- Collective ideas and suggestions from volunteers, agencies and other stakeholders now available online
- Day-long forum captured 400 views and more than 730 ideas on bushfire mitigation
- The inaugural Ministerial Volunteer Advisory Forum will be the next major stakeholder event in 2019
A statement of outcomes from the inaugural Bushfire Mitigation Forum is now available online.
The outcomes will help to shape the direction of the Department of Fire and Emergency Services' Rural Fire Division and the Bushfire Centre of Excellence.
Major themes from the forum included working through issues of responsibility for mitigation activities to try to achieve better community safety results.
There were also calls to break down silos, address potential top-down or ineffective communication practices and avoid unnecessary complexity.
More than 100 representatives from across the State's bushfire management sector, including bushfire volunteers, State agencies, local governments and key interest groups, gathered at the forum in Kalamunda in October.
The participants acknowledged the greater funding for mitigation activities under the McGowan Labor Government, opportunities for shared training and local community engagement.
The program combined plenary question and answer sessions and two key workshops - 'Working together in Bushfire Mitigation' and 'Designing the Bushfire Centre of Excellence'.
The workshop participants provided 400 views and ideas on working better together in bushfire mitigation, and more than 730 perspectives and ideas to inform the design of the new Bushfire Centre of Excellence for Western Australia.
This year's forum built on outcomes from previous bushfire stakeholder events including the inaugural 2017 Bushfire Mitigation Summit, and the Western Australian Prescribed Burning Forum 2017 - The Burning Question: Now & Beyond.
It provided an important opportunity to reflect on progress over the preceding 18 months and to discuss other ways forward.
The next emergency services stakeholder event will be the inaugural Ministerial Volunteer Advisory Forum planned in 2019, which is an important initiative aimed at continuing to strengthen volunteer voices in the Western Australian emergency services sector.
Visit http://www.dfes.wa.gov.au/rfd to read the statement of outcomes.
As stated by Emergency Services Minister Francis Logan:
"The McGowan Labor Government came to office last year promising to bring together the various groups and individuals that make up our bushfire mitigation practitioners.
"This year's forum built on the State's very first Bushfire Mitigation Summit as well as the Prescribed Burning Forum and was a chance to see how we have progressed over 18 months.
"There have been significant changes not only in terms of funding for mitigation, bushfire risk identification and in-cab crew protection, but also with volunteer relations and greater engagement.
"It was pleasing to see from the forum's outcomes that we are on the right path to try to reduce the threat of catastrophic bushfires and continue improving volunteer and other stakeholder engagement.
"Volunteers, State agencies, local governments and other stakeholders are now increasingly coming together and sharing insights, ideas and issues that will help us work towards building a safer State.
"I would like to thank all the participants for their contributions and giving up their time to help improve community safety.
"The atmosphere during the forum was vibrant and positive, demonstrating the strong enthusiasm for the topics among attendees.
"The event had a great turnout with bushfire volunteers representing more than half of the event participants."
