Victorian Bushfire Inquiry pays dividends

The 2002/2003 bushfires burnt around 1.3 million hectares of our land – the largest bushfires since the tragedy of Black Friday in 1939.

Whilst those of us who went away to fight these fires experienced a lack of co-ordination between the different services, the state and federal government inquiries have accepted that there needs to be a better organised response.

Reviews such as the Inquiry into the 2002-2003 Victorian Bushfires and the 2003 Auditor-General's Performance Audit of Fire Prevention and Preparedness have made recommendations to improve how we prevent, prepare, respond to, and recover from fire.

Funded by the Victorian Government, the Integrated Municipal Fire Management Planning Project (IMFMP) has been established to implement these recommendations. The objective is to coordinate all available resources including the CFA, DSE, Local Government, SES, Police, etc. to respond to emergencies.

At a recent social function in Whitfield, Project Manager Gary Cook, seconded from Wangaratta CFA advised that the program is on target to to release an Initial Discussion Paper on Integrated Fire Management Planning which will include a number of options for consideration. I am hoping for email advice from one of the CFA readers when the paper is released so that we can pass on the information.

After feedback from the stakeholders and the community, a Draft Position Paper incorporating appropriate feedback from the Initial Discussion Paper will then be released for a further period of consultation until the end of November, and the final comments will be considered for inclusion in the Framework to be presented to Government for sign off in December 2005.

RCoW Councillors and those people standing for election to Council should bring themselves up to speed by visiting the link below so thay may be ready to implement the new system for the 2005/6 fire season.

For further information on IMFMP Project Contact
Garry Cook (Project Manager) - 03 9262 8697 Stan Hendy (SES) – 0419 381 343
Shaun Huguenin (DSE) – 0429 020 632 Andrew Andreou (CFA) – 0419 561 259
Norm Free (Local Government) – 0419 521 717
Email: fmp-project@cfa.vic.gov.au

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Source document: IMFMP Home Page

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