INQ196

TitleLong
Fire Services Commissioner review of Community Bushfire Warnings (Vic)
Year
InquiryType
DisasterType
State
Status

Recommendations for this Inquiry

INQ-ref REC-UID CODE SubCode SrcNUM Recommendation
INQ196 REC196-0229 C - Response 8 - Communications and warnings

Amend SOP J4.01and other strategic and procedural documents to reflect the goal of ‘timely, relevant and tailored’ for community bushfire warnings.

INQ196 REC196-0245 C - Response 8 - Communications and warnings

Develop a robust evaluation framework to review community bushfire warning policies, processes, systems and procedures both internally and with communities at regular intervals and immediately after a major bushfire event.

INQ196 REC196-0244 C - Response 8 - Communications and warnings

Educate and engage with fire-affected landholders about the types of warnings, what they might expect from the warnings and their responsibility for response to prevent loss of life.

INQ196 REC196-0243 C - Response 8 - Communications and warnings

Review the potential use of ‘crowdsourcing’ sites such as Bushfire Connect in community bushfire warnings.

INQ196 REC196-0242 C - Response 8 - Communications and warnings

Integrate social media into the OSOM system.

INQ196 REC196-0241 C - Response 8 - Communications and warnings

Review OSOM to enable monitoring or tracking of where messages were sent, who they were sent to and when they are due for review.

INQ196 REC196-0240 C - Response 8 - Communications and warnings

Improve links and interactions between the communication systems e.g. customise OSOM messages to each of the communication mechanisms, link OSOM with Emergency Alert.

INQ196 REC196-0239 C - Response 8 - Communications and warnings

Review Emergency Alert and OSOM systems to improve ease of use.

INQ196 REC196-0238 C - Response 34 - Local knowledge

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

INQ196 REC196-0237 C - Response 8 - Communications and warnings

Ensure that warning terminology used in the templates and FireWeb is consistent.

INQ196 REC196-0236 C - Response 8 - Communications and warnings

Review the use of the terms in the templates e.g. ‘out of control’ so that community misconceptions are minimised.

INQ196 REC196-0235 E - Agency Organisation 12 - EM agency and authority

Consider the ‘secondment’ of staff into Information Section roles during the fire season along the lines of the seasonal Project Fire Fighters model

INQ196 REC196-0234 C - Response 34 - Local knowledge

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

INQ196 REC196-0233 E - Agency Organisation 16 - Training and behaviour

Further train Incident Controllers in the management of the Information Section and its roles.

INQ196 REC196-0232 E - Agency Organisation 16 - Training and behaviour

Increase the regularity of training for ICC Information Section staff and encourage pre-season drilling and trials in the use of OSOM and Emergency Alert particularly under critical capacity conditions.

INQ196 REC196-0231 C - Response 8 - Communications and warnings

Allow the MFB and SES access to using OSOM.

INQ196 REC196-0230 A - Responsibility 9 - Community education

Explain the meaning of ‘timely, relevant and tailored’ community bushfire warnings through training and meetings particularly of Information Section staff and Incident Controllers.

INQ196 REC196-0246 C - Response 8 - Communications and warnings

Review the suite of community bushfire warning systems available to tourists across the State.