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