Fire - Prepare. Act. Survive.
No one in Victoria - no matter where they live or what their fire experience has been - can afford to be complacent about fire preparation. Individuals and householders have a key role to play in the fire preparation effort.
Uncontrolled fire presents a threat in not only rural areas, but also residential and industrial areas, which make up the majority of the City of Greater Dandenong.
The Municipal Fire Management Plan looks forward three years, taking into account the various environments in which people live and work. The Plan fits in with the Greater Dandenong’s commitment in its community charter to provide for a safer city, providing protection for residents, their homes and businesses.
Links
Emergency Prepare website
The City of Greater Dandenong has joined with three neighbouring councils to highlight the importance of community safety.
Together with Kingston Council, Frankston Council and Mornington Peninsula Shire, Greater Dandenong has launched the Operation Emergency Ready campaign to educate the community and ensure they are emergency ready.
The campaign includes a range of resources, such as a booklet, eight preparedness videos and an interactive website to assist the community in developing their own emergency plans.
FireReady Kit
The CFA has produced the FireReady Kit to help you understand your bushfire risk, prepare your property and develop a Bushfire Survival Plan based on your decision to leave early or to actively defend your property.
Not all homes can be defended from bushfire and survival must be your main priority.
The kit includes five linking publications plus some smaller brochures. The five linking publications have been designed to work together in a sequence.
To order a kit phone the Victorian Bushfire Information Line on 1800 240 667 or go to www.cfa.vic.gov.au.
FireReady app
The Victorian Government's FireReady app provides fire warnings and information and can withstand the high levels of demand expected during peak fire periods.
FireReady app users will be able to see a live incident map for their current location advising them of incidents, warnings, fire danger ratings and total fire bans. Users will automatically receive push notifications for fire danger ratings of Severe, Extreme and Code Red, as well as for days of Total Fire Ban.
The app is available for Apple and Android. For more information about the FireReady app, visit this website.
VicEmergency website
The VicEmergency website has a real-time Google Map display with emergency events including fires, floods, storms, power outages, hazardous material incidents and traffic incidents. It also includes links to important planning and recovery information on fire and flood
To visit VicEmergency, go to www.emergency.vic.gov.au.
Red Cross leave early plan
Being prepared for an emergency can save lives and help people to recover and get back up on their feet more quickly. The Red Cross 'Bushfires -Preparing to Leave Early' Plan assists people to be better prepared, better connected to each other and more resilient when emergencies happen.
Complete the Red Cross 'Bushfires - Preparing to Leave Early' Plan
More information at www.redcross.org.au/emergency-services.aspx.
CFA Neighbourhood Safer Places
In late 2009, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) Act was amended to make provision for Neighbourhood Safer Places (NSPs), in places designated as CFA areas by that Act. This change arose out of a Royal Commission interim report into the Black Saturday Bushfires of February 2009. The City of Greater Dandenong is within the CFA area of Victoria.
The purpose of NSPs is to provide some protection from the effects of radiant heat during a bushfire. NSPs are only intended for use when all other plans have failed. They are not intended as a place to relocate to when leaving early (i.e. they are not meant to be used as relief/recovery centres). NSPs are also not meant to replace personal bushfire survival plans such as leaving early.
Although the City of Greater Dandenong falls within a CFA area, the risk of bushfire for this municipality is considered to be quite low. An assessment was undertaken to assess Greater Dandenong’s fire risk rating, in accordance with the Integrated Fire Management Planning provisions. It shows that structure (building) fires represent the greatest risk in this municipality, whilst bushfire risk is quite low.
With this information in hand, officers have reviewed the NSP requirements and determined that such facilities do not need to be designated within Greater Dandenong.
The principle reasons for this are:
- In the main, Greater Dandenong is an urban municipality, with relatively low risk of bushfire threat. Integrated Fire Management Planning data for Greater Dandenong shows that structure fire represents the greatest risk in this municipality, with the causes of such fires generally being found within the structure.
- Those areas of Greater Dandenong that may be at risk of bushfire are serviced by significant major road networks which have the capacity to enable rapid evacuation. Evacuation to nearby urban areas is therefore seen as the safest and most practical option for residents in these areas.
- All areas of Greater Dandenong are serviced by high-quality roads providing excellent exacuation routes, with most areas having more than one road option via a combination of major and minor roads.
- The CFA who are currently responsible for identifying, assessing and certifying NSP's against their Fire Rating Criteria have not identified any NSPs within Greater Dandenong.
