The revised Bush Fire Survival Plan

Volunteers and their families at a photo shoot

The electronic version of the revised Bush Fire Survival Plan has been released and we would love any feedback.

It has been a real team effort to deliver with input from a lot of people. Some of our volunteers did some proof reading and reviewing for us, other volunteers and some staff participated in the photo shoots, our Facebook page NSW RFS Community Engagement Face Book participants assisted with the myths section and we also received some feedback at the forums. So to all those who participated in some way a big thank you!

So what will you notice different from the first version of the Bush Fire Survival Plan? Well in line with the national position some of the wording has changed around the Fire Danger Rating and some other key messages.

It is now spiral bound with a magnet to attach it to your fridge or filing cabinet

The newly design good house for children to colour in.

There is a childrens section with some totally new artwork to encourage children to think about what they would take with them if they had to leave. These are intended as family conversation starters - to encourage families to talk about what they would do if ever threatened by a fire.

A new 'Good house' and 'Bad house' in regards to bush fire preparation has also been developed.

The house that is not prepared!

When you open the revised Bush Fire Survival Plan you will notice that the design is also totally new and aligned with our new range of Fact Sheets.

We also developed some icons or symbols for Stay and Defend or Leave Early.

The Emergency Survival kit  had input from the SES. We are working together to make emergency kit preparation as easy and practical as possible for both storm and fire preparations.

The actual plans to fill in are also different with an increased emphasis on having a back up plan.

There is also a full page explaining Neighbourhood Safer Places - places of last resort.

Animals form a very important role in many peoples lives and this is also recognised in the revised Bush Fire Survival Plan.

For those who will be at the Wingecarribee Community Safety meeting tomorrow night we are hoping to bring some copies for you hot off the press!

To down load the revised plan go to revised Bush Fire Survival Plan

The revised Bush Fire Survival Plan is now available for download http://ow.ly/3gjFO Total new style with some new features!

Does Community Engagement in the NSW RFS Matter to You?

The work our volunteers and staff undertake in Community Engagement in the NSW RFS is critical for improving Community Bush Fire Safety.

Engagement Matters is a tool to support them with their Community Engagement activites.

What is Engagement Matters?

Engagement Matters is an electronic newsletter designed to:

• Provide information about the latest community engagement news, events and activities happening around the state
• Give our volunteers and staff a place where they can share their stories, initiatives and good news
• Offer tips, tools and resources to help improve skills and knowledge
• Increase communication between community engagement practitioners in the RFS.

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Traditional Fire Management Workshop

 

Five RFS staff had the opportunity to participate in a Traditional Fire Management Workshop in Cape York earlier this year. The purpose of the workshop was to record traditional knowledge in a modern world and to give Aboriginal people the skills in fire and land management using a variety of techniques. Over a week, RFS staff camped in the Aboriginal community and along with rangers, traditional owners and others, participated in planned burning, flora and fauna surveying and GIS fire mapping.

Having the opportunity to participate in traditional burning is a privileged learning experience. Every day groups went out into the bush and listened to traditional owners talk about the land and how they read the bush. The contrasts between traditional and modern practices were amazing - instead of drip torches, stringy bark is removed from trees and used to start the fires using spot ignition by one of the elders. RFS staff had the opportunity to assist in lighting up and watched progressively as low intensity burns moved through the landscape. No resources are needed to control planned fire - the lie of the land, natural fire breaks and fuel moisture is all taken into account through knowing the bush.

The chance to spend time with the Kaanju mob was a rewarding and enriching experience. To be able to see a different way of using fire opened our eyes to a practice that is thousands of years old. There are many more things to be learned from our indigenous friends and it is hoped that similar workshops will soon be run in parts of NSW.

Lana Andrews

Planning Services Officer (Hotspots)

Community Engagement Team

More Random Stuff!

We have analysed the feedback from Region East and Region North Community Engagement Forums.
For Region North 94% said the content of the forum was Very good or Excellent with 93% for Region East.

Conga line at Region East!

Both sets of participants would like thumb drives with all the presentations on and an opportunity for districts to present what has been working for them, or to have the opportunity to display their props. Popular across both groups was the Fire Triangle presentation, the Fire Danger Rating and Prepare.Act.Survive. presentations.

Feedback will be considered in the design of next years forum where there will definitely be an opportunity for people to display their props.

The revised Bush Fire Survival Plan should go to the printers later today after being approved late last week by the Commissioner. We are really looking forward to your feedback on the new look and feel of the document and what you think of the magnet and colouring section.

Two new Fact Sheets will be released next week. One is on Defending Your Property and the other is on the Bush Fire Survival Plan. Because of repeated requests we will be getting some of the Fact Sheets printed professionally and added to the resource order form. We will advise the Community Safety Officers once they are available to order.

The latest edition of RFS News is available on the official NSW RFS YouTube Channel. In this edition, you can have a look at the inside world of our Remote Area Firefighting Teams during a recent training session in the Blue Mountains. You can see the video at http://www.youtube.com/NSWRFS

Cheers for now

Just a catch up

We are soon to start the planning for next years Community Engagement Roadshows and would be very interested in any ideas on how people would like us to conduct the roadshow in 2011. This year was based on finding out the community engagement needs of volunteers and staff in order to determine our deliverables and direction for 2010 and 2011.

Engagement Matters, an internal electronic newsletter (sent via e-mail) will soon be launched. Engagement Matters is designed to enable the sharing of engagement experiences, tools, initiatives while providing handy tips and resources that might assist you with your engagement activities. To receive Engagement Matters you will need to subscribe so watch this space, or our Face Book page, to find out how RFS volunteers and staff can subscribe.

Over the last week we have had 1 379 visits to our Face Book page! I think the Region North and East Forums were a great boost to the pages membership as that is double the average weekly Face Book traffic. Now to lift the traffic to this blog :o) Any ideas???

Future volunteers!

Photos of engagement activities are still being sent into community.engagement@rfs.nsw.gov.au so our resource library is steadily increasing. We really appreciate people sharing their photos and taking the time to send them in.

Cheers for now