REC315-3865 |
8 - Communications and warnings
8 - Communications and warnings
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That the NSW RFS include the following priorities in the Fires Near Me improvements roadmap:
a) text enlargement functionality
b) a clear statement about the app’s limitations and the importance of heeding public warnings and relying on personal observations
c) fire spread prediction maps on extreme/catastrophic days d) update fire map information as technology improves.
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REC315-3817 |
5 - Hazard reduction burns
5 - Hazard reduction burns
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That Government, noting that hazard reduction targeted in proximity to assets is on balance more likely to provide help than hinder, should:
a) support local councils and partner agencies to implement more comprehensive hazard
reduction at a local level around towns/cities, communities and local infrastructure assets, and provide incentives for communities to organise themselves to prioritise and implement local hazard reduction initiatives. This will involve a suite of hazard reduction techniques depending on the landscape including prescribed burning, clearing, mowing, and mechanical treatments, and easy disposal of green waste into processors turning it into bioenergy or biofuels
b) beyond the local level priorities for hazard reduction, prioritise prescribed burning in parts of the landscape where fuel treatment may help reduce probability of fires escalating quickly and where terrain and potential atmospheric interactions are likely to escalate fires into fire-generated thunderstorms. This will likely involve a proactive program of treating ridge tops that are prone to dry lightning where reduced fuels may help reduce speed of spread when the fire first starts, or particular windward or lee-slopes that are susceptible to generating extreme fire behaviour and drive fire towards towns.
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REC315-3862 |
8 - Communications and warnings
8 - Communications and warnings
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That, in order to improve information flows and increase public awareness of ABC emergency broadcasts, Government:
a) include an ABC Manager in the Public Information Functional Area Coordinator (PIFAC) team within the State Operations Centre
b) strategically place roadside signage with local/regional ABC station frequency band throughout the State.
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REC315-3816 |
5 - Hazard reduction burns
5 - Hazard reduction burns
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That Government re-commit to the current, regionally based approach to planning and coordinating hazard reduction activities across all tenures through Bush Fire Management Committees but ensure that it is actually being implemented at a high-level of quality across NSW. Getting it to a high-level of quality requires:
a) implementing the Inquiry’s recommendation about performance auditing of Bush Fire Risk Management Plans
b) prioritising implementation of revised processes for bush fire risk management planning that incorporate new modelling and methods for quantifying risk and the residual risk profile as a result of proposed hazard reduction works
c) ensuring regional priorities for hazard reduction, and how they are determined, are communicated clearly to the community, and their implementation is reported on transparently. This will include being very clear about the objectives of hazard reduction activities and communicating that hazard reduction does not eliminate the risk of fire affecting properties
d) the methodology for assessing and planning for risk reduction becomes an ongoing area of research and the frameworks are formally reviewed every three years.
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REC315-3850 |
3 - Biodiversity
3 - Biodiversity
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That Government develop and implement a policy on injured wildlife response, rescue and rehabilitation including:
a) a framework for the co-ordination and interaction with emergency management structures
b) guidelines for Incident Management Plans to include wildlife rescue and rehabilitation as a consideration
c) a requirement for all vets and wildlife rescue volunteers to obtain the Bush Fire Awareness accreditation
d) guidance for firefighters on handling injured wildlife.
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REC315-3811 |
8 - Communications and warnings
8 - Communications and warnings
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That in order to provide greater consistency in public information and warnings, especially in border areas:
a) the finalisation of the Australian Warning System be prioritised to provide greater consistency in public information and warnings
b) the NSW State Emergency Management Committee, including the Public Information and Warnings Sub-Committee, prioritise the implementation of the Australian Warning System and data standards for relevant hazards within NSW.
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REC315-3833 |
3 - Biodiversity
3 - Biodiversity
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That Government invest in long-term ecosystem and land management monitoring, modelling, forecasting, research and evaluation, and harness citizen science in this effort. This will include, among other things:
- tracking and trying to forecast what is happening to ecosystems over decades under projected changes to climate extremes, including fire regime change
- better understanding interaction of fire with other disturbances, e.g. drought, hydrological changes in the landscape
- commissioning experiments and feasibility studies for ecosystem adaptation experiments – for example, facilitating shift of high conservation-value rainforest vegetation communities further south as climatic conditions change
- better understanding the influence of different land management practices on landscape flammability (in different landscapes) over the short, medium and long-term, and enabling an adaptive management approach.
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REC315-3832 |
8 - Communications and warnings
8 - Communications and warnings
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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:
- a public education campaign (like sun exposure), to help people make their own decisions about exposure to bush fire smoke
- tailored messaging to target:
* smoke-vulnerable cohorts of the community
* general practitioners, particularly in rural and regional areas, so they can advise patients with relevant, susceptible comorbidities
* employers, to support development of appropriate workplace health and safety guidance for outdoor workers
* an improved air quality alert system such as an enhanced Air Rater app.
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REC315-3824 |
1 - Land-use and building regs
1 - Land-use and building regs
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That Government commit to shifting to a strategic approach to planning for bush fire, and develop a new NSW Bush Fire Policy similar to the NSW Flood Prone Land Policy in order to accommodate changing climate conditions and the increasing likelihood of catastrophic bush fire conditions; to build greater resilience into both existing and future communities; and to decrease costs associated with recovery and rebuilding.
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