Week 2 - On The Road Again . . . . More great people!

Week 2 – On The Road Again…
This week begins in Wauchope on Monday with a small but very motivated group of staff and a good representation of volunteers.

There were some great suggestions for resources from the volunteers including an idea for another version of the new FDR whiteboard that is magnetic. Also to put eyelets on the bottom of the FDR whiteboard which currently only has then on the top. 
Topics of discussion included improving access to fact sheets on the RFS website and the continuing struggle to have community engagement included in Brigade meetings either informally or as an agenda item. 



Peter presenting on how to engage internally -
innovative and thought provoking!



Sharon presenting on the
 schools program



Volunteer Peter Moxon was a presenter on 'how to engage a brigade' followed by Trish Cheetam with local communication examples and Sharron Downes with a school presentation. A very motivated group of engagers, with innovative and creative ideas delivering a lot of really valuable work.



Lismore afternoon session  was thought provoking

On Tuesday we travelled to Lismore and the beginning of the humidity. A group of 12 attended the staff session and discussed ideas such as the public being able to access the Bush Fire Risk Management Plan via the Internet. A CD version of the Bush Fire Survival Plan that families could listen too in the car on long trips was another suggestion. A passionate discussion topic was internal communication - the issues with e-mail and how best to get information to members from the Community Engagement team in HQ.

At 6pm we were greeted by Diane and Brian Fellows and a spread of food that we both are still in awe of! As the Captain of Catering and Welfare in the Lismore area (amongst her other hats) Diane boiled a mere 500 eggs as part of her catering duties that day - all in a days work. The RFS and Lismore are very lucky to have such a wonderful catering team.

Brett presenting their information book

In this volunteer session we were lucky enough to have so many presentations we ran out of time and Tom, (who so politely stepped down from delivering his presentation) we hope to see your presentation at the Regional Forum.

School presentations from both Diane and Brian Fellows (we loved the humour and ability to laugh at yourselves) and Shaun and Nicole Vidler. Sean and Nicole had put a lot of effort and thought into the flow of their presentation and we particularly loved the supporting photos. The husband and wife teams were star performers -passionate about working with school children and both teams were very clever in the approaches they used.

Greg from Byron Bay spoke to the group about his schedule of community engagement activities such as the Australia Day celebrations that are now embraced by the whole Byron community. The work in Byron Bay sets a really good standard for other Brigades to look at. Your efforts on pre-incident planning, including recording GPS and SWS locations for the properties, is something we would really like to see more Brigades get involved with. You and your team should be very proud of the proactive work you are doing for your community.

Lismore evening session with the most presentations
 from anywhere in the state!!

Thank you to those that attended Lismore - a wonderful welcoming group of people with fantastic ideas. The energy and enthusiasm in the room was among the highest we have seen to date.

Wednesday saw us travel on to Armidale- the land of lovely old ornate buildings. A small motivated group of staff attended our afternoon session where it was decided (as a result of a request from local staff) that a pilot be carried out with the Key Message Cards. If you are local to this area, keep a look out for key message cards appearing in a fire truck near you! We would love to hear if you find them of benefit.



Love the 'Thunderbird' from Armidale with the words
 'Community Engagement'.

Whilst the volunteer session was a small group they made up for numbers with enthusiasm and innovative ideas. Four out of the five are on our community engagement facebook and a great idea came out of the facebook discussions. The group thought it would be helpful if everyone making a comment on our facebook page could put their brigade and region after their comments so everyone knows where you are from. This will enhance networking opportunities and you may find your neighbouring suburb is hosting activities that may work well in your neighbourhood. 

Inside the Armidale van - well secured equipment

Col presented on the history of the Armidale Community Engagement Team and their engagement programs. We were then given a guided tour of their grant funded community engagement van. A van that has a  well thought out layout and some innovative communication tools. We look forward to having it displayed at the Conference in Wollongong!

Some of the mouse mats that were distributed to people
who contributed well at the roadshows

On Thursday we made our way on to Gunnedah. It was clear that the staff in this area have a good relationship with their volunteers and are proactive in their engagement activities. We discussed tanker trailers and their roles throughout the community, “the Flannelette Shirt” and a review of the Farm Firewise resource. Peter Roffee made a plea for the return of showbags and even featured with his skit on our facebook page! Robust discussions occurred on the benefit verses difficulties of paid community engagement coordinators (as occurs in another state), as well as welcome signage in towns (such as happens in South Australia and Victoria). Brett Loughlin, on behalf of the staff, thanked the Community Engagement Team for taking the time to travel out to see everyone through the road show project “it’s a great way to keep in touch, discuss issues, share ideas and we would like to thank you for sticking with the road show concept and coming to visit us”.

During the volunteer session we discussed options for the conference to be run on a Saturday/Sunday in the future, a firewise property sign that could be erected following a property inspection, Open Day 2011 preparation and grass fires. Whilst Proctor couldn’t join us, his Bush Fire Survival Plan engagement activities were discussed. Keep a look out for the road show report to see more information on how he is disseminating the Bush Fire Survival Plan throughout his community.

Some of our new posters

Staff at the Coonamble session

Last but not least, Friday saw us travel to Coonamble, the land of dust, long distances, some straight straight long roads and motor bikes! During the staff session rural messages for the key message cards were discussed as well as recruitment issues for both firefighting and community engagement. The road show was attended by the Zone 

Manager, who offered much food for thought throughout the session and supported the works of the team.



Thought the words on
 a staff members bike were very apt!

 The volunteer session saw not an empty seat in the room and the discussions were similar to that of the staff session on lack of volunteers, distance and lack of opportunities to engage an ever disbanding community. 

All in all the week saw us meet many inspirational people with creative ideas and a shared passion for community engagement. As volunteers ourselves, we envy the support you share in your engagement teams, were in awe of some of the creative engagement programs your have developed and look forward to including them in the toolkit to share on a statewide basis.

For those that attended week 2 we thank you so much for sharing your brilliance with us! You inspired us!

Cheers from Tanyia and Emma
PS: This time Emma wrote the clear majority of this blog entry :0)