We recommend that DELWP in partnership with Parks Victoria, Country Fire Authority, Fire Rescue Victoria and councils as appropriate, collect empirical evidence after bushfire events to assess the effectiveness of different fuel management treatments, including planned burning, mulching, slashing and mineral earth breaks, and build an evidence base to the effectiveness of these treatments.

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.

We recommend that DELWP enhances bushfire modelling by: - exploring multiple bushfire modelling tools to lower the uncertainty and limitations associated with using a single modelling tool - applying more detailed fire-severity data - validating and updating fuel accumulation curves - establishing and regularly updating an archive of well-documented fire events and using this to systematically test it against a broad range of burning and fuel conditions - establishing and implementing processes to routinely review and update its underlying datasets.

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: 
(a) community isolation 
(b) prolonged emergencies 
(c) community-led activation of centres.

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:
(a) a common understanding of community-led recovery
(b) the role of communities in recovery planning
(c) the support, training and resources required to enable community-led recovery.

The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Emergency Management Victoria – in consultation with relevant agencies – develop a system to manage personnel and asset deployments to all tiers of incident management to meet the needs of the emergency and support the health and wellbeing of personnel. Where appropriate and within occupational health and safety requirements, this may include:
a) standardised shift rosters across agencies and incident management tiers
b) a single or integrated platform to allow consistent recording of shift times and locations
c) records of accreditation, qualification, training and currency. 

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:
a) high risk areas (including remote locations)
b) early evacuation triggers
c) the potential for isolated communities
d) the presence of tourists and non-residents
e) individual decisions to not evacuate
f) the inability to evacuate
g) consequence management and compounding events such as the loss of essential services or health impacts. 

The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (or the single entity referenced in Recommendation 4) lead the development and distribution of evidence-based land and fuel management tools for use by all legislated fuel management organisations to ensure a common approach to fuel management. 

The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that the State support the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (or the single entity referenced in Recommendation 4) and its partners to expand the Safer Together program to:
a) increase program uptake and adoption by legislated fuel management organisations including local government, the Department of Transport and VicTrack
b) implement a consistent risk-based approach to fuel management program planning from strategic through to operational and tactical levels supported by appropriate risk assessment tools, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting mechanisms
c) develop common spatial datasets for use by all road managers, standardising road and roadside fuel maintenance levels based on bushfire risk and sharing resources to maintain continuous roadsides managed by multiple parties. 

DELWP and its partner agencies, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services, should undertake research into the specific effects on health of people affected by planned burns and the information should be made public. The study should include the direct impact of smoke on affected populations and impacts on water, food supplies and livestock.

That any such pilot program ought to be managed by the relevant indigenous organisations, with support provided by DELWP and its partner agencies and the development and the evaluation of any pilot program should be overseen by an independent and reputable academic or research institution.

That Government provide support in the form of funding for the Return to the Firestick project, and that a formal pilot scheme be established where data can be collected, collated and analysed and the effectiveness of this approach be compared against current burning practices.

The State equip itself to undertake rapid air quality monitoring in any location in Victoria, to: • collect all relevant data, including data on PM , carbon monoxide and ozone; and 2.5 • ensure this data is used to inform decision-making within 24 hours of the incident occurring.

The State should continue the long-term health study, and: • extend the study to at least 20 years; • appoint an independent board, which includes Latrobe Valley community representatives, to govern the study; and • direct that the independent board publish regular progress reports

Local knowledge on the management and ongoing maintenance of waterways, including vegetation clearing and debris removal, needs to be incorporated in the development of regional flood mitigation strategies and local flood plans. Specifically:
• the process of flood risk assessment must include community consultation, and these views will inform development of both floodplain management studies, and floodplain implementation plans;
• in the absence of a formal planning process, councils and authorities undertaking significant ad hoc works on waterways for flood mitigation and protection must involve the local community; and
• the revised Victoria Flood Management Strategy and Victorian River Health Strategy will clearly articulate this process.

Public authorities such as councils and CMAs should continue to seek local knowledge in relation to flood management issues. In particular, councils will collaborate with VICSES and other key stakeholders in reviewing the system of flood wardens. Roles and responsibilities of flood wardens, and the process for their recruitment, should be formalised and clearly articulated in relevant flood management plans.

The state government establish a well coordinated and formalised system for the reading of river gauges by local people, including flood wardens. Furthermore, the knowledge of local people in predicting flood heights and impacts should be considered by emergency management agencies when predicting floods.

Flood studies will be undertaken to determine the flood extent on the basis of a greater than 1 in 100 ARI, where appropriate:
• The Water Act 1989 to be amended.

Agency incident management preparedness: refining IT tools to process the intelligence.

Agency incident management preparedness: provide clarity and certainty in specific roles and responsibilities for each agency.

Agency incident management preparedness: a more comprehensive approach to planning, including the number of personnel, their training and better use of on-the-ground intelligence in the affected areas that enables immediate and strategic decision-making to be concurrent processes.

Fire services can improve outcomes by developing a checklist for use by incident controllers

the state ensure that regional and local flood plans incorporate all available flood mapping and intelligence, including assessments of levees and flood consequence information.

the state comprehensively pursue the objective of achieving (where possible) the priority outcomes of the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience and the imperative of shared responsibility, in particular by: • requiring that local knowledge is considered as a critical component of all phases of emergency management • involving local communities in the development and ownership of community resilience plans based on an ‘all hazards’ approach and tailored for the specific needs of each community • encouraging local communities to form resilience committees to develop and administer community resilience plans • nominating Victoria Police as the lead agency in initiating the strategy to develop community resilience committees; and • requiring emergency service agencies to consult and engage with local community resilience committees in the preparation, planning, response and recovery phases of emergency management.

the state establish appropriate arrangements to ensure the capacity to maintain technical expertise for flood intelligence is initiated, including appropriate agreements with commercial experts.

the state ensure that any new systems and equipment purchased by state emergency management agencies are interoperable with other relevant agencies to the fullest extent possible. This should involve the state establishing a procurement gateway process with input from the Emergency Services Commissioner.

the state clarify the role of intelligence cell staff (for example, hydrologists and/or Catchment Management Authority) who are utilised in Incident Control Centres during flood events

the state take into account any outcomes from the Commonwealth Government’s flood mapping reviews in the continual development of the Victorian flood database and to incorporate into the database flood data currently held by Melbourne Water.

the state take the necessary measures to upgrade existing manual stream and rain gauges and ensure that all future gauges provide a seamless transfer of data from the gauges to the Bureau of Meteorology.

the state take the necessary measures to require that local knowledge is considered in flood risk planning, including verification of flood maps and flood response plans.

the state, in consultation with Bureau of Meteorology and Melbourne Water, take the necessary action to ensure that all flood warnings issued are linked to the geographical location of the gauge the data was derived from.

the state establish standards for flood mapping to ensure they are kept contemporary and meet the purposes of landuse risk planning and emergency response. In doing so, maps should extend where appropriate to include Probable Maximum Flood, over a range of Annual Exceedence Probability levels and be explicitly linked to a stream gauge.

The Fire Services Commissioner ensures that there is a single standard for the tabards worn by the IMT on the fireground and in control centres to ensure consistency and aid interoperability.

The Fire Services Commissioner clarifies the role of regional controller for major fires and incidents other than bushfire.

Ensure that local knowledge, local flavour and local language is used where possible in the development of all community bushfire warnings.

Encourage ICCs to use local knowledge to review templates prior to release.

The Fire Services develop a program that enables all communication mediums, including social media and agency websites, to be monitored in real time to provide quality assurance for outgoing messages and additional sources of information and intelligence relating to an emergency

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.

The Fire Services ensure that an incident action plan (summary) is developed in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedure J3.03.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The State identify a central point of responsibility for and expertise in mapping bushfire risk to: ■ review urgently the mapping criteria at present used by the Country Fire Authority to map the Wildfire Management Overlay, to ensure that the mapping used to determine building and planning controls is based on the best available science and takes account of all relevant aspects of bushfire risk; ■ map and designate Bushfire-prone Areas for the purposes of planning and building controls, in consultation with municipal councils and fire agencies; ■ finalise the alignment of site-assessment methods for planning and building purposes, taking into account bushfire risk to human safety as well as to property.

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.

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.

The Commonwealth establish a national centre for bushfire research in collaboration with other Australian jurisdictions to support pure, applied and long-term research in the physical, biological and social sciences relevant to bushfires and to promote continuing research and scholarship in related disciplines.

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.

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.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment significantly upgrade its program of long-term data collection to monitor and model the effects of its prescribed burning programs and of bushfires on biodiversity in Victoria.

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.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment conduct biodiversity mapping identifying flora, fauna and any threatened species throughout Victoria and make the results publicly available. The format used should be compatible with that used for Bushfire-prone Area mapping.

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment improve mapping support in the following ways: ■ DSE providing mapping data free of charge to emergency response agencies; ■ greatly increasing the CFA’s ‘write’ access to FireMap for incident management team staff; ■ establishing a joint DSE–CFA training program to ensure that mapping officers in level 2 and 3 incident management teams are fully trained in using FireMap, including in producing fire prediction maps; ■ requiring before the 2010–11 fire season that FireMap be used for joint incidents.

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.

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.

That port/channel managers are required to identify in the declared asset system (in conjunction with the emergency services) critical Level 1 declared assets and other Level 2 declared assets, that may be required in support of a marine emergency within the port, and that identified resource availability, accessibility and call out time is recorded.

That the nominated marine safety authority is responsible for development of a declared asset system and is required to ensure that port/channel managers utilise and maintain the declared asset system.

That port/channel managers are required to ensure, through service agreements, licensing, direct acquisition or other means as appropriate, the availability of the critical Level 1declared assets.
As a minimum, Level 1 declared assets must include:
• emergency harbour towage;
• waterborne firefighting capability that is commensurate with risk and in accordance with the
standards endorsed by the nominated marine safety authority and relevant fire services;
• vessel/s that can transport and transfer emergency services personnel to ships from shore;
• vessel/s suitable for command and control platforms on the water;
• any other critical service requirements as determined by the nominated marine safety
authority.

The Office of the Emergency Services Commissioner facilitate further research into technologies that will reduce the need for the public to speak to an operator during an emergency as a component of the proposed emergency warning and alert system and Victorian Emergency Information Line.

That the Department of Sustainability and Environment and its partner agencies conduct or commission research, and a possible trial study, to determine the potential of thinning and other silvicultural practices – whether alone or in combination with prescribed burning – as a means of reducing fuel loads and as a bushfire management strategy in Victoria’s forests.

Biosecurity Victoria should enhance controls to provide assurance regarding data integrity. This process should include:
• working with local government to provide accurate and complete property data across the state
• enhancing processes for ensuring consistent notification of disease events across regions
• reviewing all processes related to the collation, input, processing, output and protection of data to improve the integrity of the system.

Analysing information from the joint CFA/DSE Post 2006 Wildfire Community Survey about public perceptions of information provision during January bushfires. Note implications for the VBIL and other information provision methods

That agencies assess the cost-effectiveness of establishing a dedicated and proven asset management information system which is integrated with the other information systems used to manage drainage assets.

That DPI upgrades the Crop Health Services diagnostic database so that it alerts PSB and PIRVIC to the receipt of samples from nearby areas with similar symptoms and can be linked to other PIRVIC diagnostic databases.

That DPI establishes a system to ensure the security of all samples at all times, but particularly during their handling and transport.

That the recommendations of the 2000 DPI report into the reference collection’s storage facility be implemented, to secure the collection in a purpose-built facility.

That DSE undertake community consultation on policies relating to roads and access tracks on public land, particularly in respect to fire management.

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.

That DSE institute additional routine data storage and analysis to supplement current climate records with at least daily 3 pm values for the Grassland and Forest Fire Danger Index, and Keetch-Byram Drought Index, for selected high quality stations representing a cross-section of environments throughout Victoria. 

That operational briefings in multi-agency fires should, wherever possible, be joint briefings of all agencies involved.

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.

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.

That the ‘Incident Objectives’ established for any response should reflect the endorsed Statewide ‘Fire Control Priorities’, and the relevant Municipal Fire Management Plan.

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
emotional impacts likely to be experienced during the passage of the fire front.

That Government acknowledge the importance of spatial information as a key element of planning, operations and program evaluation, and support the Geospatial Emergency Information Network as a means of ensuring integrated and co-ordinated information management on a whole-ofGovernment basis.

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. 

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.

That DSE and CFA map all unplanned fires greater than four hectares on public and private land in order to further develop an understanding of the risk to rural Victoria from unplanned fires.

That all emergency service agencies, CFA and DSE in particular, give greater priority to information management – especially the collection, maintenance and quality control of base data sets necessary for planning, operations and program evaluation.

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. 

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.

That DSE undertake a formal study of the level of prescribed burning in south western Australia for its possible application in Victoria by comparing respective fuel arrays, terrain, weather, ground access, staff, prescribed burning days, areas conducive to prescribed burning and fire response systems.

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.

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.

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.

That DSE and CFA, recognising that the Bureau of Meteorology does not routinely store all variables required to produce the calculations and indices necessary for research and planning into fire occurrence and behaviour, develop appropriate systems to ensure that such current and historical information is readily available and accessible.

That DSE and CFA ensure that:
• A clear process is established for determining whether a specific location is, or is no longer, a ‘no go zone’ or an area into which it is too dangerous to deploy resources, and that affected communities are advised as soon as possible of the determination, the reasons for such determination and what actions they should take as a result; and
• Where the Incident Management Team, Division Commander, Sector Commander and/or Strike Team Leader identify an area as a ‘no go zone’ or an area into which it is too dangerous to deploy resources, the reasons for that designation are recorded by the Incident Management Team in the incident log.

It is recommended that the A.R.P. dams or earth tanks be kept filled during possible danger periods.

That the use of a spark-arrester and cinder-arrester by the Railway Department shall not constitute a defence to an action for damage caused by fire escaping from a locomotive, unless the Department proves that such spark-arrester and cinder-arrester were in a thoroughly efficient condition when the fire took place. 

That the standard pattern of cinder arrester be affixed to the ash-pans in all locomotives during the summer months.

That the Railway Department, while gradually reducing the number of different types of locomotives, should steadily keep in view the adoption of English and American railway practice, by providing engines with larger boilers, fire boxers, and smoke-boxes, and with wide blast-pipes, in order to insure ample steaming power with a minimum of forced draught.