop the concept for an ACT specific emergency app whilst also using national coordination mechanisms to support an affordable nationally standard all-hazards mobile app. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC299-1347 | 5 - Hazard reduction burns | In order to manage a reduced time window available to undertake the current types of planned burns, alternative methods, including the indigenous mosaic ‘cool’ burns, should be examined and trialled as they may extend the period in which planned burns can be undertaken while reducing overall risk and fuel loads. |
REC299-1338 | 19 - Offences | The Government introduce an amendment to the Country Fire Authority Act 1958 or other instruments which imposes significant penalties and strengthens enforcement, including via infringement notices, for offences against Total Fire Ban requirements before the 2017‑2018 fire season. |
REC299-1341 | 5 - Hazard reduction burns | That in conjunction with a risk‑based approach, a minimum hectare target is also maintained that can be measured and compared. This minimum target should not be below the 5% target established by the Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission. |
REC299-1337 | 19 - Offences | The Government should: |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC196-0238 | 34 - Local knowledge | Encourage ICCs to use local knowledge to review templates prior to release. |
REC196-0234 | 34 - Local knowledge | Ensure that local knowledge, local flavour and local language is used where possible in the development of all community bushfire warnings. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC181-0155 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | The State introduce a comprehensive approach to evacuation, so that this option is planned, considered and implemented when it is likely to offer a higher level of protection than other contingency options. The approach should: ■ encourage individuals—especially vulnerable people—to relocate early; ■ include consideration of plans for assisted evacuation of vulnerable people; ■ include consideration of plans for assisted evacuation of vulnerable people. |
REC181-0170 | 17 - Assets and technology | The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment amend their policies on aerial preparedness and standby arrangements, their dispatch protocols and the management of aircraft in order to do the following: ■ require that at locations that attract the risk assessment or preparedness level A on code red days all personnel needed for air operations must be on standby by 10.00 am; ■ establish a system that enables the dispatch of aircraft to fires in high-risk areas without requiring a request from an Incident Controller or the State Duty Officer. |
REC181-0207 | 5 - Hazard reduction burns | The Department of Sustainability and Environment report annually on prescribed burning outcomes in a manner that meets public accountability objectives, including publishing details of targets, area burnt, funds expended on the program, and impacts on biodiversity. |
REC181-0154 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | The State introduce a comprehensive approach to shelter options that includes the following: ■ developing standards for community refuges as a matter of priority and replacing the 2005 Fire Refuges in Victoria: Policy and Practice; ■ designating community refuges—particularly in areas of very high risk—where other bushfire safety options are limited; ■ working with municipal councils to ensure that appropriate criteria are used for bushfire shelters, so that people are not discouraged from using a bushfire shelter if there is no better option available; ■ acknowledging personal shelters around their homes as a fallback option for individuals. |
REC181-0206 | 5 - Hazard reduction burns | The State fund and commit to implementing a long-term program of prescribed burning based on an annual rolling target of 5 per cent minimum of public land. |
REC181-0151 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | The State revise its bushfire safety policy. While adopting the national Prepare. Act. Survive. framework in Victoria, the policy should do the following: ■ enhance the role of warnings—including providing for timely and informative advice about the predicted passage of a fire and the actions to be taken by people in areas potentially in its path; ■ emphasise that all fires are different in ways that require an awareness of fire conditions, local circumstances and personal capacity; ■ recognise that the heightened risk on the worst days demands a different response; ■ retain those elements of the existing bushfire policy that have proved effective; ■ strengthen the range of options available in the face of fire, including community refuges, bushfire shelters and evacuation; ■ ensure that local solutions are tailored and known to communities through local bushfire planning; ■ improve advice on the nature of fire and house defendability, taking account of broader landscape risks. |
REC181-0171 | 17 - Assets and technology | The State, in conjunction with Emergency Management Australia and the Department of Defence, develop an agreement that allows Commonwealth aerial resources that are suitable for firefighting and support activities to be incorporated in preparedness plans and used on days of high fire risk. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC155-3465 | 5 - Hazard reduction burns | That in order to enhance the protection of community and ecological assets, the Department of Sustainability and Environment increase its annual prescribed burning target from 130,000 hectares to 385,000 hectares. This should be treated as a rolling target, with any shortfalls to be made up in subsequent years. |
REC155-3464 | 5 - Hazard reduction burns | That the Department of Sustainability and Environment implement remote sensing imagery as a routine part of its pre-burn and post-burn assessment process for prescribed burning. Maps of every prescribed burn should be produced in a similar format to those used in Western Australia, indicating the boundary of each burn and the varying fire intensities achieved within the burn area. The boundaries of all Fuel Management Zones within each burn should also be indicated. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC126-1971 | 5 - Hazard reduction burns | That a hazard-reduction program be introduced, involving regular and strategic burning in all areas of the ACT – including the catchment areas – with a view to having fuel-reduced areas in a pattern across the landscape, excluding only small areas of particular ecological or conservation importance |
REC126-1970 | 35 - Business and Industry in relation to industry | That the Emergency Services Agency reconsider and revise the arrangement that exists between the ACT Fire Brigade and Canberra airport in relation to the provision of assistance |
REC126-2008 | 34 - Local knowledge | That, if he is willing to participate, Mr John Lowe be made a member of the implementation taskforce to which I refer in recommendation 70 |
REC126-1975 | 5 - Hazard reduction burns | That prescribed burning operations be conducted according to agreed standard burning prescriptions |
REC126-2007 | 34 - Local knowledge | That the views and concerns expressed by the ACT Sustainable Rural Lands Group be taken into account when implementing the recommendations in this report |
REC126-1973 | 5 - Hazard reduction burns | If it is not part of the proposed version 2 of the Strategic Bushfire Management Plan, that the plan be revised to provide for a fuel-reduction burning regime in the ‘Land Management Zone’ that is equivalent to that contemplated for the corridors designated as the ‘Landscape Division Zone’ and that the regime involve burning areas in rotation to achieve an appropriately varying fire age spectrum across the entire landscape |
REC126-1967 | 40 - Equipment and consumables | That the Emergency Services Agency give priority to ensuring it has guaranteed access to an adequate number and type of bulldozers, as well as experienced operators, during the fire season, for immediate deployment as required |
REC126-1972 | 5 - Hazard reduction burns | That clarification be provided and information be made public in connection with the hazard reduction proposed under the Strategic Bushfire Management Plan for the area designated ‘Land Management Zone’, which appears to cover about 70 per cent of the ACT landscape and might be excluded from fuel-reduction burning |
REC126-2004 | 35 - Business and Industry in relation to industry | That the ACT Government and ActewAGL jointly develop and implement protocols that will create a procedure whereby each of the water and sewerage, electricity and gas distribution networks, or parts thereof, can safely and promptly be manipulated, controlled, shut off, isolated or disconnected under emergency conditions. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC124-3885 | 5 - Hazard reduction burns | Align policies and processes, within the year round 365 day focus on fire management, to provide consistency in the approach to fire regardless of its origins,- that is fuel reduction burning, regeneration and ecological burning or unplanned fire; |
REC124-3884 | 5 - Hazard reduction burns | Develop new prescriptions for prescribed burning to accommodate local conditions in those areas where standard prescriptions are assessed to be inappropriate: |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC104-2233 | 34 - Local knowledge | That communities, public land managers, Water Authorities and Catchment Management Authorities jointly identify and implement local and environmentally sound solutions to improve the availability of water for firefighting through the Municipal Fire Management Planning process. |
REC104-2221 | 35 - Business and Industry in relation to industry | That CFA and the Plantation Industry jointly develop and agree on Fire Prevention Guidelines for Plantations by June 2004, to be then promoted and distributed by the Industry. |
REC104-2251 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That Victoria Police ensure all police members understand the Victorian legislation in relation to evacuation, and that any decision to recommend evacuation remains with the Incident Controller. |
REC104-2246 | 34 - Local knowledge | That DSE undertake community consultation on policies relating to roads and access tracks on public land, particularly in respect to fire management. |
REC104-2203 | 11 - Evacuation and shelters | That CFA further develops the information supporting the decision to stay or go, to incorporate a better understanding of both the likely consequences of leaving home at inappropriate times, and the conditions and |
REC104-2286 | 17 - Assets and technology | That CFA, having regard to terrain, continue to review the mix of firefighting appliances currently in service. In particular, consideration should be given to the number and distribution of smaller ‘slip-on’ type equipment. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC016_3949 | 17 - Assets and technology | It is recommended that the A.R.P. dams or earth tanks be kept filled during possible danger periods. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC015_3962 | 35 - Business and Industry in relation to industry | It is recommended that the matter be submitted to experts, of which there are many in the Public Service; and that such experts determine the best manner of construction. |