INQ181

The State revise its bushfire safety policy. While adopting the national Prepare. Act. Survive.

The State clarify whether, during major fires, Victoria Police should discharge its coordination functions from the State Emergency Response Coordination Centre or from the State Control Centre.

The State consider amending the Emergency Management Act 1986 and the Emergency Management Manual Victoria in order to achieve the following: ■ remove the title of Coordinator in Chief of Emergency Management from the Minister for Police and Emergency Services; ■ clarify the function and powers o

The State consider either amending the Emergency Management Act 1986 or adopting a standing practice to require the Minister for Police and Emergency Services or the Chief Commissioner of Police to consult the Premier about the possibility of declaring a state of disaster for all of or any part o

The State consider amending the Emergency Management Act 1986 to introduce a graded scale of emergency declarations short of a state of disaster.

The Victorian fire agencies amend the AIIMS framework before the 2010–11 fire season in order to do the following: ■ designate the Information Unit as a separate section reporting directly to the Incident Controller and require that the Information Unit contain a dedicated Public Information Offi

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 t

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; ■

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

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 Country Fire Authority provide to all CFA volunteers an identification card or similar to facilitate their passage through roadblocks established in accordance with the 2009 Guidelines for the Operation of Traffic Management Points during Wildfires.

The State revise the approach to community bushfire safety education in order to: ■ ensure that its publications and educational materials reflect the revised bushfire safety policy; ■ equip all fire agency personnel with the information needed to effectively communicate the policy to the public

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

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 Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment standardise their operating systems and information and communications technologies with the aim of achieving greater efficiency and interoperability between agencies.

The Country Fire Authority review and improve its communications strategy as a matter of priority and develop a program for identifying and responding to black spots in radio coverage.

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment amend their procedures for investigating safety incidents and ‘near-misses’ to ensure that all dangerous incidents, including back-burns, are fully investigated and that all relevant people are consulted and informed

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment require without exception that all relevant staff be trained in the need for Incident Controller approval to be obtained before a back-burn is lit.

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment adopt the title ‘safety officer’ (as opposed to ‘safety adviser’) and require without exception that a safety officer be appointed to every level 3 incident management team.

The State amend the Regulations under Victoria’s Electricity Safety Act 1998 and otherwise take such steps as may be required to give effect to the following: ■ the progressive replacement of all SWER (single-wire earth return) power lines in Victoria with aerial bundled cable, underground cablin

The State (through Energy Safe Victoria) require distribution businesses to change their asset inspection standards and procedures to require that all SWER lines and all 22-kilovolt feeders in areas of high bushfire risk are inspected at least every three years.

The State (through Energy Safe Victoria) require distribution businesses to review and modify their current practices, standards and procedures for the training and auditing of asset inspectors to ensure that registered training organisations provide adequate theoretical and practical training fo

The State establish mechanisms for helping municipal councils to undertake local planning that tailors bushfire safety options to the needs of individual communities.

The State amend the regulatory framework for electricity safety to require that distribution businesses adopt, as part of their management plans, measures to reduce the risks posed by hazard trees—that is, trees that are outside the clearance zone but that could come into contact with an electric

Municipal councils include in their municipal fire prevention plans for areas of high bushfire risk provision for the identification of hazard trees and for notifying the responsible entities with a view to having the situation redressed.

The State (through Energy Safe Victoria) require distribution businesses to do the following: ■ disable the reclose function on the automatic circuit reclosers on all SWER lines for the six weeks of greatest risk in every fire season; ■ adjust the reclose function on the automatic circuit reclose

The State (through Energy Safe Victoria) require distribution businesses to do the following: ■ fit spreaders to any lines with a history of clashing or the potential to do so; ■ fit or retrofit all spans that are more than 300 metres long with vibration dampers as soon as is reasonably practicab

The State amend the regulatory framework for electricity safety to strengthen Energy Safe Victoria’s mandate in relation to the prevention and mitigation of electricity-caused bushfires and to require it to fulfil that mandate.

Victoria Police continue to pursue a coordinated statewide approach to arson prevention and regularly review its approach to ensure that it contains the following elements: ■ high-level commitment from senior police; ■ a research program aimed at refining arson prevention and detection strategies

The Commonwealth, states and territories continue to pursue the National Action Plan to Reduce Bushfire Arson in Australia, giving priority to producing a nationally consistent framework for data collection and evaluating current and proposed programs in order to identify and share best-practice

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 contr

The State implement a regional settlement policy that: ■ takes account of the management of bushfire risk, including that associated with small, undeveloped rural lots; ■ includes a process for responding to bushfire risk at the planning stage for new urban developments in regional cities, the pr

The State amend the Victoria Planning Provisions relating to bushfire to ensure that the provisions give priority to the protection of human life, adopt a clear objective of substantially restricting development in the areas of highest bushfire risk—giving due consideration to biodiversity conser

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 hig

The Country Fire Authority amend its guidelines for assessing permit applications for dwellings, nondwellings and subdivisions in the Bushfire-prone Overlay in order to accommodate the amendments to the Wildfire Management Overlay that are implemented as a result of recommendation 39 and make the

The State: ■ amend the Victoria Planning Provisions to require that, when assessing a permit to remove native vegetation around an existing dwelling, the responsible authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment, as referral authority, take into account fire hazard and give weigh

The Department of Sustainability and Environment develop and administer a collective offset solution for individual landholders who are permitted to remove native vegetation for the purpose of fire protection.

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 produce for community guidance material on fire-resistant landscape and garden design, including a list of fire-resistant species.

The State press municipal councils—in particular, Murrindindi Shire Council—to urgently adopt a bushfire policy in their Local Planning Policy Framework and incorporate bushfire risk management in their planning policies and strategies for rebuilding communities such as Marysville, Kinglake and o

The State develop and implement a retreat and resettlement strategy for existing developments in areas of unacceptably high bushfire risk, including a scheme for non-compulsory acquisition by the State of land in these areas.

Standards Australia do the following: ■ amend the objective of AS 3959-2009, Construction of Buildings in Bushfire-prone Areas, to ensure that it incorporates reducing the risk of ignition from ember attack; ■ review, and amend as appropriate, the testing methods prescribed in its standards for T

The Australian Building Codes Board do the following: ■ amend the performance requirements in the Building Code of Australia to ensure that they incorporate reducing the risk of ignition from ember attack; ■ work with Standards Australia to effect expeditious continuing review and development of

The State modify its adoption of the Building Code of Australia for the following purposes: ■ to remove deemed-to-satisfy provisions for the construction of buildings in BAL-FZ (the Flame Zone); ■ to apply bushfire construction provisions to non-residential buildings that will be occupied by peop

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.

Standards Australia move expeditiously to develop a standard for bushfire sprinklers and sprayers.

The Victorian Building Commission, in conjunction with the Country Fire Authority, develop, publish and provide to the community and industry information about ways in which existing buildings in bushfire-prone areas can be modified to incorporate bushfire safety measures.

The State develop and implement, in consultation with local government, a mechanism for sign-off by municipal councils of any permit conditions imposed under the Bushfire-prone Overlay and the regular assessment of landowners’ compliance with conditions.

The State amend s.

The State amend the Country Fire Authority Act 1958 to enable the Chief Officer to delegate the power to issue fire prevention notices.