The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Victoria Police – in collaboration with the community and the emergency management sector – reflect on events of the 2019-20 fire season to review and enhance evacuation plans and processes with consideration of:
a) high risk areas (including remote locations)
b) early evacuation triggers
c) the potential for isolated communities
d) the presence of tourists and non-residents
e) individual decisions to not evacuate
f) the inability to evacuate
g) consequence management and compounding events such as the loss of essential services or health impacts.
Victoria Police in conjunction with sector partners, commit to applying learnings from Exercise Praesidio - a simulated bushfire evacuation in 2019 involving the Powelltown, Three Bridges and Gilderoy communities – to improve future evacuation plans, processes and capability.
VicPol has approached this action through process improvements including updating internal evacuation guidance to reflect lessons from Exercise Praesidio (refer to Action 11.5) and through applying improvements from the exercise in its ongoing exercising and training program to build capability (refer to Actions 11.8 and 11.10).