By December 2023, the Rural Fire Service should: develop a strategy to ensure that local brigade volunteers are adequate in numbers and appropriately trained to operate fleet appliances in the RFS Districts where they are required.

Relief and recovery capability: The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Emergency Management Victoria and the entity referred to in Recommendation 13, or otherwise responsible government department develop and resource an ongoing strategy to coordinate spontaneous volunteers that can be activated before, during or after emergencies.

That, in order to minimise communication outages and extend basic communication coverage during bush fires, the NSW Government work directly, or together with other Australian governments and/or their relevant power and telecommunications regulatory, policy and market bodies, to:
- ensure there are sufficient redundancy options available (e.g. backup diesel generators, deployed temporary telecommunications facilities, etc.) to supply power to essential telecommunication infrastructure or alternative telecommunications infrastructure
- ensure that the telecommunication entities’ and electricity network providers’ Bush Fire Risk Management Plans are updated annually and reported on in the NSW RFS Commissioner’s annual statement to Parliament on the upcoming bush fire season and include details of all actions taken to mitigate those risks including maintenance of APZs and access roads
- ensure there is appropriate auditing of distributors’ preparedness for risks arising from network assets being affected by bush fire, as well as the risk of networks initiating a bush fire
- facilitate cross-carrier roaming arrangements between carriers and the public for basic text, voice and data during the period of emergency in areas directly affected by fire
- enable NSW RFS to require carriers to provide regular information on the status of outages and areas affected by fire.

That, in order to maximise the protection of critical infrastructure in a bush fire, Australian governments revise the regulatory framework for the provision to government authorities of information about all critical infrastructure (public and private) including a possible change to compel the owners of critical assets to provide all needed metadata, updated annually, for appropriate planning, preparation and response for bush fire. This would include information about location, ownership, access, details of service the infrastructure supports, and fire treatments of building and surrounding zones.

That, in order to improve response times to Triple Zero calls, the NSW RFS implements the integrated dispatch system before the 2020-21 fire season commences.

That, to ensure mobile generators are sourced and distributed on a priority basis during natural disasters, the EUSFAC work with the NSW Telco Authority, relevant NSW government agencies and commercial stakeholders to develop a mobile asset deployment strategy. The strategy should reduce duplication in purchasing, maintaining and housing mobile generators and improve agility in deployment.

To enhance shared capacity and collaboratively manage risk, the Chair of the Bundaberg LDMG use the Queensland Emergency Risk Management Framework (QERMF) process to determine if dam failure for Paradise Dam should be reported as a residual risk to the Bundaberg DDMG in this instance due to known changes in the risk profile. 

To increase understanding of hazards and manage risks, dam failure for Paradise Dam be included as a separate risk within the Bundaberg LDMP. 

To enable a shared understanding of the risk, changes in the risk profile of referable dams be clearly communicated by entities that own dams to stakeholders and the community likely to be affected. The communication process starts immediately after the change is identified, is tailored to its audience, makes clear the scale of the change, and is documented so that stakeholders and the community can make informed decisions for managing risks. 

Local disaster management groups should focus on the business continuity of local critical infrastructure and its integration with other plans.

Establish emergency services ICT redundancy arrangements for damage loss of communications infrastructure.

Personal protective equipment (masks, gowns, gloves, goggles) – review supply/distribution arrangements.

Improve information about electricity demand during heatwaves.

Personal protective equipment (masks, gowns, gloves, goggles) – enhance stocktake methods.

Review volunteering arrangements to improve recruitment and retention.

Review temporary bridge stockpile for adequacy (DSG).

Telecommunications and Power Infrastructure
Noting the high reliance within the community on power and telecommunications
infrastructure, there would be benefit for Governments at both State and Federal level to
work with power providers and telecommunications companies to better define disaster
response and recovery responsibilities, and to identify options for increasing redundancies in
networks in order to improve surety of service

Coordination of Volunteer Support
A key challenge for recovery staff is the coordination across community volunteer groups and
individuals to ensure support provided is complementary and directed to the areas in most
need. This is an important activity that should be considered in future recovery planning.
Establishing formal working partnerships with key volunteer organisations that outline
expectations during recovery operations is recommended.

That in recognition of their commitment to the community volunteers employed by the State Government should be released to assist as volunteers for up to five (5) days per year in appropriately identified emergency operations.

That corporate support, such as administration and finance, to volunteer services be shared to enable a closer working relationship between the services.

That RFSQ review local SAP function and delegation to enable effective and timely support for volunteers.

That each District office establish and maintain a register of suitably qualified Australasian Inter-service Incident Management System trained volunteers who are prepared to undertake the management of operations and provide these to the District Fire Management Group.

The Assets and Equipment Register be reviewed prior to each fire season.

Implement maintenance schedules for all common assets and shared equipment.

Update the Asset and Equipment Register for all assets and equipment.

Conduct a stocktake of all assets and equipment in all regions for Bushfires NT and Volunteer Brigades.

Conduct a stocktake of all PPE and implement a top up program to bring all PPE to a fully operational standard.

An equipment replacement schedule for all Bushfires NT equipment be developed.

Energy Safe Victoria ensures that the standards for vegetation clearance around power lines consider the impact of fire on electrical infrastructure and the risk of loss of electricity supply to the community.

The Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority, in partnership with Telstra, consider technological solutions to streamline the handover process for Triple Zero calls.

Energy Safe Victoria finalise the development of the passport system to improve interstate mutual aid arrangements allowing operator access to qualified interstate power restoration personnel.

Electricity distribution businesses develop and implement alternative arrangements for monitoring fallen powerlines.

The Working Group recommends that State/Territory emergency management plans should explicitly take the need for rapid assessment of damaged physical infrastructure into account. The importance of rapid physical infrastructure assessment in ensuring the supply of utilities including sewerage and drainage, electricity, water and gas to residential structures and other types should be recognised and considered. 

That CFA, VICSES and other volunteer-based emergency service organisations develop proposals in support of the strategies for sustainable volunteerism, and that the State Government advocate these initiatives to the Federal Government.

That Government review legislation for utilities operating within the State to ensure their involvement in regional fire preparedness and mitigation planning.