WIN TV are here to take some footage of our Community Engagement and Fire Awareness Conference- they will see lots of smiling faces #RFSengagemet

Roadshows Week 4 - The Final Leg



This fighter jet landed at the airport  next to the
Cessnock FCC  – what a sight!

 Last week of the Roadshows!



We left a rainy miserable Sydney and arrived in a bright, sunny and surprisingly crisp Cessnock. The FCC is located next door to the airport and Lew was very excited about the fighter jet that landed during the afternoon – must be a guy thing!

 

The Community Engagement  Manual is a useful tool to

support local activities



 There was a lot of energy in the afternoon session, with Marty talking to the group about  collaborating with other areas and their experience with focusing on certain stakeholders such as real estate agents, mining companies and the defence forces. Brian and Meegan then shared the Community Engagement Resource Folder they’ve developed. This folder is a guide for  community engagement and includes information about forms, programs and resources. Each brigade in the area will be getting a copy of the resource folder.



Leanne’s presentation was by far the most fun, creative and interactive we’ve seen. She has developed an online game show using bush fire related questions. This helps people to review, learn and understand RFS bush fire safety information and key messages in a fun and non threatening manner that really engages. Leanne presented factual information in an entertaining way and everyone had a ball! She shared the technology to create the game - it really is very simple and yes we will pass it on through the forums.



This was a thoroughly enjoyable evening session with much sharing, learning and laughter!

Next stop Hornsby FCC!

Rufus

The Lakes Team Mascot

We arrived at the beautiful Hornsby FCC and set up for the afternoon session. We were joined by some of our other team members Melissa, Terry and Luke as well as Anne Mathieson (who very luckily got to spend the whole week Roadshowing with us!)



We were visited by Smokey

the Gosford Mascot

The afternoon session saw some debate about the growing use of social media as a communication method as well as some interesting viewpoints about utilisation of this Blog - in particular what was written about the first week of the Roadshows. This afternoon session had the most varying views in the room that we came across in the roadshows. It was interesting to see and hear the differences of opinion and levels of understanding.

A huge turnout for the evening session with some good conversation about the survey results that were presented. We appreciated the effort Scott Jones went to in organising the community engagement trailers to be accessible and on display.

Due to the amount of discussion and comment it was a late night home for everyone but the group at Hornsby made the trip thoroughly worthwhile!

The Picton afternoon session was small but very positive. Dennis shared some local knowledge and ideas that had been used in the past to gather information from residents about their properties.


These models take Michael and Gary  up to 10 months to research and

build but are a great talking point!



The evening session grew and grew and grew!  A vocal, enthusiastic group with a very diverse range of presentations. Michael, Gary and Ursula spoke about a presentation they give which involves using a model of the local area to demonstrate fire behaviour and property preparation. Lesley talked about some very interesting games they use to keep children occupied while they talk to parents at shows, fetes and fairs. A presentation from Lesley is guaranteed to have humour, humility and be thoroughly entertaining and this presentation was no exception. Maureen gave the group an update on the Fire Awareness Community Team (FACT) pilot program that is being run in the Southern Highlands. Value was added by her personal insights and belief in the pilot.

Phil's presentation about the

Urban Interface Day

was a hit with the crowd

The highlight for many in the crowd was Phils presentation on the Urban Interface program that is run in the Illawarra. This program targets one street at a time and participating residents have the opportunity to see how fire fighters may fight a fire on or near their property. This program is run as both a training exercise for members as well as an opportunity to engage with the local residents about bush fire safety on their own property.



A really great turn out at Picton

 – lots of energy and enthusiasm!

 We were so impressed with the Urban Interface program that we asked Phil and the Illawarra team to present at the Operational Directorate Staff Forum and the Community Engagement and Fire Awareness Conference to be held in Wollongong at the end of the month. It is an innovative program with many benefits for both the resident and the RFS members that we have not heard happening else where in the State.

The final two roadshows were held at Katoomba. The evening session saw over 50 people in attendance with four presentations.



Mina and Larry (who happened to share his birthday with us)
 presenting on their community program at Katoomba



Larry and Mina presented on their Heads Up For Fire (HUFF) program that they have invested a lot of time and effort into with the local community. HUFF builds on the local community village spirit and has involved the development of HUFF co-ordinators.

We were also lucky enough to have presentations from Brad, Carmel, Sue and David.



To all who attended the roadshows we sincerely thank you. There is some innovative work happening in strong pockets around the state. Lyndle will get back to writing the report after the conference in order to better share the learnings we picked up. Over all the evening sessions were far better attended than the afternoon sessions and the content was much stronger, thought provoking and inspiring.



To those that took the time to share their work an even bigger thank you. You inspired us more than you realise.

Take care and we hope to catch up with many of you at our conference next week.



Cheers from

Lew, Tanyia, Terry, Lyndle (who wrote most of this blog), Mel and Luke

 

Great Work by Kenthurst Brigade

Kenthurst Brigade and Community Engagement
Take the time to have a look at this video footage - it is well worth the time.

Cheers from the Community Engagement Team

Week 3 Roadshows - Bega, Moruya & Nowra

Some outstanding Community Engagement work is happening

on the South Coast!!



Photo by Water Info and shows the impact of the floods March 23, 2011.
The refuse this powerful body of water left behind was amazing to see - so much devastation.

The drive to Bega was fairly uneventful – until we reached the area that had been flooded several weeks previously. The amount of damage left behind from the flood was incredible. The path the water had taken was strewn with knocked over trees and piles of debris and rubbish. It really showed how damaging natural disasters can be. The absolute need for communities to be prepared for any type of natural disaster and have a plan to keep their families safe! 

The Bega Roadshow saw some great discussion on the need to emphasise the importance of High, Very High and Severe fire danger rating days – as these are the days that most commonly occur. Fires on these days can still threaten life and property and need to be taken seriously - we need to encourage discussion about what to do on these days as well. 

Photo by Water Info.
Taken from Bega bridge 22 March 2011 

 

Bega presentation on engagement regarding bush fire risk



Presentations by Paul Cook and Marty Webster were fantastic and the work that is being done by the Bega group is amongst the most impressive we’ve seen during this years roadshow. We were so impressed we have asked them to present at the staff forum in May!

They presented a case study where social infrastructure research was undertaken (by them) before trying to engage with the community. As part of this research they found out who were the community leaders and influencors, community gathering points (of which the local school was not one of) and ways to best approach the community to improve the level of receptiveness. It was an inspiring presentation that demonstrated the use of many engagement techniques that we sometimes forget about in our desire to 'get on with the job.'  

The local brigade turned up to share some great discussion

and some equally great Frittata

The evening session in Moruya was a large and enthusiastic group, with the members from the local brigade joining us after their meeting. We also had the pleasure of the company of a very large but beautiful English Mastiff who waited patiently on the deck!

Moruya was Luke’s first presentation – and he did brilliantly especially since he hasn't officially started in the team yet! Great work Luke and welcome to the Community Engagement team! 

Luke presenting to the evening session at Moruya


We received a great presentation about the Regions new Smokehouse and the plans to get miniature sized furniture for inside the smokehouse. The furniture is to help both children and adults understand the importance of knowing what their escape route is, and how hard it can be to see when the room is filled with smoke.


This was one of the pictures presented at the Moruya roadshow - their new smokehouse for educating children.

The smokehouse was a Regional initiative by Carla McDonald and the team down south. They will be kindly setting up the smokehouse at our conference in Wollongong for you to look at! We really appreciate their effort to let others see this tool.

Jesse presenting on the very professional
and strategic newsletter she has developed

But back to the Moruya roadshow where Jesse then ran the group through her community newsletter, aimed at not only informing the community about bush fire safety but also about improving community involvement with the NSW RFS. The newsletter is very much about showing the community that the members of their local brigade are just like them – mums, dads, grandparents etc. Not only is the newsletter used to help develop a foundation for effective engagement but it is also a platform for recruitment of new members!

Entry to Terrara House


Friday 1st April dawned sunny and surprisingly cold. Tanyia received a couple of text messages from the team back at HQ. It took some time to realise that messages informing her that some team members wouldn’t be at work due to sales at Bunnings and offers to play footy for Australia were April Fools jokes!

On the way to the Fire Control Centre at Nowra we took a short detour through Terrara to take some photos of cattle grids and properties that may have access issues for fire trucks. Terrara is home to Terrara House, home of the famous racehorse Archer, winner of the first two Melbourne cups (did you know that he walked from Nowra to Melbourne to compete!) where we took some photos for our Property Access fact sheet that is currently being developed.

We were greeted in Nowra by an enthusiastic team. The afternoon session ran for almost 3 hours due to the great presentations by Tim and Gary and also some really vigourous discussion about social media and Open Day.

Tim Carroll demonstrating radiant heat to the group

A great turnout for the afternoon session. One of the highlights was definitely the beautiful meal organised and cooked by CSO Scott Keelan – the best effort we saw by a staff member on this years  Roadshow by far!

Gary told us the story of Alice the Burnt Bear. This is based on a true story (this happened to a Granddaughter of a RFS member) and is about how 3 year old Rochelle puts Alice the Teddy Bear in front of the heater to keep her warm but Alice the bear catches on fire.


Gary telling the story of Alice the Burnt Bear

Sandra talked to the group about a full day ‘Fire Fighting for Non Fire Fighting Women’ program she developed for a group of 30 women. Gail demonstrated the proper use of a fire blanket using one of Gary’s fire pots.


The ‘Firepot’ is great for doing demonstrations as well as

drawing in crowds at displays!









Lyndle learnt that when teaching kids to dial triple zero you should say ‘triple zero’ not ‘triple oh’ because on a phone handset ‘triple oh’ actually dials 666. This is especially important with text messaging being so common practice amongst children.

The evening ended with Lyndle having to listen to the footy on the car radio all the way home (much to her distaste) so Luke could listen to his beloved South Sydney! It’s what team members do for each other!

A great week in Region South – fantastic people, innovative community engagement approaches and great relationships all round!


Stay tuned for week 4!

Cheers from Lyndle (who wrote most of this blog entry), Tanyia, Tony and Luke.