Assistant Commissioner interviewed about community engagement

This month on the Building Community Resilience blog we will share several interviews on community engagement with key people in the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS).

Assistant Commissioner Dominic Lane

Our first interview is with Dominic Lane AFSM, Assistant Commissioner and Director of Regional Services.

1. Why does the RFS do community engagement?

While we may have called Community Engagement different names over the years, the RFS has a proud history of working with people to help protect their properties and communities, and help them understand key information like Fire Danger Ratings. For a long time we’ve had a proactive approach to getting the message out, with people who are passionate about community prevention and community safety and want to get involved.

2. Did the 2009 Victorian bush fires change our approach to working with communities? If yes, how?

The Victorian fires did change our approach in a way, but essentially reinforced the need to work closely with our communities. The changes were more significant for Victoria, who had encouraged people to decide between staying or leaving in a bush fire. NSW recognised that there will always be a fire where everyone needs to leave. We take a pragmatic approach to working with our communities by providing them with the information to make informed decisions about their safety and actions.

3. How could members encourage their brigade to get involved in community engagement activities?

"It’s important to keep lifting the

profile of community engagement.

We need champions."

If everyone had a base knowledge of community engagement they may be more willing to get involved. All members of the service would benefit from developing basic skills across all disciplines relevant to the Service, including fire fighting, logistics, aviation support, communications and community engagement. They could then specialise in specific fields of interest. 

4. What is your opinion on people that want to join a brigade but don’t want to fight fires?

I’m a big supporter of flexible membership, where everyone has a valid role, and also support the development of community engagement brigades in areas willing to create them.

Members should complete Bush Fire Awareness training as a minimum before specialising in community engagement, as they need sufficient expertise in topics relating to bush fires to effectively engage the community on bush fire preparation.

5. Do you think brigades would benefit from having community engagement training in areas such as our key messages and products such as Neighbourhood Safer Places?

Absolutely. There is value in key messages being included as part of the standard training doctrine for Brigades, so that members understand what they should be telling the community about topics like Fire Danger Ratings and Neighbourhood Safer Places.

I believe the RFS needs to improve its understanding of community engagement and that staff and members would benefit from at least a minimum level of awareness about the aims of engagement.

6. Are there any groups in the community that are a priority to engage with?

I think grass fires will be a priority for the near future. There are farmers in the west of NSW that have started preparing fire breaks now for the next bush fire season in October. We need more farmers like that, who understand the risk we face and prepare for it. The biggest challenge in achieving change for this group is geographic isolation.

I also think we need to maintain a focus on the parts of Sydney where the bush goes right up to the edge of urban areas. There are always new people moving into high bush fire risk areas, which means we constantly need to educate people about bush fire prevention and mitigation.

7. How do you think a history of doing community engagement with a community helps with other fire fighting and brigade activities?

"Community engagement activities strengthen

 Brigades and give them a reason for being

during quiet times."

You can see which towns have brigades with good engagement programs. There are better relationships between the Service and local government, fire messages are displayed around town, the Brigades have a good knowledge of the community, and there is a lot of activity from proactive members recorded in the Bushfire Risk Information Management System (BRIMS).

"Community engagement is not a

‘support’ role: it is core business."

A prepared community, one that is aware and has prepared for a bush fire so knows what to do, can be a huge benefit and make a lot of difference to when we do have to fight a fire. A prepared home is also a much safer property for our fire fighters to defend.

8. Is there any message you would like to give to our members passionate about community engagement?

Keep up the good work!